1U NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



hold the same place as emollients in common practice as the Marsh 

 M. and the Mallows do with us. Sida rhomhifulia L., cdthcefolia 

 Lh^e., glomerata Cav., ovalis KosT.,in America; S. glandulosa Roxb., 1 

 in India, are the principal herbs used for this purpose. In all the 

 tropical regions of the globe there are Urena lobata Cav. and some 

 neighbouring species ; in America, Splueralcea cisplatiua," lactea 

 Space, and angustifolia Spach. 3 Malope malacoides L., Hibiscus viti- 

 foliiis L., mutabilis L., unilateralis Cav., venustus Bl., vitifolius L., 

 irriguus Bl., surattensis L., Trionum L., Uliaceus L. ; Abutilon ameri- 

 canum Sweet, populifolium Sweet, indicum Sweet, hirtum Don, graveo- 

 lens Wigiit & Arn., tomentosum Wight & Arn., crispum Sweet, 

 vmbellatum Sweet, mauritianum Sweet, atropmpureum Kost., and 

 many others 4 have also the same softening, emollient, pectoral virtues. 

 They are, perhaps, still more developed in the Baobabs, whose 

 leaves and flowers are daily used by the negroes, on account of their 

 mucilaginous qualities, for affections of the digestive and respiratory 

 organs. The same virtues are found also in several American 

 PacJiiras, in Eriodendron, Helicteres, Ochroma, Guasuma, Kydia, Sier- 

 culia. In these last the transformation of the cortical or medullary 

 parenchyma into mucilaginous substances is spontaneous, and their 

 bark allows a sort of gum tragacanth to ooze out. Such are S. 

 urens, 5 in India, and S. Tragacanthce? in tropical Africa, whose pro- 

 duce is found now and then mixed with the gum of the Acacia, 

 which comes from Senegambia. 7 The seeds of several Sterculias, 

 when in contact with water, also develop a considerable quantity of 

 mucilage, which has made several species valued as antiphlogistic 

 emollients. The one most spoken of during the last few years is, 

 without doubt, the famous Tam-paiang s of India, proposed as a specific 



1 See Payee, These Malvac, 36. — Rosenth., sonia, x. 173. — S. pulesoens Don, Gen. Syst., 



op. cit., 714. i. 615. — S. obovata R. Be., in Benn. PI. Jav. 



- A. S. H., PI. Us. Bras., t. 52 ; Fl. Bras. Bar., 23'.i.—SouthtoeUia Tragacantha Schott. 



Mer., i. 209.— Lindl., Fl. Med., 142 (vu%. — Lindl., Fl. Med., 136. To this and the pre- 



Malvavisco). ceding species is attributed with some doubt the 



3 Rosenth., op. cit., 708. It is also admiuis- production of part of the Kuteera gum of com- 

 tered as antirheumatical. merce (GuiB., Drog. Simples, ed. 6, iii. 452). 



4 See RosEN-m., op. cit, 704-7^8. ' Some similar productions are also furnished 

 6 Roxc, PI. Coromand., i. 25, t. 24. — DC, by S. ramosa Wall., crinita Cav., many 



Prodr., i. 183, n. 23.— Rosenth., op. cit., 725. Bombaces, &c. (see Rosenth., op. cit., 722). 



— Cavallium urens Schott & Endl. s Q r Boa-tam-pajang, Boochgaan-tam-pai- 



6 Lindl., in Bot. Beg., t. 1353. — Mast., in jang, an ovoidal seed, tapering at one or both 



Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr., i. 216. — H. Bn., in Adan- extremities, especially at that which corresponds 



