2J2 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



without stipules, and often marked with lines or pellucid dots. The species 

 differ widely from each other, but all have unsymmetrical flowers, the petals 

 have an appendage, and the embryo is curved or spiral. They are princi- 

 pally natives of tropical regions, though some are found in more temperate 

 climates. 



Their physical properties are very various, but a saponaceous principle 

 appears to be very general in the fruits or seeds ; but in some is very slight, 

 or so modified as to be scarcely perceptible. Thus the berries of Sapindus 

 saponaria and others lather freely with water, and are used in the West 

 Indies as a substitute for soap. The seeds of the various kinds of Horse 

 Chestnut also possess this property. 



Many of them, however, are edible, and in some cases delicious; for in- 

 stance, the Longan and Litchee are the product of species of Nephelium. 

 The Fruta de Parao, a sweet and pleasant Brazilian fruit,- is derived from the 

 Schmidelia edulis. The Melicocca bijugis of the West Indies bears agree- 

 able, sub-acid drupes. Some species of Sapindus also afford edible berries, 

 &c. But the products of this order are always suspicious, and even where 

 the fruit may be partaken of with impunity, the seeds are oftentimes injuri- 

 ous ; for example, although the drupes of Nephelium, can be freely eaten, the 

 seeds are exceedingly bitter, and in Sapindus they are actively poisonous. 

 The nuts of the Horse Chestnut also contain a bitter, narcotic principle ; and 

 in various species of Paullinia a deleterious constituent is much developed, 

 especially in P. pinnata, the whole abounding in an acrid juice, from 

 which the natives of Brazil prepare a potent poison, which is capable of 

 slowly but certainly destroying life ; from the P. curruru the savages of 

 Guiana obtain a venom for their arrows, and from P.cupana an intoxicating 

 drink is prepared. 



The most interesting product of this order is that of the P. sorbilis, the 

 seeds of which' are used in Brazil to prepare a cake or bread, called Guar ana; 

 according to Martius, this is pounded and mixed with sweetened water, and 

 is esteemed stomachic, febrifuge, and aphrodisiac ; he says that it is cer- 

 tainly endowed with great powers, and states that it is very useful in diseases 

 of the urinary organs; in Brazil it is considered as an indispensable requisite 

 for travellers, on account of its restorative qualities. It owes its powers to 

 the presence of a peculiar principle called Guaranine, which appears to be 

 identical in composition with theine and caffeine. (See Dunglison, New Re- 

 medies, 489.) 



Many other plants of this order are useful in medicine and the arts. The 

 root of Cardiospermum halicacabum is sudorific, diuretic, andaperient ; and 

 on the Malabar coast the leaves are considered efficacious in pulmonic affec- 

 tions (Ainslie, ii. 204). The Dodonceas are somewhat aromatic ; but the 

 wood of D. angustifolia is said by Thunberg to be purgative. The root of 

 Schmidelia serrata is employed in India to check obstinate diarrhoea (Ainslie, 

 ii. 413). 



jEsculus. — Linn. 



Calyx 5-toothed, campanulate. Petals 4 — 5, irregular, unequal. Leaves palmate, 5 — 7 

 foliolate. Flowers in terminal racemes or panicles. 



This genus, which contains many species, is almost exclusively North 

 American, and has been variously divided by botanists from the armed and 

 unarmed character of the fruit, &c. ; but the differences pointed out are 

 scarcely sufficient to entitle these divisions to more than sectional, or at most 



