TtHAMNETE. 
209 
Flowers, from abortion, frequently polygamous. — yarned, after 
Antoine Gouan, Professor of Botany at Montpelier, in the 18th 
eenturv. 
I. Goluinia Domingensis. Chaw-stick. 
Leaves ovate subcordate acuminate crenato-serrated 
subglabrous. 
Radix fruticosa lutea, glycyrrhizee sirnilis, dentibus mundifi- 
candis inserviens, Sloane, II. 185. t. 232. f. 2. 3. — Gouania gla- 
bra, Jacq. Am. t. 179. f. 40. — G. Domingensis, Siourtz, Obs. 387. 
HAB. Common. 
FL. August — October. 
A scandent shrub : branches anguloso- striated, pubescent, 
trailing over neighbouring shrubs, supported by m§ans of ten- 
drils produced at the extremities of the lateral branchlets. 
Leaves alternate, ovate, subcordate, acuminate, crenato-serrated, 
parallelly and diagonally nerved, minutely ciliated and pu- 
berulous, membranaceous : petiole sub-3-gonal. Stipules lan- 
ceolato-attenuated, marescent, deciduous. Racemes axillary, 
(or rather at the end of a short axillary leafy branchlet), sim- 
ple, many-flowered : peduncle 2-2 1 inches long, terete, pu- 
berulous : flowers small, yellowish, shortly pedicelled, in clus- 
ters. Calyx 5-partite, externally puberulous ; divisions ovate, 
acute. Petals 5, alternate with and of the same length as the 
divisions of the calyx, and inserted about its middle, spathulate, 
concave and hooded at the apex. Stamens 10, inserted with 
the petals ; 5 of them barren, opposite to and much shorter than 
the divisions of the calyx, minute (so as only to be detected by 
the microscope), bifid at the apex : 5 of them fertile, opposite 
to and nidulant in the hood of the petals; filaments short; an- 
thers roundish. Ovary subrotund : style, in the fertile flower, 
3-partitc : stigmata simple. Capsule at first subrotund, trigo- 
nal, crowned with the calyx ; afterwards 3-winged, with the 
wings thick, obtuse : seeds oblong, black. 
The peculiarity above noticed of the stamens, appears to have 
escaped former observers, and the character of the genus would 
in consequence require to be remodelled. The sterile stamens 
are very minute, and require the aid of a microscope to detect 
them. 
This is a very agreeable bitter. It is used as a substitute 
for hops in the ginger-beer, and what are called the cool drinks 
of the country. The infusion has been employed in gonorrhsea 
and dropsy, and as a light grateful bitter, in cases of debility, 
to restore the tone of the stomach. In powder, it forms 
an excellent dentifrice ; its aromatic bitter producing a healthy 
state of the gums, and the mucilage it contains working up by 
the brush into a kind of soap-like troth. A tincture also is pre- 
pared from it, and much recommended, diluted with water, as 
VOL. I. P 
