146 ZANTHOXYLACE^. 



grant and pungent to the taste ; the fruits are as pungent as pepper ; the 

 bark, which is the officinal portion, is acrid-aromatic and very bitter. It is 

 a powerful stimulant and somewhat tonic, much used in chronic rheumatism, 

 and as an irritant it is popularly employed to relieve the toothache. The 

 Southern Z. Carolinianum possesses identical properties, but is more power- 

 fully acrid. Some exotic species are valued as febrifuges, others as anti- 

 dotes to poisons. 



The typical genus, Zanthoxylum, comprises between fifty and one hun- 

 dred known species, of which the greater part belong to tropical America, 

 several to the equinoctial regions of the Old World, and three to the Atlan- 

 tic United States, one of which (the original species) extends northward to 

 Canada. 



