306 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



(fig. 262-264) and laUfolia^ are used to make oil. B. lancifoUa'^ 

 of Bengal is said to haT'e an acid refreshing mesocarp. All these 

 species have an astringent, tonic, resolvent bark. That .of Gluta 

 Benghas^ (fig. 304-307) is rich in an acrid rubefacient juice, 

 even vesicatory, but resinous and very combustible. Hence the 

 branches are used to make torches. In the species of Melanorrhoea, 

 particulary M. usitata^'^ this resinous juice ^ flows in abundance from 

 incisions made in the stalk. It is a sort of wood oil, or black varnish, 

 acrid and caustic, considered to have properties analogous to those of 

 the Copaiba tree, helongmg to Dipterocarpacece, etc. Inlndia and Cochin 

 China this varnish is especially employed for industrial purposes ; 

 wood, pottery, and household utensils are coated with it. In South 

 America the Astronium is very nearly as useful. The juice, called in 

 Brazil Gusahu preto^ is a sort of turpentine, and has all its properties ; 

 it is extracted from A. fraxinifoUum.^ In Columbia and several neigh- 

 bouring countries A. graveolens'' is analogous to this. All these trees 

 have a choice wood. The species of Comocladia^ Bchinus^ and Lithrcea, 

 whose organisation is so like that of the Sumachs, have also the same 

 properties. An acrid odorous juice, often blackening on exposure, 

 flows from the incisions made in them. It is caustic in Comocladia 

 dentata,^ integrifolia Jacq., and Brasiliastrum Pom., or False Brazil 

 Wood, American species ; in the lAthi of Chili or Lithrcea venenosa,^ 

 assigned by us to the genus Sorindeia ; less so in the species ofSchinus, 

 especially >S'. MoUe^" (fig. 296-301), having an aromatic, but not 

 agreeable odour, due to a gum-resin found in the bark, leaves, hollows 

 of the pericarp, etc. ; it renders these parts stimulant and sudorific ; 



1 BoxE. loc. cit, — RosENTH. op. cit. 856. — Saldan. Configur. Yeg, See. iii. 21, t. 15 



2 EoxB. he. cit, — Makck. Anaeard. 140. {Aroeira, Gonpalo-alves) . 



s L. Mantiss. 293.— DO. Frodr. i. 501.— ? jAca. Amer. 261, t. 181, fig. 96.— DC. 



EoSENTH. op. cit. 853. — March. Anaeard. 141. Prodr. ii. 65. — Eosenth. op. cit. 853 {Gonzales 



' — Stagmaria verniciflua Jack, in Hooh. Comp. to do mato des Bres.). 



Bot. Mag. i. 266.— Linbl. Fl. Med. im.— Arbor ' Jacq. Amer. 13, 173, fig. 4 {Quao). 



vernicis Eumph. Serb. Amboin. ii. 259, t. 86 ' Miees. Trav. Chil. ii. 529. — C. Gay. J7. 



(Kai/o Sangas oi Malay). Chil. ii. 43. — Makoh. Anaeard. 93. — Rhus 



* Wall. Fl. As. Far. i. 9, t. 11. — Walf. J?«p. eaustica Hook, et AnN. in Beeeh. Toy. Bot. i. 



V. 555. — March. Anaeard. 141. 15, t. 7. — Duvaua pleuropogon Ttikcz. — Lawas 



° " Sap of Martaban, Vamisli of Siam." eaustiea Mol. — Persea eaiistiea Spreng. {Litre, 



The M. glabra Wall. {loe. cit. iii. 50, t. 283) Lithi). 



yields an analogous product. " L. Spec. 1467.— Mill. leon. t. 246. — Lamk. 



6 ScHOTT, in Beichb. Ic. Exot. t. 205.— III. t. 822.— DC. Frodr. ii. li.—Bot. Mag. t. 



Eosenth. op. cit. 853. — March. Anaeard. 143. 3339. — Ldtol. Fl. Med. 287. ^Eosenth. op. cit. 



— ? Myraerodmon XTrundema Allbm. All. 848. — March. Anaeard. 149 {Moile, Pepper tree 



Trab. d. Comm. 8c. Expl. Bot. i. 3, t. 1, fig. 2. of Peru, of America, and of the Spaniards. 



