146 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



pulpy part, with a fleshy aril and excavated hilum ; albumen fleshy or oily ; embryo large, 

 in the middle of the albumen. Cotyledons ovate, radicle pointing to end remote from 

 the hilum. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate, often somewhat distichous, simple, entire, 

 or dentated evergreen leaves, mostly having pellucid markings, and furnished 

 with stipules. They are all natives of tropical climates, and principally Ame- 

 rican. The bark and leaves of most of the species are astringent. The 

 leaves of Cascaria ulmifolia are employed in Brazil as a remedy in snake- 

 bites, both externally and internally ; and those of C. lingua are esteemed, 

 in the same country, in the treatment of malignant fevers and inflammations. 

 In India, a decoction of the leaves of C. anavinga is thought to be beneficial 

 as a warm fomentation in rheumatism and pains of the joints ; and the juice 

 of the fruit is said to be a powerful sudorific, and also to act on the bowels. 

 The roots of C. esculenta are bitter and purgative, but the leaves are edible. 



Group VIIL— Guttiferales. 



Order 18.— DIPTERACEiE.— Lindley. 



Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, unequal, persistent, and afterwards enlarged at base ; aestiva- 

 tion imbricated. Petals hypogynous, sessile, often united at base, with a valvate restiva- 

 tion. Stamens hypogynous, indefinite, distinct, or somewhat and irregularly polyadel- 

 phous. Anthers innate, subulate, with a longitudinal dehiscence near the apex; fila- 

 ments dilated at base. Ovary superior, 3-celled. Ovules in pairs, pendulous. Style 

 single. Stigma simple. Fruit coriaceous, 1-celled by abortion, 3-valved or indehiscent, 

 surrounded by the calyx, which has tough, leafy, enlarged divisions, crowning the 

 fruit. Seeds single, with no albumen. 



This order is composed of large trees, abounding in resinous juices, and 

 furnished with alternate leaves, having deciduous, oblong, convolute stipules. 

 The flowers are generally large. They are pecu- 

 Fig ' 82 ' *, liar to India and its archipeIago,where they form the 



largest trees in the forest. They ail are replete with 

 a balsamic juice, which concretes in various forms. 

 Thus the Dryobalanops aromatica affords one of 

 the kinds of camphor. The Vateria indica fur- 

 nishes the East Indian copal or Gum Anime. 

 Blume states that the resin of the Dipterocafpus 

 trinervis forms an excellent material for plasters, 

 and made into an emulsion, with the yolk of an 

 egg, is a good substitute for copaiva in inflamma- 

 tions of the mucous membrane (Flor. Javce). 

 Some other species of the same genus furnish bal- 

 sams which have similar properties. The Shorea 

 s. robusta. robusta, which affords the best and most exten- 



sively used wood in India, also produces a resin 

 used as incense in the temples, and likewise it is much employed as pitch, 

 under the name of Dammer. 



Dryobala.nops. — Gartner. 



Calyx 5-scpaled. Sepals long, ligulatc, scarious, united at base. Corolla 5-petaled. 

 Fruit 3-valved, 1-celled. Seed solitary. Embryo inversed, without a perisperm. 



This genus was established by Gocrtner, but was not acknowledged until 



