EHAMNACE^. 71 



have been used for dressing burns J A decoction from the cruslied 

 fruit is prescribed for chronic diarrhoea, laxity, and as a diuretic. 

 It is, in fact, an astringent plant ; its root serves for the same 

 purposes. There are many other Rhamnacece which likewise contain 

 tannin and are astringent. Sageretia theemns^^ which supplies the 

 place of tea as a beverage for the Chinese poor, owes its qualities in 

 a great measure to its slight astringency. Colubrina asiatica^ is 

 employed in Polynesia as a local remedy for wounds, hastening 

 their cicatrisation. In Chili Trevoa trinervis'^ has the reputation of 

 curing wounds and abscesses. Discaria febrifugal owes its specific 

 name to the fact that the Brazilians consider it salutary in the 

 treatment of tertiary fevers. In Eio Janeiro, especially, a bitter 

 extract of the bark is employed as a tonic and digestive. In Brazil 

 again, Condalia infectoria^^ a tan-bearing plant, is used to dye black 

 and brown. In Chili Retanilla Ephedra^ and ohcordata^ are also 

 considered astringent and tonic. Gouania doming ensiB^ (fig. 54), of 

 the Antilles, has analogous properties. A stomachic and tonic juice 

 is extracted from its fruit. From its bitter wood, reputed as anti- 

 septic, a dental cure is prepared, the use of which, it is said, hardens 

 the gums. The North American Ceanothus is also frequently sought 

 after, as an astringent. C. americanus^^ from the leaves of which 

 a digestive infusion, under the name of New Jersey tea, is prepared, 

 has a reddish, bitter, tinctorial root, extolled by the Indians as 

 a sovereign remedy against fevers, aphtae, angina, syphilitic acci- 

 dents, dysentery and the ulcerations of scarlatina. C. discolor^^ has 

 an astringent bark, and is equally an antidote to intestinal flux.12 

 Beside these properties others are noted which oft appear contra- 



1 MiERGUES, ^mZ/. (S')c. ^0^ i. 216. — Rosenth. 7 Ad. Br. Ehamn. 58. — Miers, Contrib. i. 



op. cit. 798 [UaXiovpoa Diosc). 287. — CoUetia Ephedra Vent. Choix de PI. t. 16. 



^ Ad. Br. Rhamn. 53. — Rhamnus theezans L, ^ Ad. Br. loc. cit. t. 3. — CoUetia obcordata 



Mantiss. 207.— H. B. K. Nov. Gen. et Spsc. vii. Vent. Choix de PI. t. 16. 



54, not.— DC. Prodr. ii. 26, n. 38.— i2. Thea » L. Spec. ed. 2, 1663.— DC. Prodr ii. 39, 



OsB. It. 232. n. 2. — Rosenth. op. cit. 806. — C. glabra Jacq. 



' Ad. Br. Rhamn. 62. — Ceanothus asiaticus Amer. t. 179, fig. 40. — Banisteria lupuloides L. 



L. Spec. 284.— Lamk. III. t. 129.— DC. Prodr. Spec. ed. 1, 427. 



ii. 30, n. 7. — Tubanthera Commers. {Toutou of ^" L. Sjjec. 284. — Mill. Icon. t. 57. — Sims. 



the Polynesians). Bot.Mag. t. 1479.— DC. Prodr. ii. 31, n. 23.— 



^ Miers. Trav, Chil. ii. 529 ; Contrib. i. 291, Lindl. Ft. Med. 166.— Endl. Enchirid. 583.— 



t. 40 A. Rosenth. op. cit, 804. 



' Mart. Syst. Mat. Med. Bras. 37. — Rbiss. ^^ Vent, ex Rosenth. o;9. ci^. 845. 



Mart, Fl. Bras. Rhamn. 101, t. 35 {Kina of ^"^ C cceruleus Lagasc. Gen, et Sp. \\. — C. 



Brazil). azureus Desf. Cat. Sort. Par. (1815), 232.— 



« Reibs. loc. cit. 90, 24. DC. Prodr. n. 21. 



