S A L I C A C E M. 



581 



Fig. 254. 



which is known under the name of Liquidambar, 

 Liquid styrax, Copaline balsam, &c, is derived 

 from three of the species. Most of that used in 

 Europe comes from the Levant by way of Trieste, 

 and is furnished by L. orientale; some is also 

 brought from India, and is produced by L.altingia; 

 and part is sent from Mexico, where it is obtained 

 from the L. styraciflna, or Sweet gum, which 

 species is also found in the United States, but pro- 

 duces scarcely any balsam, except in the most 

 southern parts of the country. By boiling the 

 branches, a small quantity may be obtained ; from 

 some experiments I made a few years since in the 

 vicinity of Baltimore, where this tree abounds, I found 

 that it existed in the largest proportion, just before 

 the appearance of the leaves, and in young trees. 



Liquidambar, when pure, is about the consistence of honey, of a yel- 

 lowish colour, of a pleasant balsamic odour, and a bitter, hot, acrid taste. It 

 has the properties of the other balsams, but is seldom employed in this 

 country. 



L. styraciflua. 



Order 97.— SALICACE^.— Lindley. 



Flowers dioecious, amentaceous, naked, or with a membranous, cup-like calyx. Male : 

 stamens distinct or monadelphous. Anthers 2-celled. Female : ovary superior, 1-celled 

 or imperfectly 2-celled. Ovules numerous, erect, anatropal. Styles or stigmas two, often 

 2-cleft. Fruit a sort of follicle, opening by two valves. Seeds numerous, ascending, co- 

 vered with long, silky hairs, springing from their base, exalbuminous. Embryo erect. 

 Radicle inferior. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate, simple leaves, frequently with glands at 

 the edge, or on the petioles, furnished with deciduous or persistent stipules. 

 They are natives of the temperate and cold regions both of the northern and 

 southern hemispheres. This order contains many species that are valuable 

 on account both of their medicinal qualities, and of their use in the arts. 

 They all have a more or less bitter bark, which is astringent and tonic, and 

 contains two peculiar principles, termed Salicine and Populine, tannin, &c. 



Salix. — Linn. 



Flowers dioecious, rarely monoecious, amentaceous, each with a single flexible bract ; a 

 gland around the stamens or ovary. Male : stamens 1 — 5 or more. Anthers 2-lobed, 

 with a longitudinal dehiscence. Female : ovary ovate, 1-celled, many-seeded. Style ter- 

 minal, permanent. Stigmas two. Capsule ovate, 1-celled, with two revolute, concave 

 valves. Seeds numerous. 



A large genus, 

 both hemispheres, 

 very early period, 

 occasionally used, 

 about 1763, when 

 which time it has 

 low is very great, 



principally peculiar to the temperate and cold regions of 

 The bark is tonic and astringent, and was employed at a 

 being spoken of by Dioscorides ; it appears to have been 

 but did not attract much attention from the profession until 

 it was brought forward as a remedy in intermittents, since 

 been frequently prescribed. The number of species of Wil- 

 and as in all of them the bark is analogous, differing only 



