94 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



12. Raiz de Pipi, or of Guinea. Petiveria tetrandia^ 

 Gomez, loc. cit. p. 17. A decoction of the whole plant 

 is used in repeated warm baths and lotions, it being con- 

 sidered very efficacious in defective contractibility of the 

 muscles, or total paralysis of the extremities, especially 

 when originating in cold. 



13. FuMOBRAVo or SuASSUAYA. Agerati spccies. Seve- 

 ral female practitioners {Curadeiras) praise the decoction 

 of this plant as a surprising remedy in inflammatory 

 catarrhs, and affections of the chest. The fresh juice 

 expressed from it, when cleared of the fecula contained 

 in it, is said to act as a lithontripticon. 



14. Carachichu or Erva Moira. Solanum nigrum, L. 

 The bruised herb is applied either in warm cataplasms, 

 or in baths, in painful wounds, and in general, in inflam- 

 matory cases, with a predominant excitement of the ner- 

 vous system. This is one of the few plants, which, since 

 the settlement of the Europeans have become naturalised, 

 and have spread over the whole of the new continent. 



15. Trepoe R A VA, or Tr«pw^r«m. Tradescantia diuretica^ 

 Mart. ( Caule erecto glabra, foliis ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis 

 serrulato-ciliatis, suhtus pubescentibus, vaginis ventricosis hir- 

 sutis longe ciliatis, pedunculis geminis terminalibus umbellato- 

 multifloris.) The stalks and leaves are used in baths, as a 

 mollifying and saponaceous remedy, in rheumatic pains in 

 the muscles, obstructions of the abdominal functions by 

 cold, &c. ; and in spasmodic retention of urine. 



16. AsAPEixE is the name here given to the Bohmeria 

 caudata, Sw. A decoction of its leaves in baths, is pre- 

 scribed in hemorrhoidal complaints, and is said to produce 

 extraordinary effects. In the northern parts of Brazil, 

 where that plant does not grow, they use, instead of it, several 

 kinds of Bohmet^ia and of Urtica. The family of the 

 UrticaccE seem, from the favourable results of the general 

 use made of them, to be very useful in disorders affecting 



