THYMELJEACE^. 119 



the CelastracecB whose ovules are descending, as is invariably the 

 case in the Thymelacece^ the mycropyle, exterior in the latter, is 

 turned upwards and inwards. It would always be difficult, as we 

 have elsewhere pointed out,^ not to find a striking resemblance be- 

 tween Octolepis ^ and Geissolo7na, 



UsES.^ — The Thymelem are acrid plants, often very dangerous, 

 most parts, when introduced into the intestinal canal, producing 

 a violent, sometimes mortal, irritation; in the mouth and 

 throat, a burning sensation, followed by a change in the mucous 

 membrane analogous to that produced on the skin, and which is 

 true blistering if the contact is sufficiently prolonged. This pro- 

 perty has been attributed to daphnine^'^ a principle often found in 

 Daphne united with a green oil, which can be analysed into glucose 

 and daphnetine. Many European Daphnes are employed as vesicants^ 

 chiefly Garou, D, laureola and Bois-gentil (D, Mezereum). The 

 bark and more rarely the seeds are used in medicine. Garou (or 

 Sain-Bois ^) is a small shrub from the south of Europe. Its bark,flexible 

 and difficult to break, has a tenacious liber which might be textile 

 if freed from the fine white silk which covers the exterior, and 

 which, entering the skin, produces a painful itching. It is acrid, 

 nauseous, corrosive, and is used especially in preparing blistering 

 powders and ointments. The fresh bark itself has also been em- 

 ployed, in southern districts, to establish revulsion and issue. It is 

 an active but dangerous emmenagogue, and also a powerful mode- 

 rator of cutaneous aff'ections. Bois-gentil^ (fig. 81-85) has quite 



^ Adansonia, xi. 290, etc. Lamk. Fl. Fr. iii. 222. — Thymelcea Gnidium 



2 Oliver compares these -with Pencea. All. Fl. Pedem. i. 153 {Lin sauvage ou bdtard, 



3 ExDL. Enchirid. 209. — Lindl. Fl. Med. 324 ; Trintanelle, Thym6Ue de Montpellier, Cam4Ue 

 Veg. Kingd. 531. — GuiB. Prog. Simpl. ed. 6, ii. noire, Bois d'oreilles). 



384.— RosENTH. Syn, PL Diaphor. 240, 1133. ^ P. Mezereum L.Spec. 356.— Blackw. Herb. 



4 C«H42046. SwENG. Ann. Chem. und Pharm. t. 582.— Nees, Pc. Fl. Germ. iii. t. 46.— 

 cxv. 1. — Gueilliot, Etude sur les Paphne. Reichb. Pe. Fl. Gerin. t. 556. — Hayne, Arzn, 

 — (Thes. Ecole . . . Pharm. Par. 1867. Gew. iii. t. 43. — Mek. et Del. Pict. Mat. 



* Paphne Gnidium L. Spec. 357. — Duham. Mdd. ii. 584. — Guib. loc. cit. 385. — Gren. et 



Arbr. ii. t. 23.— Sibth. et Sm. Fl. Grac, t. 356. Godr. Fl. deFr. iii. 57.— Rosenth. op. cit. 240. 



— Mer. et Del. Pict. Mat. Med. ii. 580.— —Berg, et Schm. i)«rs^ Off. Gew. t. 12 b.— i). 



Hayne, Arzn. Gew. iii. t. 45. — Reichb. Ic. Fl. Liotardi Vill. Pauph. iii. hlQ.— Mezereum offi' 



Germ. t. 553. — Guib. op. cit. ii, 384, fig. 471. — cinarum C. A. Mey. Beitr. v. n. 112. — Thymelaa 



Gren. et Godr. Fl. de Fr. iii. 60.— Caz. Mezereum Scop. Fl. Carniol. 279.— All. Fl. 



Med. Pndig. ed. 3, 365.— Rev. Fl. MM. du XIXe Pedem. 131 {Joli-bois, Faux-Garou, Laureoh 



SiMe, ii. 75. — Rosenth. op, cit. 240. — P. Oni- femelle ou gentille.). 

 dium Boiss, Voy. Esp. ii. 657. — P> Paniculata 



