I NAT. ORDER. ROSACEiE. 160 
our hazel, and that it varies with white flowers. It is well known 
that the inhabitants of India are extremely partial to whatever is 
red — they consider it as a color which tends to exhilarate ; and 
hence they not only cultivate this plant universally, but use its 
flowers on all occasions of festivity ; and even in their sepulchral 
rites. There are also many other purposes to which these flowers 
are applied, and which, however, is little consistent with their ele- 
gance and beauty — that of blacking shoes, whence their name of 
Rosa calceolaria : the shoes, after the color is imparted to them, 
are rubbed with the hand, to give them a gloss, and which there- 
by gives them a bluish tinge, to discharge which, they have recourse 
to lemon juice. 
With us, in this country, it flourishes only as a greenhouse 
plant, and blossoms very freely, during most of the summer 
months. The single blossoms last but a short time, yet their su- 
periority, arising from the curious and beautiful structure of the 
interior parts of the flowers, compensates well for the shortness of 
their duration. 
Medical Froperties and Uses. The seeds have been considered 
stimulant and anti-spasmodic ; but are now used only in perfumery. 
The Arabs flavor their coffee with them. They have also been 
used to a considerable extent in the adulteration of musk. There 
is another species, the Hibiscus esculentus, or Ahelmosclius esculentus, 
•w^hich is cultivated under the name of okra, hendee, or goinho, in 
various parts of Europe, principally for its fruit, which abounds in 
mucilage, and is much employed for thickening soup. The leaves 
are sometimes employed for preparing emollient poultices. This 
plant has also obtained considerable celebrity as a remedy for 
croup, taken intei'nally in the form of decoction, and externally 
applied as a poultice. The decoction is prepared by adding one 
ounce of the dried leaves to one quart of diluted alcohol : let it 
stand for fourteen days : then filter. Dose, from two drachms, to 
half a fluid ounce : that of the powder, from five to ten grains. 
