STYRACACEiE. 437 



yields a fruit much esteemed in that country and China, but is said to be apt 

 to cause dysentery (Kcempfer, Amcen. Acad. 85). That of the D. nigra is 

 very large, and is eaten in the Philippine Islands. 



The Embryoteris gluti?iosa, a native of India, has a fruit of a rusty yellow 

 colour, as large as an apple, affording a very astringent juice, which is so 

 glutinous that it is used in Bengal to pay the bottoms of boats ; it is also 

 employed as an application to wounds. 



Order 68.—STYRACACEM.—Lindky. 



Calyx inferior or superior, 5-parted, persistent. Corolla monopetalous, often differing in 

 the number of its divisions from those of the calyx ; aestivation imbricated. Stamens 

 unequal, more or less coherent; anthers innate, two-celled. Ovary superior or adhering 

 to the calyx ; three to five-celled ; style simple ; somewhat capitate. Fruit drupaceous, 

 surmounted by or enclosed in the calyx, with one to five cells. 



A small order, closely allied to Ebenacece, and by some botanists deemed 

 a section of it, but differing in many important points, and especially in its 

 general properties. It consists of trees and shrubs with alternate exstipulate 

 leaves, generally dentate, and becoming yellow on drying. The flowers are 

 axillary, either solitary or clustered, with scale-like bracts. The species are 

 generally inhabitants of warm climates, a few only occurring in the cold lati- 

 tudes. 



The properties of the species are various. Some afford a balsamic resin- 

 ous juice, as in Sty r ace ; others have tinctorial properties and some degree of 

 astringency, thus the Hopea tinctoria of the Southern States has a bitter 

 and aromatic root, which is esteemed as a valuable stomachic, and the leaves, 

 which have a sweet taste, dye wool and silk of a bright-yellow colour. The 

 Bobna laurina is celebrated in Bengal for its bark, which forms a mordant 

 for red dyes. The leaves of Alstonia theceformis of South America, are 

 used in Santa Fe as a substitute for the Chinese article, and are said to be 

 sudorific and stomachic. [Plant. JEquin. i. t. 51.) 



Styrax. — Linn. 



Calyx somewhat campanulate, entire or five-toothed. Corolla campanulate, three to 

 seven-cleft. Stamens six to sixteen, exserted ; filaments united to tube of corolla ; an- 

 thers linear, two-celled, dehiscing internally. Style simple, with an obtuse, somewhat 

 lobed stigma. Fruit dry, splitting imperfectly into two or three valves, with one to three 

 stones. Seeds solitary, erect. 



A genus of a few species of which one half are natives of North America. 

 They all abound in a fragrant juice, which in two of the foreign species when 

 in an inspissated state is officinal under the names of Storax and Benzoin. 



S. officinale, Linn. — Leaves ovate, villous beneath. Racemes simple, shorter than the 

 leaf. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 635; Woodville, t. 71 ; Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. ii. 516 ; 

 Lindley, Plor. Med. 390. 



Common Name. — Storax tree. 



Foreign Names. — Storax, Fr. ; Storaco, It.; Storax, Ger. 



