170 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



same properties. The C. decumana, or Shaddock, the Pampelmouse of the 

 French, bears the largest fruit of any of the genus ; the pulp is acid, and the 

 rind, as well as the interior dissepiments, are excessively bitter. This rind 

 is superior to that of the bitter orange for medicinal purposes, but is not used 

 in medicine. The C. bergamia, or Bergamot, bears a fruit closely resem- 

 bling the Lemon ; some varieties of it are eatable, and others are used for 

 •preserves, as a substitute for citron, but its chief value is in the quantity of 

 essential oil obtained from it. This article, well known under the name of 

 oil of bergamot, is of a pale greenish colour, a very peculiar but agreeable 

 odour, and is of greater specific gravity than any other of the essential oils 

 furnished by the genus Citrus. Its only use is in perfumery. 



Order 27.— AMYRIDACEiE.— Lindley. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, or sometimes unisexual by abortion. Calyx with 2 — 5 sepals, 

 persistent. Petals 3 — 5, inserted below a disk, arising from the calyx, with a valvate but 

 sometimes an imbricate aestivation. Stamens twice or four times as many as the petals, 

 all fertile. Disk orbicular or annular. Ovary 1 — 5-celled, superior, sessile in or on the 

 disk. Style solitary and compound. Stigmas equal in number to the cells. Fruit hard 

 and dry, 1 — 5-celled, with its outer part often valvular. Seeds exalbuminous. Cotyledons 

 wrinkled, plaited, or amygdaloid. Radicle straight. 



The Amyridacese are all trees or shrubs, abounding in a balsamic juice, and 

 having alternate or opposite leaves, which are ternate or unequally pinnate, 

 sometimes with stipules, and occasionally with pellucid dots. They are all 

 natives of tropical climates ; one species only is found in the United States. 



They are all more or less endowed with remedial properties, and several 

 of them afford products recognised as officinal. Besides these, the resin of 

 Canarium commune has the same properties as Balsam Copaiva, and the 

 nuts, both raw and cooked, form an article of food in Java ; though when 

 raw, they are apt to create some disease of the bowels. The Bursera pani- 

 culata of the Isle of France yields a copious flow of a liquid oil , of a terebin- 

 thinate odour, which soon congeals into a camphor-like consistence. Several 

 species of Hedwigia likewise afford resinous products, useful in medicine and 

 the arts ; thus, the Chibou resin is obtained from the H. gummifera, the 

 Canara from the H. acuminata, and the Baume a sucrier from the H. bal- 

 samifera. 



One of the resins, called Tacamahaca, is from a species of Elaphrium, 

 and the Ideas furnish numerous articles of some utility; the incense wood 

 being derived from I. guianensis ; American Elemi from J. icicariba ; Ame- 

 rican Balm of Gilead from I. car ana, &c. Much of the Elemi of commerce 

 is derived from the Amyris hexandra and plumieri ; the wood of A. bal- 

 samifera furnishes one of the kinds of Lignum rhodium, whilst the A. toxi- 

 fera is said to be poisonous. The leaves of Balanites cegyptiaca are stated 

 to be anthelmintic, and the unripe fruit to be purgative. The bark of Picram- 

 mia ciliata, according to Martius, forms a good substitute for Cascarilla. In 

 short, it would appear that there is scarcely a species belonging to this im- 

 portant order that does not possess some useful qualities. 



Balsamodendron. — Kunth. * 



Flowers irregular. Calyx four-toothed, persistent. Petals four, oblong-linear. Stamens 



