156 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



rica, under the name of Hog gum, is furnished by more than one plant of 



this order; Endlicher says it is the product of the Clusia flava ; Dr. 



Macfadyen, that it is derived from the Moronobea coccinea; and Bancroft, that 



it is from a plant allied to Garcinia. 



The Mammea affords a resinous juice, which is used in the West Indies 



to destroy the Chigoe (Culex penetrans) ; the fruit is much esteemed as de- 

 mulcent and pectoral, but the seeds are astrin- 

 Fi £- 87, gent and poisonous. The flowers of several 



species of Clusia abound in a resinous juice, 

 which is used as a vulnerary in some parts of 

 the West Indies (Nicholson, Hist. St. Do- 

 ming. 232). The C. insignis furnishes 

 this product in great abundance ; Martius 

 states that he obtained an ounce from two 

 flowers, in Brazil. This resin, rubbed down 

 with butter of cacao, is employed in the sore 

 breasts of nursing women. 



As previously stated, many of the fruits are 



edible, and highly esteemed, especially those 



of some species of Garcinia, one of which, the 



g. mangostana. Mangosteen, is generally acknowledged to be 



the most delicious of all fruits. The large 



berries of the Platonia insignis, of Brazil, are sweet and pleasant, and the 



seeds have the taste of almonds. 



Order 21.— HYPERICACE^.— Lindley. 



Sepals 4-5, distinct or united at base, persistent. Petals as many as and alternate 

 with the sepals, hypogynous as well as the stamens, which are numerous, and more or 

 less united at base into several parcels. Anthers attached by the middle, introrse. 

 Ovary of 2-5 carpels. Styles slender, persistent. Pericarp baccate or capsular, 2-5- 

 valved. Seeds numerous, small, anatropous, with no albumen. 



This order consists of trees, shrubs, or herbs, having a resinous juice, and 

 variously and largely furnished with glands. The leaves are opposite, entire, 

 not provided with stipules, and closely dotted with small, depressed, resinous 

 glands. The flowers are in most cases yellow, and very often the sepals and 

 petals are marked by dark -coloured glandular dots or lines. The species are 

 very numerous, and are widely dispersed over the world; they are all pos- 

 sessed of aromatic and resinous qualities, and some of them are actively pur- 

 gative. 



Hypericum. — Linn. 



Sepals 5, somewhat equal, foliaceous. Petals 5, oblique. Stamens numerous, scarcely 

 united at base. Styles 3-5, distinct or united, persistent. Pericarp membranaceous, 

 roundish, cells equal in number to the styles. 



This extensive genus contains herbaceous or shrubby species, found in all 

 parts of the world, and of which between thirty to forty are natives of North 

 America. They all possess medicinal properties in a greater or less degree, 

 proportionate to the abundance or otherwise of the oil-bearing glands of the 

 flowers and leaves. Certain species, having a berry instead of a capsular 

 fruit, have been separated under the generic name of Vismia. These are 

 principally natives of tropical climates, and furnish a yellow product, very 

 analogous to gamboge. 



