612 



A shrub 8 ft. high. • 



r 



Ref.~-' Boomah Nuts," Holmes, in Phaim. Joiirn. rai viii 



1877, p. 363. 



HuRA. Linn 



names 



common 



Hura crepitans, Limi. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 1, p. 1019. 



/ZZ.— Commelin, Hort. Med. Amstel. PI. t. 66 {H. americana) ; 

 Linne, Hort. Cliff, t. 34 ; Lam. Encycl. t. 793 ; Diet. Sc. Nat. 

 t. 279 ; Desc. Ant. ii. t. 124 ; Tussac. Ant. iv. t. 5 ; Spach, Suites 

 (Hist. Nat. des Vegetaux) t. 76, f. 2 ; Baillon, Etude Euphorb. 

 t. 6, ff. 21-35; Martins, FI. Bras. xi. pt. 2, t. 86; Shattuck, 

 Bahama Is. t. 36; Ann. Inst. Col. Marseille, iii. 1905, tt. 1-3. 



— Sablier elastique (Brazil, Lamarcl:) ; Sablier 

 (Antilles, Descourtilez, Tussac) ; Arbre au diable (Antilles, 

 Descourtihz). —S^ndhox Tree, Poison Tree (Bd. of Trade Journ. 

 Nov. 24th, 1910, p. 366). 



Native of Tropical America : introduced to West Africa 

 Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Nigeria, Cameroons, etc. and commonly 

 in the Tropics generally. Introduced into India from Jamaica 

 (Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. India). 



The fruit after being boiled in oil and pierced with small 

 holes is often used in the French Colonies as a sand-box for 

 dusting sand on writing — a substitute for blotting-paper (hence 



j. The seeds are used in Mexico as a purgative 

 and the latex is employed as a fish-poison ; other medicinal uses 

 are attributed to the seeds and leaves in French Guiana (Heckel, 

 Arm. Inst. Col. Marseille, iv. 1897, p. 142). Crepitin, the toxic 

 albuminoid in the Juice has been found by intravenous injection 

 — 1 mgni. for 100 kg. body weight — to cause death in dogs 

 after 3 days (Pharm. Journ. [4] xxx. 1910, p. 571) ; and the 



juice is said to cause blindness (Agric. News, Barbados, March 12, 

 1904, p. 82). 



An extract from the bark has been recommended as a cure 

 for leprosy (Planchon & Collin, Drog. Simpl. i. p. 341). 



The tree which grows to a height of 50-80 ft. is grown as 

 a shade tree at Oloke-Meji and plants raised in the gardens were 

 being planted (1908) extensively in the streets and railway 

 stations (Kew. Bull. 1908, p. 201), in Dahomey (Chevalier, Bull. 

 Soc. Nat. d'Accl. France, 1912, p. 315) and it is commonly 

 grown in the Tropics for ornamental purposes. 



Ref. — Etude Morphologique et Anatomique du Sablier 

 {Hura crepitans), Gilles, in Ann. I'lnst. Col. Marseille, 2nd series, 

 iii. 1905, pp. 41-120, ff. 1-72, pi. i. (tree), ii. (bark). 



ULMACEAE. 



Celtis, Linn. 



Celtis Diirandii, Engl ; Fl. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 2, p. 4. 



Cameroons, Congo, Angola, East Africa, and (var. ugandensis, 

 Rendle) in Uganda. A tail deciduous tree. 



