RHAMNACEJE. 71 



have been used for dressing burns. 1 A decoction from tbe crushed 

 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 Rhamnacccc which likewise contain 

 tannin and are astringent. Sagcretia thccsam,- 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 3 is 

 employed in Polynesia as a local remedy for wounds, hastening 

 their cicatrisation. In Chili Trevoa trinervis* has tbe reputation of 

 curing wounds and abscesses. Discaria febrifuge/, 5 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 ùifectoria, 6 a tan-bearing plant, is used to dye black 

 and brown. In Chili Rctanllla Ephedra" 7 and obcordata 8 are also 

 considered astringent and tonic. Gouania domingensis 9 (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. amcricanus ]0 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 11 has 

 an astringent bark, and is equally an antidote to intestinal flux.i 2 

 Beside these properties others are noted which oft appear contra- 



1 Miekgues, Bull. Soe. Bot. i. 216. — Rosenth. 7 Ad. Br. Bhamn. 58. — Mibrs, Contrib. i. 



op. cit. 798 (TlaKtovpoo- Diosc). 287. — Collelia Ephedra Vent. Choix de PI. t. 16. 



3 Ad. Bit. Bhamn. 53. — Rhamnus theezans L, 8 Ad. Br. hoc. cit. t. 3. — Colletia obcordata 



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



54, not.— DO. Prodi: ii. 26, n. 38.— B. Thea » L. Spec. ed. 2, 1663.— DC. Prodr ii. 39, 



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



3 Ad. Br. Bhamn. 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 10 L. Spec. 284.— Mill. Icon. t. 57. — Sims. 



the Polynesians). Bot.Mag. t. 1179.— DC. Prodr. ii. 31, n. 23.— 



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

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



* Mart. St/st. Mat. Med. Bras. 37. — Rbiss. " Vent, ex Rosenth. op. cit. 845. 



Mart, Fl. Bras. Bhamn. 101, t. 35 (Kina of 13 C. cœruleus Lagasc. Gen. et Sp. 11. — C. 



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



8 Reiss. loc. cit. 90, 24. DC. Prodr. n. 21. 



