STERCULlACEiE. 159 



ovate or angular, winged or woolly ; albumen rarely wanting, oily or fleshy. Embryo 

 straight or curved. 



These plants are large trees or shrubs, with alternate simple or compound, or 

 even digitate leaves, with free deciduous stipules. The inflorescence is various. 

 Nearly all the species are tropical, or at least natives of warm climates ; some 

 of them are of prodigious size; the Adansonia having been found with a trunk 

 of 30 feet in diameter, and some species of Bombax and Ceiba are of almost 

 as gigantic dimensions. 



They are chiefly remarkable for the abundance of mucilage they con- 

 tain, but some of them have more efficient properties. The leaves of the 

 Adansonia are reduced to powder in Africa, in which state it is called Lab, 

 and mixed with their food by the negroes, they being of opinion that it tends 

 to diminish perspiration ; it has also been found useful in bowel complaints. 

 The juice of the fruit is used as a drink in fevers, (Bot. Mag. 2792.) The dried 

 pulp mixed with water is considered efficacious in dysentery, and from the 

 experiments of Dr. L. Frank, it would seem that its virtues have not been 

 overrated, (Delile. Cent. 12.) The fruit forms an object of commerce in 

 Africa, and is transported to great distances. When burnt, the ashes are mixed 

 with palm oil to form a soap. 



The powder 'of the capsules of the Helicteres isora is used in India, made 

 into an ointment with castor oil, in ulcerations of the ears, (Ainslie, ii. 447,) 

 and Rheede states that a decoction of the fruits and leaves is useful in fevers, 

 catarrh, &c. (Hort. Malab. vi. 55.) Sloane and Lunan speak of the 

 efficacy of the juice of the root of a Jamaica species in stomach affections, 

 and St. Hilaire found the H. sacarolha used in Brazil in venereal complaints, 

 (P/. usuelles. Bras. lib. 13,) and Martius says that the Myrodia angustifolia 

 is employed for the same purpose. Many species of Sterculia are likewise 

 resorted to for remedial purposes. The S. tragacantha furnishes the Sierra 

 Leone tragacanth, and the S. urens, of India, affords a similar product. The 

 pod of S.foctida is employed in Java against gonorrhoea, whilst the leaves 

 are considered aperient and revulsive, (Horsejield ;) the bark of S. balanghas 

 has some reputation in the Moluccas as an emmenagogue. The seeds of 

 several of the African species are employed in Africa to pi<r g 



render brackish and semi-putrid water palatable, and are 



spoken of by travellers under the name of Kola nuts. 

 One of the most curious plants of this order is the 



Cheiroslemon platanoides, or Hand-tree of Mexico ; the 



flower of this has no petals, but a large angular calyx, 



somewhat resembling a leather cup, from the centre 



of which rises up a column, bearing five narrow curved 



anthers, with a curved style in the centre, looking like 



a hand with claws. It was known to the Mexicans by 



the unpronounceable name of Macpahcochiquauthitl. 



Only one tree was known, near Toluca, which they con- 

 sider as holy. c ^anoides. 



Order 24.— BYTTNERIACE^.— R. Brown. 



Calyx herbaceous, membranous or coriaceous, 4-5 lobed, valvate in aestivation. Co- 

 rolla none, or of as many petals as there are lobes in the calyx, either flat, but twisted in 

 aestivation, or arched and ligulate ; folded inwards towards the edges and valvate in aesti- 

 vation, permanent or deciduous. Stamens hypogynous, definite, opposite the petals, or 

 twice as many, half only fertile and opposite the petals, or indefinite, as many being bar- 

 ren as there are sepals and opposite to them, usually united in a tube. Anthers introrse, 

 3-celled, with a longitudinal dehiscence, rarely by a cleft or pore near the apex. Ovary 

 free, sessile, or on a short pedicel, composed of 4-10 carpels, around a central column, or 



