X A N 



fame bud as the leaves, of a dark copper-coloured purple, 

 hke Vtratrum nigrum, and though not gay or brilliant, not 

 inelegant, when contrafted with the foliage. The root and 

 Hem are internally of a bright lemon-colour. The affinity 

 of this plant to Cimicifuga, Adta, Helkborus, &c. would 

 lead us to fufpeft, though there is no remarkable fetor, 

 that its properties might be aftive, and accordingly it feems 

 that the American phyCcians have employed it fucccfsfuUy 

 in praftice, as a tonic or ftimulant. Probably its qualities 

 may not be diffirailar from thofe of Helleborui trifolius of 

 Linnaeus ; Coptis tr'ijolia, Salifb. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 8. 305. 

 Purlh 390. Bigelow Am. Med. Bot. v. i. 60. t. 5 ; the 

 root of which the laft-mentioned writer informs us is purely 

 and intenfelv bitter, ftrengthening the ftomach and other 

 vifcera, and promoting digeftion. It makes a yellow 

 tinfture, like that of Gentian in flavour and medical 

 ■virtues. 



XANTKORRKCEA, from fa.Sof, ydh'w, and f£i, to 

 jioiu, a name given by the writer of this to the Yellow Gum 

 plant of New Holland, which conftitutes a moft diftinft and 

 peculiar genus. Of this Mr. Brown has made us acquainted 

 with feven fpecies. — Sm. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 4. 219. 

 Brown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. i. 287. Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 V. 2. 271. — Clafs and order, Hexandr'ia Monogynia. Nat. 

 Ord. Afphodtli, Jufl". AJphodelea, Brown. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. none, unlefs the corolla be taken for 

 fuch. Cor. inferior, of one petal, in fix deep, nearly equal, 

 oblong, permanent fegments ; the three inner ones concave, 

 converging at the bafe. Stam. Filaments fix, inferted into 

 the lower part of the corolla, linear, flat, fmooth, and naked, 

 longer than the fegments ; anthers verfatile. /•//?. Germen 

 fuperior, ovate, with the rudiments of many feeds in each 

 cell ; flyle cyhndrical, with three furrows ; ftigma fimple. 

 Perk. Capfule projefting beyond the clofed permanent co- 

 rolla, ovate, with three blunt angles, woody, almolt horny, 

 poliflied, acute, of three cells, and three vdves, the parti- 

 tions from the middle of each valve. Seeds one or two in 

 each cell, bordered, comprefled, with a hard black ftiell ; 

 the fear at the bafe, naked ; embryo tranfverfe ; albumen 

 foft and flefhy. 



Eff. Ch. Corolla inferior, in fix deep fegments, perma- 

 nent. Filaments flat, linear, naked. Capfule triangular, 

 Doliflied. Seeds one or two, comprefled, bordered. 



Mr. Brown, from whofe examination, of the living plants, 

 we have improved our generic defcription above, remarks, 

 that the fpecies of this genus have a peculiar habit, fo 

 ilriking, that where they abound, they give a Angular cha- 

 rafter to the face of the country. The body of the root 

 is fometimes elevated into a thick, fcarred, black_^fm, often 

 divided or branched, and feveral feet in height, exuding a 

 fragrant yellow refin : in other inflances it is very (hort, 

 fcarcely rifing above the furface of the ground. Leaves 

 very numerous, crowded, narrow, grafly, of great length, 

 linear, fomewhat triangular, or two-edged, fpreading every 

 way ; recurved at the extremity ; dilated, and half-ftieathing, 

 at the bafe ; rigid and claftic when dry. Floiver-JJalk ter- 

 minal, quite fimple, round, often many feet in length, 

 fmootli, firm, hard, and durable. Spiie terminal, folitary, 

 cylindrica., denfe, many-flowered, refembhng a catkin, fome- 

 times eq lal in length to the ftalk itfelf. Floivers feflile, 

 clolely crowcled, ImaU, white, each accompanied by nu- 

 merous, imbricated ^raS.-'aj, tapering at the bafe into a claw, 

 the inni-rmo!t gradually fmalleft. Capfuks of a ftiining 

 chefnnt, partly black. 



" The ftrudure of the feeds agrees with Borya, Labill. 



Nov. HoU. t. 107. Brown Prodr. v. i. 286 ; nor are thefe 



• two genera very diffimilar in foliage or inflorefcence. They 



X A N 



are placed at the end of the Afphodehx, becaufe of their 

 flefliy albumens, and the black cniftaceous flcin of their /ff^/j." 

 Brozun. 



1. X. arborea. Arboreous Yellow-gum. Br. n. i 



" Stem arborefcent. Leaves two-edged ; triangular beyond 

 the middle ; ftriated in front. Stalk fcarcely the length 

 of the very long fpike. BraAeas and corolla beard- 

 lefs." — Native of the country near Port .Tackfon, New 

 South Wales. Each diviCon of the thick _/?fm is crowned 

 with a large tuft of innumerable long, flender, drooping 

 leaves, in the centre of which ihejlower-jialks ftaiid folitary. 

 See n. 3. 



2. X. aujlrdis. Southern Yellow-gum. Br. n. 2. — 

 " Stem arborefcent. Leaves compreffed longitudinally. 

 Stalk fliorter than the elongated fpike. Brafteas fubtend- 

 ing the tufts of flowers elongated."— Native of the ifland 

 of Van Diemen, where it was gathered by Mr. Brown. We 

 have feen no fpecimen. 



3. yi. Hajlile. Spear Yellow -gum. Br. n. 3. Ait.n. i. 

 (Yellow refin-tree ; White's Voyage, 235. t. at p. 249.}-— 

 Stem very fliort. Leaves comprefl"ed longitudinally. Stalk 

 many times longer than the eighteen-inch fpike. Brafteas, 

 and outer fegments of the corolla, downy at the point. — 

 Native of New South Wales, from whence we received 

 fpecimens in 1790, by favour of Dr. John White. It is faid 

 to have been fent, in 1803, ^° Kew garden, by Philip Gidley 

 King, efq. A green-houfe plant, flowering in April and 

 May. In the defcription given by Dr. White, at the place 

 above quoted, he evidently confounds this fpecies and the 

 A', arborea ; for he fays " it is about the fize of an Englifh 

 Walnut-tree. The trunk grows pretty ftraight for about 

 fourteen or fixteen feet, after which it branches out into 

 long fpiral leaves, which hang down on all fides, and refemble 

 thofe of the larger kinds of grafs, or fedge. From the 

 centre of the head of leaves arifes a fingle footjlalh, eighteen 

 or twenty feet in height, perfeftly ftraight and ereft, ter- 

 minating in ^ fpike oi a fpiral form. This large j?j/i is ufed 

 by the natives for making fpears and fifli-gigs, being pointed 

 with the teeth of fifh, or other animals." The firft part of 

 this defcription appears to belong to the arborea ; the latter, 

 regarding the inflorefcence, to the Haflile ; which might eafily, 

 perhaps, except by a fcrutinizing botanift, be fuppofed dif- 

 ferent ftages of growth, or varieties, of the fame plant. 

 Such a miftake may be more eafily accounted for than that 

 of the great Linnaeus, in combining nearly the whole geniis 

 oi Aloe into one fpecies. The Yellow Reun is produced by 

 the prefent, and fome other, fpecies of this genus, by fpon- 

 taneous exudation from the trunk ; promoted fometimes, as 

 we judge from the appearance of certain fpecimens, by 

 fires kindled by the favage natives of the country. The 

 juice, fluid at firft, foon hardens in the fun, into a concrete 

 brittle form, of a dull orange colour. Burnt on hot coals, 

 it emits a fragrant fmoke, fmeUing hke a mixture of balfam 

 of Tolu and Benzoin, approaching in fome degree to Storax. 

 This refin is perfectly foluble in fpirit of wine, but not in 

 water, nor even in eftential oil of turpentine, unlefs digefted 

 in a ftrong heat. The varnifti which it makes with either 

 is weak, and of little ufe. Dr. White found this Yellow G'.im 

 a good peftoral medicine, in many cafes. If burnt in a 

 room, the fcent, though pleafant to fome people, foon 

 proves oppreffive, and the fmoke irritating to the lung?. 

 Olive gum, ufed by the Itahans, is preferable for fumi- 

 gation. 



4. X. media. Intermediate Yellow-gum. Br. n. 4. — 

 " Stem rather fhort. Leaves (longitudinally ?) comprefled. 

 Stalk very long, many times exceeding the eighteen-inch 

 fpike. Brafteas and corolla beardlefs." — Obferved by 



Mr. Brown 



