300 NATVBAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



(fig. 262-264) and latifolia^ are used to make oil. B. lancifolia"- 

 of Bengal is said to liave an acid refreshing mesocarp. All these 

 species have an astringent, tonic, resolvent bark. That of Ghda 

 Bcnghas'^ (fig. 304-307) is rich in an acrid rubefacient juice, 

 even vesicatory, but resinous and very combustible. Hence the 

 branches are used to make torches. In the species of Melanon'hoea, 

 particiilary 31. vsituta.,'^ this resinous juice ^ flows in abundance from 

 incisions made in the stalk. It is a sort of wood oil, or black varnish, 

 acrid and caustic, considered to have properties analogous to those of 

 the Copaiba tree, belonging to Dipterocarpacece, etc. In India and Cochin 

 China this varnish is especially employed for industrial piu'poses ; 

 Avood, pottery, and household utensils are coated with it. In South 

 America the Astronium is very nearly as useful. The juice, called in 

 Brazil Gusabu preto^ is a sort of turpentine, and has all its properties ; 

 it is extracted from A. fraxinifoKum} In Columbia and several neigh- 

 bouring countries A. gravcolens'' is analogous to this. All these trees 

 have a choice wood. The species of Comodadiu., iSc/iimis, and LWinca, 

 whose organisation is so like that of the Sumachs, have also the same 

 properties. An acrid odorous juice, often blackening on exposure, 

 flows from the incisions made in them. It is caustic in ComocJadia 

 dcntata,^ intcgrifoIiH Jacq., and BrusiUastrmn Poir., or False Brazil 

 Wood, American species ; in the Lithi of Chili or Lithrcea vcnenosa,-' 

 assigned by i;s to the genus Sorindeia ; less so in the species o£Schmus, 

 especially S. Molle'^'' (fig. 296-301), having an aromatic, but not 

 agreeable odour, due to a gum-resin found in the bark, leaves, hollows 

 of the pericarp, etc. ; it renders these parts stimulant and sudorific ; 



' RoxB. he. cit. — RosENTii. op. cit. 856. — Saldan. Coiifgtir. Veg, Sec. iii. 21, t. 15 



- RoXB. loc. cit. — Mauch. Aimcard. 140. {Aroeira, Cfoiifalo-alvcs), 



■■5 Ij. Mantiss. 293.— DC. Prodr. i. 501.— ? Jacq. Amer. 2G1, t. 181, fig. 96.— DC. 



RosENTH. op. cit. 853. — March. Anacard. 141. Prodr. ii. 65. — Rosknth. op. cit. 853 {Goizales 



— Stagmaria vernicijlua Jack, in JJook. Comp. to do mato des Bres.). 



Bot. Mnij. i. 266.- LiNDL. Fl. Med. lie.— Arbor ' Jacq. Amer. 13, 173, fig. 4 {Guno). 



reridcis RujirH. Eerb. Amhoin. ii. 259, t. 86 ' Miees. Trar. Chil. ii. 529.— C. Gay. Fl. 



(Kfigo Saiigns olMaVdy). Chil. ii. 43.- — March. Anacard. 93. — Jihii,!s 



'' Wall. PI. As. Par. i. 9, t. 11. — WALi'.iiyj). cmistica Hook, et Arn. in Beech. Toy. Bot. i. 



V. 555. — March. Anacard. Ml. 15, t. 7. — Duratia pleuropogon TuRCZ. — Latirm 



* " Sap of Miirtaban, Varnish of Siam." caustica Mol. — Persca caastica Spreng. [Litre. 



The M. glabra Wall. {he. cit. iii. 50, t. 283) Lithi). 



yields an analogous jirodvict. '" L. Spec. 1467. — Mill. Icon. t. 246. — Lamk. 



« ScHOTT, in Pieichb. Ic. Exot. t. 205.— ///. t. 822.— DC. Prodr. ii. li.—Bot. Mag. t. 



RosENTH. op. cit. 853.— March. Anacard. 143. 3339.— Lindl. Fl. Med. 287.— Eosenth. op. cit. 



— ? Myraerodnion Urundeuva Allem. All. 848. — March. Anacard. 149 (Moilc, Pepper tree 



Trab. d.Comm.Sc. E.rpl. Bot. i. 3, t. 1, fig. 2. of Peru, of America, and of the Spaniards. 



