* 
Book VIII. Mand of BARBADOS. 
green winged Leaves, fet upon the Twigs in three or four Pair. The 
Flowers are yellow and pentapetalous. 
Thefe are followed by five-inch-long brownifh round Pods, fomewhat 
falcated when ripe. i 
The Infides of thefe are divided, like the large Caffa-Fiftula, into 
very many {mall Cells, feparated from one another by thin pulpy Parti- 
tions of a fweetifh Tafte, including, in the intermediate Spaces, {mall 
blackifh flat Seeds. 
This is delineated in Plate XX, 
The CHRISTMAS-BusH. 
HIS Plant grows to about three Feet ‘high. Its Roots are many, 
but weak, always blooming in December ; and from thence it derives 
‘the Name of Chriftmas-Bu/b. 
__ It continues to bear Bloffoms till the middle of March, and then gra- 
dually decays. 
The main Stalk and Branches are of a ftrong gramineous Texture, and 
‘its Leaves, which are about two Inches long, and near as broad, end in’a 
fharp Point. wii tole 
Their Edges are {nipped in three or four oppofite Places, their uppér 
Sides deeply furrow’d, and by far greener than the under, which, when 
young, are whitifh, foft, and downy. On the Top of each Branch (ge- 
nerally fpeaking) ftands a Group of very {mall white tubular monopeta- 
lous Flowers ; their Tops are but barely to be feen, peeping out of long 
{caly Calyces ; and from each Flower rife two very fine white Stamina 
with pendulous pices. Thefe numerous thready Stamina, {o clofe to- 
gether, give it, at a Diftance, the Appearance of an intire ftamineous 
Flower. When thefe drop, their Calyces become pappous, and full of 
long fmall blackifh Seeds, each furrounded, like the Feathers in a Shuttle- 
cock, with very fine white Down. A Cataplafm of this bruifed Plant is 
efteemed not only an excellent Vulnerary, but likewife fo great a De- 
tergent, that it will not fuffer the leaft proud Flefh to grow where it 
is applied. It grows in every Soil all over the Ifland. 
The Gutiy-Root. 
[F the Virtue of Afa-Fetida, in nervous and hyfterical Diforders, 
confifts chiefly in ‘its efficacious Power of difperfing, by its ftrong 
Smell, the animal Spirits to their feveral proper and difting: Parts of 
the Body, the Roots of this Plant may perhaps claim an equal Degree of 
Virtue ; for its Smell is fo very offenfively ftrong, that a {mall Piece of it 
will, ina fhort time, fill the largeft Room with its difagreeable Odour. 
2 Pops. 
