MORACE^E. 577 



times used as poultices to gum-boils, and other circumscribed maturating 

 tumours. 



One of the most celebrated species is the F. indica, or Banyan Tree, a 

 native of the East Indies, and considered as sacred by the Brahmins. The 

 branches of this tree spread to a great extent, and send down roots, which, 

 striking root, and enlarging in diameter, become new trunks, so that it may 

 gradually cover a great extent of ground. Roxburgh states, that he has 

 seen them full five hundred yards in extent, the main trunk being twenty-five 

 feet to the first branch, and eight or ten feet in diameter. Gum-lac is ob- 

 tained from it; its white, acrid juice, is considered efficacious in toothache, 

 and the bark is regarded, by the Hindoos, as a powerful tonic, and useful in 

 diabetes. A still more venerated species is F. religiosa, or Pippul tree, the 

 Brahmins fabling that their god Vishnu was born under its branches. 

 F. dcemona of India, is pervaded by an extremely poisonous juice, and the 

 leaves of F. septica are emetic, and its fruit so acrid as to be used to destroy 

 fungous flesh. The bark of F. racemosa is astringent, and has been reputed 

 to be efficacious in hematuria and menorrhagia. The juice of the root is a 

 powerful tonic (Ainslie, ii. 30). F. elastica furnishes caoutchouc in India, 

 F. radula, elliplica, and prinoides in South America. The juice of some 

 is very bland, and Lindley states, that some of the Cow-trees, as they are 

 called, from their potable juice, are of this genus. The F. sycamorus fur- 

 nished the imperishable wood of which the Egyptian mummy cases were 

 constructed. 



Dorstenia. — Linn. 



Monoecious ; flowers on a fleshy receptacle, usually flat and expanded, variable in form. 

 Sterile: on the surface of the receptacle, 2-lobed, fleshy, diandrous. Fertile: immersed, 

 also mostly 2-lobed. Ovary J — 2-celled, with a solitary suspended ovule in each cell ; 

 style 1 ; stigma 2-lobed. Seeds lenticular, embedded in the receptacle, projected from it 

 elastically, when ripe. 



A genus of dwarf herbaceous plants, with scaly rhizomes, peculiar to the 

 West Indies and South America. Their rhizomes have long been known 

 under the name of Contrayerva, and attributed, by the various Pharma- 

 copoeias, to one species, but it has been shown by Houston, Martius, and 

 others, that the roots of several kinds are confounded under this appella- 

 tion. 



1. D. brasiliensis, Lam. — Root oblong, woody, praemorse, aromatic. Stemless. Leaves 

 cordate, oblong, obtuse, crenulated, serrated or toothed, cucullate at base. Scape as long 

 as the petioles. Receptacle orbicular, somewhat cup-shaped, crenated at the margin. 



Lamarck, Encyclop. ii. 314; Lindley, Fl. Med. 300; D. cordifoZza, 

 Swartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. 275 ; B. tubicina, Hooker, Bot. Mag. 2804 ; Caa- 

 peba, Marcgrave. 



A native of Brazil and several of the West India Islands. Martius states, 

 that this species is far more efficient than the D. contrayerva, and that it 

 grows on mountains and not in low places, as is the case with the other 

 plants of the genus. The tuberous root is employed as an antidote against 

 the bites of poisonous snakes, and in nervous fevers and general debility. 

 It sometimes acts as a mild emetic. It is much more powerful when fresh 

 than when it has been kept any time. 



37 



