CASTANEAGEJE. 255 



regions of our liemispliere. Its sap, extracted in spring, is sweet 

 and acidulous. It has been prescribed for many maladies i — gout, 

 rheumatism, skin diseases. Sugar and vinegar are extracted from 

 it ; a sort of sparkling wine may also be prepared from it, considered, 

 as also the sap itself, as a diuretic and purifier, an antiscorbutic and 

 antipsoric, a vermifuge and lithontriptic. The bark and leaves have 

 been prescribed for scrofulous swellings, tumours, pains, dropsies. 

 The bark has been extolled as antipsoric, antiscorbutic, and febri- 

 fuge. It furnishes by distillation a pyrogenous oil, having the 

 odour of fine Russia leather, and is said to be used in preparing 

 it. The same is said of the bark and leaves of Myrica, notably 

 of those of M. Gale. The Black Birch ^ and Dwarf Birch ^ have the 

 same properties ; ^ from the sap a kind of fermented beer is prepared. 

 Nearly all the species of the genus have a flexible bark, easily 

 detached, and used for making certain useful objects.^ The Hazels 

 are prized for their wood, their febrifuge and tonic bark, tinctorial 

 leaves, and especially for their alimentary seed, from which an 

 edible oil is extracted. In Europe it is chiefly the common nut^ 

 (fig. 168 — 173), or filbert, with its numerous varieties and cultivated 

 forms,^ and Gorylus tuhulosa ^ and Colurna ;^ in the United States, 

 G. americana ^° and G. rostrata ; ^^ found also in the north of eastern 

 Asia.^^ They have the same properties and the same alimentary 

 embryo. The Hornbeams, or Yoke Elms, have a very useful wood, 

 and a bark used for dyeing in some parts of Europe. The common 

 Hornbeam ^^ (fig. 175 — 180) forms the hedges of our parks. Garpinus 



1 " Bircli water is the hope, the happiness, and filberts, the striated Corford nut, &c. 



the panacea of rich and poor, great and small, ^ W. Spec. iv. 470. — Dochm. Obstk. iv. 38. — 



.lords and serfs."— (Percy). A. DC. Prodr. 132, n. 5. 



2 £. nigra W. Spec. iv. 464. — Keg. Monogr. ^ L. Spec. 1417 (part). — Dochm. op. cit. iv. 

 Betul. 60, t. 12; Prodr. n.\%. — ^.r^^mMiCHX. 52 —A. DC. Prodr. n. 4. — C. bizantina Clus. 

 Arhr. ii. 143, t. 3. Hist. 11. — Avellana byzantina J. Bauh. {N. of 



^ B. nana L. Spec. 1394 ; Fl. Lapp. 266, t. 6, Constantinople). 



fig. 4.— Keg. Prodr. n. 7. ^o Walt. Fl. Carol. 236.— C. humilis W. 



** Likewise B. carpinifolia, populifolia, papy- Baumz. 108. — C. americana AwmiYis Wangenh. 



racea Ait. Bhojpaltra Wall. Arb. 88, t. 29, fig. 63. 



» On the bark of ^e^M^ see Beketoff, Bull. ^^ Ait. Hart. Kew. iii. 364. — K.HG. Prodr. 



Mosc. xiii. 75. 133, n. 7. 



^ Corylus Avellana L. Spec. 1417. — Schkuhk, 12 (7 mandschurica Maxin, exs. 



ITfl/it^i. t. 305.— DiETB. J'/, ^or.t.842.— Keichb. '3 Carpinus Betulus L. Spec. 1416.— Duham. 



Jc. Fl. Germ. t. 636. — GriB. Brog. Simpl. ed. Arbr. (ed. 2), ii. t. 58.— Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. 



6, ii. 283,— KosENTH, op. cit. 184, 1105.— C. t. 632. — Hart. Forst. t, 21.— Gren. et Goi>r. 



DC Prodr. 130, n. 3. Fl. de Fr. iii. 120.— A. DC. Prodr. 126, n. 1 



I" Notably the Hazel with large fruit (C. {Charme blanc, Charpre, Charpenne). C. caroli- 



Ivellana Macrocarpa Keichb. Ic. t. 638), or N. niana W"alt. has the same uses in America, 

 Piedmont, of Barcelona ; the red and white 



