216 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



It has been employed from time immemorial, and is extensively used by 

 the natives as a restorative when engaged in any laborious work, as in long 

 journeys, mining, &c. They insist that it prevents hunger, and enables them 

 to undergo the most severe toil with impunity. From the accounts of recent 

 travellers, there appears to be no doubt of its powerful stimulant powers, and 

 of its restorative qualities when the body is exhausted by exertions of any 

 kind ; and also of its finally injuring the constitutions of those using it, in an 

 irreparable manner. No correct analysis has been made of it. The active 

 principle appears to be volatile, as it does not afford any peculiar product on 

 distillation. A full account of it is given in Hooker's Companion to Bot. 

 Magazine, 1, and Ruschenberger, Three Years in the Pacific, 176. 



Group XV. — Rhamnales. 



Order 40.— RHAMNACE^.— Lindley. 



Calyx 4 — 5-cleft, aestivation valvate. Petals 4 — 5, sometimes wanting, inserted in the 

 orifice of the calyx. Stamens equal in number to the petals, with introrse or versatile 

 anthers. Ovary of 2 — 4 united carpels, 2 — 4-celled, each with a solitary ovule. Styles • 

 more or less united. Stigmas usually distinct, simple. Fruit sometimes dry and capsu- 

 lar, dehiscing by three valves, sometimes fleshy and indehiscent. Seed erect, not arilled, 

 albumen fleshy. Embryo erect. Radicle short. Cotyledons large, flat. 



The Rhamnacese consist of trees and shrubs, with oftentimes thorny 

 branches. The leaves are simple, alternate, rarely opposite, and mostly 

 furnished with very small stipules. The flowers are small, usually of a 

 whitish or greenish-white colour, sometimes monoecious, dioecious, or poly- 

 gamous by abortion. The species are found in most parts of the world, 

 except in the arctic zone. 



The properties of the various plants of this order are very diversified. The 

 fruit of some of them is actively purgative, as in Rhamnus ; in others, as in 

 Zizyphus, it is nutritive and demulcent ; thus some 

 of the species, as Z. vulgaris, jujuba, dec, furnish 

 the gummy extract known as jujube paste. The 

 berries of Z. lotus, or lote-bush, are much used for 

 food among the Arabs. In Hovenia dulcis the 

 peduncle becomes much enlarged and succulent, 

 and is in great repute in China as a fruit, resem- 

 bling a fine pear in taste. Several others also fur- 

 nish edible fruits. 



Some species are astringent, hydragogue, dec. 

 The bark of Zizyphus joazeiro is bitter and astrin- 

 gent, with some acridity ; that of Z. napcea is used 

 as a remedy in windy colic. The leaves of Z. tri- 

 nervius are employed in India as alteratives in chronic cutaneous and vene- 

 real affections (Ainslie, ii. 69). Anti-syphilitic virtues are also attributed to 

 Berchemia volubilis ; and the bark of the B. lineata is said to be hydra- 

 gogue. 



Rhamnus. — Li?m. 



Calyx 4 — 5-cleft, often circumscissile after flowering, the lower part permanent. 

 Petals 4 — 5, or none. Stamens inserted opposite the petals. Styles 2 — 4, connate. 

 Fruit baccate, 2 — 4-celled. Seeds with a deep groove. 



