i64 
LAURUS SASSAFRAS. 
large proportion of bassorine. The ethereal tincture, when evapo- 
rated on water, affords a resin less pungent than that of black pepper, 
but more permanent, in other respects the constituents of long 
pepper are similar to those of the black. 
The medicinal virtues of long pepper correspond with those of 
white pepper, hence it may be used under the same circumstance, 
and in similar doses. We are told that the Vytians on the coast of 
Coromandel prescribe it in the form of infusion, mix^d with a little 
honey, in catarrhal affections, to relieve the chest when loaded with 
phlegm ; that the root is a favorite medicine of the Hindoos,* 
that it possesses the virtues of the berry but in a weaker degree, 
and is prescribed by them in cases of palsy, tetanus, and apoplexy. 
Long pepper forms one of the ingredients in the compound tincture 
of cinnamon of the London and Dublin Pharmacopoeias. 
Off. The Fruit. 
^ 
LAURUS SASSAFRAS. 
Sassafras Laurel.-\ 
Class Enneandria. —Order Monogynia. 
Nat. Ord. Olerace^, Linn. Lauri, Jms. 
Gen. Char. Calyx none. Corolla calycine, six-parted. 
Nectary of three two-bristled glands, surrounding the ger- 
men. Interior Filaments glanduliferous. Drupe one- 
seeded. 
Spec. Char. Leaves ovate, entire, two or three-lobed. 
This species of laurel is a native of North America, and is 
found in every latitude from New England to Florida, it was first 
cultivated in Britain about the year 1633, and is now to be met 
* Ainslie's Mat. Ind. vol. i. p. 309, 310. 
+ Fig. a. a flower, magnified. 6. The fruit. 
