454 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



Toothache tree {Xanthoxylon fraxineum). A small tree 

 Avith pinnate leaves, native of North America ; it lives in 

 the open air in this country. Its bark is famed for the cure 

 of toothache. 



Xanthoxylon clava-Herculis. A native of the West Indies ; 

 it furnishes the black prickly walking-sticks often seen. 

 X. piperita, the Pepper Tree of Japan, has berries about the 

 size of black pepper, which are iised as such in Japan. Both 

 have been introduced into this country, but they are not 

 sufficiently hardy to bear the climate. 



The Bean- caper Family. 



(ZyGOPHYLL ACE ^. ) 



Trees, shrubs, or herbs. Leaves opposite, firm or soft, 

 once or twice winged, consisting of one or more pairs of 

 leaflets. Flowers solitary or in racemes. Petals 4 or 5. 

 Stamens varying in number from 4 to 12, their base dilated. 

 Fruit a dry or fleshy capsule, 4 or 5 angled or winged. 



This family consists of 100 or more species widely dis- 

 tributed in temperate and tropical countries ; in some places 

 forming extensive tracts of desert scrub. 



Lignum-vitae {Guaiacim officinale). A small tree, rising 

 to the height of 20 or 30 feet, having a round head of stiff 

 branches, and conjugate winged leaves, the whole of a 

 yelloAvish tinge, and producing clusters of pretty blue 

 flowers like Hepatica. It is a native of Jamaica and other 

 West India Islands, and of parts of tropical America. Its 

 wood is extremely hard, and contains a resin known as Gum 

 Guaiacum, which has long been in use as a medicine. The 

 wood, although of small size, is of great importance, and is 

 extensively used in the dockyards, its hardness making it 

 well suited for pulleys and the bearings of steam machi- 

 nery. 



Bean-caper {Zygopliyllum Fahago). A desert plant, 2 to 

 3 feet high, native of Syria, Egypt, and North Ajfrica. It is 

 a soft-leaved shrub, having the leaves in pairs. Its flower 



