CEDRELACEiE. 177 



the Soymida febrifuga, the Cedrela toona, &c, are possessed of remedial 

 powers. The whole of the species in fact are more or less tonic and astrin- 

 gent. 



Soymida. — Jussieu. 



Sepals 5. Petals spreading, unguiculate. Stamen tube cup-shaped, 10-lobed, each lobe 

 2-toothed, with an anther between the teeth below. Ovary on a disk covering the bottom 

 of the tube, 5-celled ; ovules 12 in each cell. Style short, equal, 5-angled ; stigma pel- 

 tate, 5-angled. Capsule, oblong obovate, 5-celled, 5-valved, dehiscing from the apex, with 

 a thin woody sarcocarp becoming detached from the endocarp, and both from a large 

 permanent 5-angled axis. Seeds pendulous, winged. 



This genus, which is very closely allied to Swietenia, and is included in it 

 by many eminent botanists, consists of trees with abruptly pinnate leaves, 

 having 3-6 pair of opposite leaflets. It is peculiar to the East Indies. 



S. febrifuga, Jussieu. — Leaves alternate ; leaflets 3-4 pair, elliptical, obtuse or emar- 

 ginate, unequal at base. Panicles terminal, divaricate. 



A. Jussieu, Meliac. 98 t. 26 ; Wight and Arnott, i. 122 ; Lindley, Fl. 

 Med. 155; Steph. and Church, ii. 81. 



Description. — A lofty tree with a straight trunk of great thickness, and covered with 

 a gray, rugose, cracked bark. The branches are numerous, the lower ones spreading, 

 the upper ascending, forming a large head. The leaves are alternate and abruptly pin- 

 nate, large and composed of three or four pairs of opposite, petiolate, oval, obtuse or 

 emarginated leaflets, which are smooth and shining, of a bright-green colour. The 

 flowers are very numerous, middle-sized, white and inodorous, disposed in panicles aris- 

 ing from the axils of the upper aborted leaves, and hence appear terminal with small 

 bracts. The calyx is inferior, five cleft, oval and deciduous. The petals are five, obovate, 

 obtuse, concave and spreading. The stamens are ten, united into a tube with the anthers 

 at the mouth within. The ovary is conical, surmounted by a thick tapering style, crowned 

 with a large discoid stigma. The capsule is large, ovate and 5-valved, the valves gaping 

 at top. The seeds are numerous, imbricated, obliquely cuneate, and furnished with a 

 large membranous wing. 



This tree is a native of many parts of the East Indies, where it is called 

 Soymida by the Telingas, and Shemmarum or red-wood tree, on the Coro- 

 mandel coast. It flowers about the end of the cold, and beginning of the 

 hot season, and ripens its seeds in three or four months. The wood is of a 

 dull red colour, very hard and heavy, and is esteemed by the natives as the 

 most durable the country affords. The bark, which is the part used in medi- 

 cine, is .of a dingy red colour, and has a rather pleasant bitter taste, with a 

 slight degree of astringency ; it is brittle, and is covered externally with a 

 rough, gray epidermis. 



It was first brought to the notice of the profession by Dr. Roxburgh, who 

 found it in use among the Hindoo practitioners. It has attracted, however, 

 but little attention in this country or Europe, but is said to be extensively 

 used by the army surgeons in India in all cases in which cinchona is indi- 

 cated. 



Medical Properties,. SfC — This bark is tonic and astringent, and has been 

 found efficacious as a febrifuge in intermittent and remittent fevers. Mr. 

 Breton, who published a paper on it in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions 

 (v. ii.), states that in these diseases he has put the bark to the fairest possible 

 test, and with uniform success, and is of opinion that it answers every pur- 

 pose of the Peruvian, in allaying irritability and restoring strength. This is 

 confirmed by the testimony of many practitioners, who all agree in support of 

 the observations of Mr. Breton, and add that it is better retained on the sto- 

 mach when in substance and in greater quantities than cinchona. Dr. 

 Ainslie [Mat. Ind. i. 124) also recommends it, but says that if the doses 



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