130 
CAIiYCIPLOR^E. 
a dusky orange. Calycine lobes oblong, obtuse, puberu- 
lous. Petals 5, obovato-rotund, slightly clawed, puberu- 
lous with minute capitate hairs, alternating with the divi- 
sions of the calyx. Lamella; sickle-shaped, attached to 
the petals as lar the centre of the limb, then curved over 
the anthers. Stamens 5, connected, at fhe base, corres- 
ponding and opposite to the petals: filaments pellucid, 
bearing the anthers on the under surface, of their club- 
shaped termination. $> Flowers solitary, axillary, short- 
ly peduncled. Calyx, petals, and lamellae as in the male 
flowers. Styles 3 : stigmata subreniform. Fruit globose, 
size of an apple, of a russet colour, hard, many-seeded-: 
seeds large, orbicular, flattened, scabrous. 
Barham, an old writer on the plants of Jamaica, men-, 
tions that he found this plant in that part of St. Thomas in 
the Yale which was known in his time by the name of 
the Sixteen-mile- Walk. The fruit, he adds, is like a green 
calabash, only it has a circular black line round it, and 
two or three warts or little knobs. The inside of the shell 
is full of white flattish beans, inclosed in a white membran- 
aceous substance. The nuts or beans are full of oil, and 
excessively bitter. They are ten or twelve in number, 
and are so close and compressed, that whcn l have taken 
them out, I never could place them so again, as to make 
the shell contain them.” 
It has olten been remarked, that when any vegetable 
production is more than usually nauseous and unpleasant 
to the taste, popular opinion immediately concludes that 
it must pos ess medicinal properties. This is, I believe, 
the case with the Antidote Cacoon, which has, for no good 
or sutiicient reason, been established in the domestic Phar- 
macopeia of the West Indies as a most valuable plant. It 
has been regarded also with favor by the French Colo- 
nists, having received from them the names of“ Liane 
co Ire poison” and “ Liane epileptique” The Spanish 
physicians we are told, employ it with success, in the form 
of emu sion, for intermittent fever, and as a counter-poison. 
The Bucaniers esteemed it so highly, that they never ven- 
tured on an expedition without taking with them a supply 
of this fruit (Poupee Despot tes III. 54). 
Of the medicinal properties of these seeds I cannot 
speak from my own experience. Dr. William Wright in 
his Memoirs states, “ I am far from agreeing that it is of 
use for pains or weakness of the stomach. On the con- 
trary I find the disorder rapidly to advance under its use, 
