ON THE CASCARILLA BARK, ETC. 283 



remedy in the treatment of ulcers and other cutaneous affections, and 

 administered internally in copious warm draughts to promote diaphoresis 

 in the first stages oi febrile and other inflammatory complaints, both by 

 the Creole negro soldiers, and the inhabitants of the island. This species 

 appears to have been introduced into England by Dr. Houston prior to 

 1733, and was subsequently cultivated in some of the public gardens. 



VI. Sea-side Balsam or Sage. 

 (Croton balsamiferum, Linn.) 



Croton balsamiferum, Linn. Mant. 125. 



Croton balsamiferum, Jacquin, American t. 162, f. 3 ; Pict. p. 124- 

 242. Hort. Botan. Vindob. vol. iii. t. 46. 



Croton fruticosum erectum, et subvillosum, foliis cordato-acuminatis 

 spicif terminalibus, Browne, Hist. Jam., p. 347. 



Croton balsamifer Grisebach Flor. Brit. W. I. Isl. vol. i. p. 38. 



This well-marked species flourishes in many of the West India 

 islands, as also in several of the Bahamas. In that of New Providence 

 it is usually found, more or less under cultivation in the gardens, or on 

 the outskirts of the town of Nassau ; hence, probably it has been in- 

 troduced and naturalised from other localities. Tradition also asserts 

 that this comprehended one, among other favourite plants, resorted to 

 by the Caribs for remedial purposes. Its reputation as a medicine has 

 not declined since their extinction, for manifold preparations from the 

 shrub still attest the popular esteem in which it is held by the various 

 populations of the above islands. 



Owing either to its odoriferous qualities, or from an imaginary 

 resemblance to the rugose leaves of our garden Sage {Salvia officinalis), 

 this and some other Crotons have received the title of Sage or Sea-side 

 Sage. Hence an infusion of the leaves, prepared in a similar manner 

 to that from the Salvia in England and America, is also termed Sage- 

 tea. The designation of Balsam, frequently conjoined with it, appears 

 to have been derived from the circumstance of a thick, yellowish 

 aromatic sap exuding from the extremities of the broken branches, or 

 wherever the stem has been wounded. Jacquin has furnished brief 

 detailed outlines of this species in several of his works, remarking that 

 it was called in Martinique by the name of Petit Beaume, or Little 

 Balsam. 



The stem is erect, with a grey or pale-brown epidermis. Branchlets 

 pale-yellow, more or less clothed with stellate hairs. Leaves long- 

 petiolate, broad, ovate-lanceolate, pointed, perforated by pellucid dots, 

 pale-green, smooth, or partially covered with stellate down on upper 

 surface, pale-yellow, hoary, densely studded with intricate stellate hairs 

 with two urceolate glands at the base beneath. Spike simple. Inflo- 

 rescence terminal, flowers white, sometimes faintly tinged with yellow. 

 Male and female on same spike. Fruit consists of an oblong, roundish 

 capsule, one-third less in size than that of the C. Eluteria, Benn. Peri- 



