164 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Group XI. — Aur ant i ac ales. 



Order 26.— MJ RANTl ACE JE.—Correa. 



Calyx urceolate or campanulate, 3-5 toothed, marcescent. 

 Fig. 91. 



C. Limonum 

 From a wild specimen from the Himalayan mountains. 

 1. Stamens. 2. Bundle of Filaments and Petals, &c. 3. Cotyledon 

 and Radicle. 4. Disk. 



Petals 3-5, broad at base, 

 slightly imbricated in aes- 

 tivation, inserted on the 

 outside of a hypogynous 

 disk. Stamens equal in 

 number to or some mul- 

 tiple of the petals, inserted 

 on a hypogynous disk ; fil- 

 aments flattened below, 

 sometimes distinct, some- 

 times combined ; anthers 

 terminal innate. Ovary 

 many-celled ; style 1, cylin- 

 drical ; stigma slightly di- 

 vided, somewhat lobed. 

 Fruit pulpy, many-celled, 

 with a leathery indehis- 

 cent rind, abounding with 

 vesicles of volatile oil. 

 Seeds solitary or many, 

 attached to the inner angle 

 of each cell, usually pendu- 

 lous; raphe and chalaza 

 usually very distinctly 

 marked, exalbuminous. 

 Embryo straight; cotyle- 

 dons thick and fleshy. 



This well-marked order is composed of trees and shrubs, with alternate, 

 often compound leaves, always articulated to the petiole, which is frequently 

 winged ; they are smooth and are filled with pellucid glands containing a vola- 

 tile oil. They are almost exclusively natives of the East Indies, but have 

 been spread over most tropical countries by cultivation. The Prince of Neu- 

 wied, however, speaks of a wild orange in Brazil, and Bartram makes 

 frequent allusions to groves of oranges in Florida, supposed to be indi- 

 genous. ( Travels, 244, 253, &c.) A few species have also been found in 

 Madagascar. They all occur within the tropics, with the exception of a spe- 

 cies of Limonia, which is found on the tops of lofty mountains, where it is 

 for months enveloped in snow. (Royle:) 



All the species have a hard and compact wood, and a more or less acid fruit. 

 Besides the orange, lemon, &c, many other plants of this order are deserving 

 of notice. The JEgle marmelos, of India, is much prized in India. From 

 the rind the Dutch in Ceylon prepare a perfume. A decoction of the bark of 

 the root is considered on the Malabar coast as very efficacious in hypochon- 

 driasis and palpitation of the heart ; a decoction of the leaves is employed in 

 asthma, and the unripe fruit in diarrhoea, whilst the mucus surrounding the 

 seeds is a good cement. (Ainslie, ii. 188.) The fruit of the Cookia punc- 

 tata, the Wampee of China, is much esteemed, and the berries of the Glycosmis 

 citrifolia are said to be delicious. The leaves of Feronia elephantum are 

 considered in India as stomachic and carminative, and are given in the bowel 

 complaints of children ; when bruised they have a very fragrant smell, resem- 

 bling anise. A variety of this plant furnishes a gum very analogous to gum 

 Arabic, and used as a substitute for it. (Ainslie, ii. 82.) The author just 

 cited also states that the leaves of the Bergera Kamigii are stomachic and 

 tonic, an infusion of them toasted, allays vomiting, whilst the bark and root 

 are used as stimulants. (Ibid. 139.) 



