550 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



gury, &c, but is seldom employed in Europe or this country. The bark 

 of the tree has the smell of fennel and cloves, and an aromatic taste. An- 

 other species, N. puchury minor, yields somewhat similar nuts, which are 

 said, by Humboldt, to be the Sassafras nuts of the London shops. The 

 bark resembles Sassafras when fresh, but is scentless and tasteless when 

 dry. The most important tree of this genus is N. rodiai, which there is 

 reason to believe affords the Bebeeru bark so highly spoken of within a few 

 years past in the treatment of paroxysmal diseases. It owes its properties 

 to the presence of a peculiar alkaloid, to which its discoverer, Mr. Rodie, 

 gives the name of Bebeeria ; from the trials made with this substance, it 

 promises to be a most vajuable addition to the Materia Medica, as it is fully 

 equal to Quinia in its febrifuge powers, and can be sold at a much lower 

 price. (See Dunglison, New Remedies, 117.) 



The bark of Dicypellium caryophyttatum has the odour of cloves, and a 

 hot, clove-like, peppery taste, and is a powerful tonic. The wood is known 

 in Guiana under the name of " Rosewood," and Martius speaks of the tree 

 as the noblest of the American laurels. Several species of Oreodaphne are 

 valuable on account of their wood ; thus the yellow, durable wood called in 

 Jamaica, " Sweet wood," is that of O.exaltata ; that known under the name 

 of " Til" in the Canary Islands, and which has an extremely unpleasant 

 smell, is from O. fastens ; the " Siraballi" of Demarara is also produced by 

 a species of this genus. The bark of O. cupularis resembles cinnamon in 

 its properties, and has been called " Isle of France Cinnamon." Another 

 species, 0. opifera of Brazil, abounds so plentifully in a volatile oil, that 

 several quarts may be speedily obtained from a single incision. This oil is 

 reputed to be an excellent discutient. The fruit also yields a fragrant oil, 

 much used in Brazil in pains in the limbs, contractions of the joints, &c. 

 [Martius.) 



The fruit of Tetranthera roxburghii contains much fatty matter, which is 

 employed, by the Chinese, as a substitute for tallow in the manufacture of 

 candles. Besides those already noticed, there are several trees of this order 

 that furnish fruits analogous to nutmegs in flavour; thus the Camara or 

 Ackawai nutmeg is the product of Acrodiclidium camara, and is considered 

 in Guiana as a most valuable remedy in bowel diseases. The Clove nut- 

 megs of Madagascar are the fruit of Agathophylhim aromaticum, and the 

 Brazilian of Cryptocarya moschata. The berries of Daphnidium cubeba, 

 originally noticed by Loureiro as a Laurus, and not described since his 

 time, are powerfully aromatic, and are used, according to that author, not 

 only as a condiment, but also as an almost universal remedy. (Flor. Cochin. 

 310.) 



Laurus. — Linn. 



Flowers unisexual or perfect, involucrated. Calyx 4-parted ; segments equal, decidu- 

 ous. Fertile stamens 12, in 3 rows ; the outermost alternate with the segments of the 

 calyx, all with 2 glands ; anthers oblong, 2-celled, looking inwards. Female flowers with 

 2—4 sterile stamens around the ovary. Stigma capitate. Fruit succulent, seated in the 

 irregular base of the calyx. Umbels axillary. 



A small genus of evergreen plants, but which, at one time, included 

 most of the species of the order. As now constituted, it is of little im- 

 portance in a medical point of view, the only plant belonging to it that 

 is deserving of notice being the L. nobilis, or " Sweet Bay." This 



