94 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
Stamens eight, inserted round the disk. Ovary round, one or two-celled. Style 
short, capitate. Fruit a globular two-celled, or by abortion one-celled, drupe. Seeds 
solitary. 
About the beginning or middle of April the plants are wounded, and the gum 
oozes from the gashes, and drops into vessels placed beneath to receive it. An 
inferior kind is also made by boiling the t^igs, and skimming off the resin as it rises 
to the surface of the water. From the description given of this genus, however, it 
can scarcely be identified as true Olibanum, although no doubt often used for the 
same purposes, or even mixed with it for exportation. There is more probability in 
the supposition that it is the article known to us by the name of Gum Myrrh. 
Nees Von Esenbeck has named the plant producing this drug Balsamodendron 
Myrrha. From its description, however, it is not probably distinct from Balsamo- 
dendron Kataf oi Kunth. As, however, the Myrrh plant will form a subject in a 
future number, we conclude our remarks by calling upon the commercial world, 
those especially trading to Ichaboe and other African islands, to bestow a little 
of their attention to this interesting subject, as if our conjectures prove correct, 
they will be able, by importing a quantity of pure Olibanum, to render their cargoes 
still more valuable and lucrative than they are at present. 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS FIGURED AND DESCRIBED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL 
PERIODICALS FOR MARCH. 
Achimenes ocellata. Eyeletted Achimenes. Roots of this beautiful new Achimenes were 
sent from the Isthmus of Panama, by the Government collector and naturalist, of H. M. S. 
Herald, Mr. Seeman. It promises to be a great ornament to our collections, and will, in the 
summer, we cannot doubt, flourish in a cool greenhouse. The leaves, too, are handsome, and 
of a very full green colour, purple below, and a deeper pui’ple is on the stems and petioles. — Bot. 
Magazine, 4359. 
Aristolochia anguioida. Snake Birthwort. A singular and very little-known species, a native 
of New Grenada. Jacquin discovered it at Carthagena. Mr. Purdie sent it to the Royal Gardens 
of Kew, where it first flowered in December, 1845. As the natives of North America employ the 
A. serjpentaria for destroying serpents, and also for curing persons bitten by those reptiles, so the 
natives of South America (New Grenada) employ this for similar purposes. “ The juice of the 
root,” according to Jacquin, “ mixed with the saliva by mastication, renders powerless a serpent of 
moderate size, if one or two drops are put into the mouth of the creature, when it may be handled 
and put into the bosom with impunity, but after a time the animal recovers ; a larger quantity, 
however, occasions its death.” Jacquin attributes to the odour of the root the faculty of driving 
away serpents when they approach this plant ; and he also relates that the juice, applied to the 
recent bite of a serpent, or taken internally, infallibly cures the patient. The habit of the plant is 
slender and twining, and the flowers are small, yellow, and dashed and spotted with brownish-red. 
Bot. Mag., 4361. 
CuPHEA siLENOiDES. Catchfly Cuphea. A rather showy, hardy, purple-flowering annual. It 
was introduced some years ago to the Botanic Garden of Breslau, from Mexico, by Dr. Nees Von 
Esenbeck, through M. De Bergher, and has since become common in our gardens. It is well- 
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