552 THE GUARANA OF BRAZIL. 



" Necked Pine," which, proved to be another pistillate of the same 

 Illinois species, although bearing a foreign title. Prof. Huntsman (our 

 closest observer of the strawberry) and myself tested both, and we had 

 many a laugh about the supposed voyage across the Atlantic. Mr. 

 Hooper, also, author of the " Western Fruit Book," who resides within 

 a mile of Cincinnati, states that the "pistillate Keen" came from 

 Indiana. Many of us were then cultivating the true Keen's Seedling 

 and Imperial, which my father had received from the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society, and which were the same as have been cultivated 

 here and in Europe down to the present period. Neither will produce 

 a full crop unless attended by a pine staminate. At the present 

 time, it is the male organs of all the European hermaphrodite pine 

 varieties, and not the female organs, as Mr. Wray, in common with 

 others, supposed, that demand an application of a corrective by 

 staminates. 

 Flushing, Long Island, N.Y. 



[Mr. Prince then furnishes a detailed description of the several 

 species and cultivated varieties, European and American, extending 

 over about 10 pages, which is too specially horticultural to be given in 

 detail in our pages. — Editor.] 



THE GUARANA OF BRAZIL. 



In a paper read by Mr. T. C. Archer before the Botanical Society of 

 Edinburgh in April last, that gentleman furnished the following parti- 

 culars respecting Paullinia Sorhilis, Mart, and its products. 



There is no more remarkable plant in the order Sapindacese, if re- 

 garded from an economic point of view, than Paullinia sorbilis, although 

 as a plant it is not well known to the botanical world. From its large 

 seeds is manufactured the substance called Guarana, which is exten- 

 sively used in Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and other parts of South 

 America, as a nervous stimulant and restorative. The seeds, deprived of 

 their coverings, are pounded into a paste, which, hardened in the sun ? 

 constitutes Guarana. It is used both as a remedy for various diseases, 

 and also as a material for making a most refreshing beverage ; and it 

 adds another of those incidents so puzzling in human history, of the 

 discovery of these qualities in plauts least likely to be suspected ; such, 

 for instance, as that of the leaves of tea, the seeds of coffee and cacav, 

 the leaves and twigs of the various American Ilexes and other plants 

 should have this wonderful restorative effect on the nervous system, and 

 that this should not be a mere vague notion, such as attaches to thou- 

 sands of other plants, but that it should really depend upon the pre- 

 sence oi a chemical principle the same in all, and the operation of which 



