590 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



J. regia. 



ringworm and tetter ; and a decoction has 

 been given as a vermifuge with some success. 

 J. regia, or English Walnut, is well known 

 for its edible nuts, and is frequently cultivated 

 on this account. In its native country it is 

 stated by Spencer, ( Trav. in Circassia, <J*c.,) 

 to afford a sweet, clear juice, which is consi- 

 dered to be valuable in diseases of the lungs 

 and general debility. The very young fruit, 

 bruised, and formed into a conserve, by boil- 

 ing with sugar, forms a mild purgative ; in a 

 more advanced stage they are much used for 

 pickling. The rind has been recommended 

 as an anthelmintic. From the kernels much 

 oil is extracted, especially in Cashmere, 

 where, according to Mr. Vigne [Travels in 

 Kashmir), 12,000 ass loads of them are 

 annually employed in this way. The oil 

 is used both for food and for bu miner. 



The other plants of this order have little interest in a medical point of view, 

 but the timber of the different species of Carya is well known under the name 

 of Hickory, and is much esteemed on account of the hardness and elasticity 

 of the wood. Their leaves are usually aromatic, and are stated to possess 

 antispasmodic properties. Their bark is tinctorial, and in those species hav- 

 ing bitter nuts, as C. amara and C. porcina, is somewhat astringent. Some 

 of them bear fruit that is much esteemed, as that of the C. olivceformis or 

 Peccan nut, and C. sulcata or Shellbark. 



Group XL I. — Euphorbiales. 



Order 101.— EUPHORBIACE^.— Jussieu. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, arranged in various ways, often in an involucre re- 

 sembling a calyx. Calyx inferior, with various glandular or scaly internal appendages 

 (sometimes wanting). Corolla absent, or consisting of petals or scales equal in number 

 to, or more than the sepals, or monopetalous. Stamens definite or indefinite, distinct or 

 monadelphous ; anthers 2-celled, sometimes opening by pores. Ovary of 2 — 9 more or 

 less united carpels, usually stalked ; styles as many as carpels, distinct, coherent or want- 

 ing; stigma compound, or single with many lobes. Fruit usually tricoccous, of 3 carpels, 

 usually opening elastically by one or both sutures, sometimes fleshy and indehiscent. 

 Seeds with a large embryo, in a fleshy albumen, suspended, often with an aril. 



This very extensive order is most abundant in tropical regions, but species 

 are to be found in all parts of. the world, from 50 to 60 being natives of 

 North America. It consists of trees, shrubs, and herbs, some of which are 

 leafless, succulent plants, of a deformed unsightly appearance. A great 

 number of them are poisonous ; the deleterious principle residing in a milky 

 secretion, and in many cases is proportionate to the quantity of the fluid; but 

 this is not always the case, as in some instances they yield caoutchouc, and 

 the source whence this article is obtained is principally the Siphoyiia elastica, 

 but numerous plants, both of this and other orders, likewise afford this 

 substance. The order has been divided into several tribes, most of which 

 include medicinal plants. 



