326 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



The balsam of the gardens {Ijupatiens Balsamina), which 

 flowers all summer, belongs to this family. Other species of 

 Impatiens are also cultivated. 



The stem sap as well as that of the flowers of a number of 

 species of Impatiens is used on account of its red and yellow col- 

 oring matters, to color the skin of the hands and feet as also the 

 nails by the people of India, Tartary and Japan. The seeds of 

 \ some species of Impatiens yield an oil which is used for burning. 



XVIII. ORDER RHAMNALES. 



This order includes two large families which are characterized 

 by having 4 or 5 stamens which are either alternate with the 

 sepals or opposite the petals when the latter are present. The 

 ovules are atropous. 



a. RHAMNACE^ OR BUCKTHORN FAMILY.— The 

 plants are woody climbers, shrubs or small trees. 



Rhamnus Purshiana is a large shrub or small tree. The leaves 

 are petiolate, oblong, elliptical, acuminate, finely serrate and pubes- 

 cent beneath; the flowers are small and in axillary umbellate 

 cymes, and the fruit is 3-lobed, black, ovoid, and drupaceous. 

 The bark constitutes the official Cascara sagrada (p. 523). 



Rhamnus Frangida or Alder Buckthorn, is a shrub the botan- 

 ical characters of which closely resemble those of R. Purshiana. 

 The bark of this plant is also official (p. 521). 



The leaves of the shrub known as New Jersey Tea {Ceanothus 

 americaniis) are said to have been used as a substitute for tea 

 during the Revolutionary times. This plant is found in the East- 

 ern United States and Canada and the root, which contains con- 

 siderable tannin and possibly an alkaloid, has been used in medi- 

 cine. The leaves of Sageretia theesans of Asia have also been 

 used as a substitute for tea. A number of plants of this family 

 have been substituted for hops in the fermentation industry, as 

 Ceanothus reclinatus of the West Indies ; Colubrina fermenta of 

 Guiana, and Gouania domingensis of Martinique and Hayti. 

 Saponin is found in the bark of Gouania tomentosa of Mexico. 

 A crystalline bitter principle, colletin, occurs in the wood of Col- 

 letia spinosa of South America. The bark of Discaria fehrifuga 



