176 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



unlike leather, but yielding a strong aromatic perfume." He further states 

 that on an incision being made into it, a milky juice exudes which soon hardens, 

 and that the young trees produce the best gum. This gum is collected by 

 the natives and sold to the Arabs, by whom it is sold to the merchants. Royle, 

 {Mat. Med. 333,) states that this tree has been identified by Mr. Bennet, of 

 the British Museum, with Ploslea floribunda, Endlicher, but that it appears to 

 be a Boswellia. 



At one time it was generally supposed, on the authority of Linnseus, that 

 Olibanum was obtained from the Juniperus lycia, a native of the south of 

 Europe; but this was found to be erroneous, and it was then attributed to 

 several different plants. Mr. Colebrooke has, however, satisfactorily shown 

 that what comes from India, is afforded by the Boswellia under consideration, 

 but it is very likely that the variety from Africa is derived from other plants. 

 That from India is esteemed the best, and is by far the most common in com- 

 merce. 



Olibanum, or Frankincense, was well known to the ancients, and was used 

 by them as now by Roman Catholics, in their religious ceremonies. It is the 

 Lebonah of the Hebrews, and is noticed by Moses in Exodus (xxx.) ; their 

 knowledge of it was most probably derived from the Egyptians, who, like all 

 the pagan nations of antiquity, used it largely as an incense to mask the un- 

 pleasant emanations arising from the sacrifices offered in their temples. The 

 article then used, was all mostly derived from Abyssinia and Ethiopia, as the 

 communication with India at that time, especially by the Greeks and Romans, 

 was very uncertain, though the more eastern nations of Egyptians and He- 

 brews had a large commerce with that distant land. 



Olibanum is now rarely used in medicine, though formerly it was em- 

 ployed in chronic discharges from the mucous membranes, and formed an in- 

 gredient in several stimulating plasters. An analysis of it. by BraConnot, 

 shows that it is composed of about one half of a resin soluble in alcohol, of 

 a gum soluble in water, of a resin insoluble in either, and of some volatile oil. 

 It is in the form of semi-transparent masses or tears, of a pale yellowish or 

 pink colour, solid, hard and brittle. It has a bitterish acrid taste, and when 

 chewed, sticks to the teeth and renders the saliva milky. 



Order 28.— CEDRELACEjE.— R. Brown. 



Sepals 4-5, united or distinct. Petals as many as the sepals, distinct, sometimes un- 

 guiculate ; aestivation twisted. Stamens twice as many as the petals, unequal, some 

 abortive ; filaments united in a tube, or distinct, inserted on a hypogynous disk ; anthers 

 introrse. Ovary with as many cells as petals, surrounded by the discoid torus ; styles 

 and stigmas united into one, the latter 3-5-angled, discoid. Fruit, a woody 2-5-celled, 

 3-5-valved capsule with septicidal dehiscence. Seeds anatropous, many or few in a cell, 

 imbricated in two rows, flat and winged, not arilled ; albumen thin and fleshy or none. 

 Embryo with thick foliaceous cotyledons and a very small radicle. 



This order is very closely allied to the next in many particulars, but differs 

 in the aestivation and in the seeds. It consists of trees with a very hard and 

 durable wood, which is often fragrant and resinous. The leaves are alter- 

 nate, pinnate, and exstipulate. The flowers are in terminal panicles, perfect, 

 or sometimes diclinous by the abortion of the ovary or stamens. They are 

 natives of warm climates, and many of the species are of great importance 

 in the arts: thus, the wood of the Swiete?iia mahogoni, and perhaps other 

 species affords the Mahogany so much used in furniture; the Cedrela odorata, 

 that employed for the boxes in which segars are packed. Others, again, as 



