63 
G U A 
GUA'DEN, or Haden, a town of Africa, in the 
defert of Zanhaga. Lat. 21,40. N. Ion. 13. W. Green-' 
wich. 
GUADIAMAR', a river of Spain, which runs into 
the Guadalquivir a few leagues below Seville. 
GUADIA'NA, a river of Spain, which runs into the 
fca about feven leagues north-eafl Gibraltar. 
GUA'DIX, a town of Spain, in the province of Gre¬ 
nada, the fee of a bilhop, fuffragan of Seville. This 
city was taken from the MoorS by Alphonfo in 1251, 
but was loft to the Moors not long after. In 1489, it was 
again taken from them by Fcrdinaiid the Catholic, it 
contains three pariflies, and fix convents. Its fituition is 
between the Novada before, and the mountains of Al- 
puxaras behind, fo that they cannot cultivate olives and 
oranges, but other, fruits are abundant, as well as corn 
and pafture : forty three miles fouth-eaft x of Jaen, and 
twenty-eight eaft-north-eaft of Grenada. Lat, 37. 33. 
N. Ion. 13. 37. E. Peak of Teneriffe. 
GUADRAMl'RO., town of Spain, in the province of 
Leon : thirty-three miles weft-fouth-weft of Salamanca. 
GUAF'FO,orGRANDCoMMENDO. See Commekdo. 
GUAGAQUIL'. See Guayasuil. 
GUAGNI'NI (Alexander), born at Verona in 1538, 
and died at Cracow at the age of feventy-fix. He wrote, 
Sarmatia Europe a Defcriptio, 1581, folio, a rare and much- 
efteemed work ; and publilhed Rerum Polonicarum Scrip - 
tores, 3 vols. Svo. 1584, of which the fir ft volume is a 
compendium of the Chronicles of Poland. 
GUAHE'DE, a diltrid of Africa, in the country of 
Scjilmefla, about one hundred miles iouth of the Atlas, 
which contains three towns and fome villages. The 
principal produce is dates. 
'GUAIABA'RA, f. in botany. See Coccoloba. 
GUAIA'BO. See Psidium pomiferum. 
GUAI ACA'NA. See Diosporos. 
GUAI'ACUM,/. [from the Spanilh guayacan, formed 
from the Indian hoaxacan.'] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs decandria, order monogynia, in the natural order 
of gruinales,. (rutacese, JuJf.) The generic characters 
are—Calyx : perianthium five-leaved ; leaflets ovate- 
oblong, concave, obtufe, fpreading, deciduous; the 
two outer.ones a little fmaller. Corolla: petals five, 
roundifii-obovate, obtufe, concave, fpreading, longer 
than the calyx, ending in fliort claws, inferted into the 
receptacle. Stamina : filaments fubulate, broader at 
the bafe, upright, fhorter than the corolla, inferte(i into 
the receptacle ; antherae oblong, finally recurved. Pif- 
tillum : germ broader above, angular, pedicellcd ; ftyle 
fliort, fubulate ; ftigma Ample, acute. Pericarpium : 
capfules two to five, (five-celled, Gartner, ) on very 
fliort pedicels, compreffed, membranaceous, covered 
with a pulpy rind, gibbous on the outlide, united on 
the infide, feparating when ripe, gaping. Seeds: foli- 
tary, bony, oblong.— EJJential CharaEler. Calyx, five- 
cleft, unequal ;- petals five, inferted into' the receptacle; 
capfule angular, five-celled. 
Species, i. Guaiacum officinale, officinal guaiacum, 
or lignum-vitas : leaflets two pairs, obtufe. Thefe are 
trees, the timber of which is very hard. The firft is 
.the common lignum, vita or guaiacum, and becomes a 
very large tree, forty feet in height, and fifteen in dia¬ 
meter, covered with a hard, brittle, brownifh, bark, 
not very thick \ the wood is firm, folid, and ponderous, 
appearing very refinous, of a blackilh yellow colour 
within, and of a hot aromatic tafte ; the fmaller branches 
have an afh-coloiued bark. Leaves pinnate ; leaflets 
two pairs, elliptic, fellile, entire, veined, fhining ■ pe¬ 
duncles terminating, round, fhorter than the petioles, 
one-flowered ; calycine leaflets ovate, convex, pubef- 
cent ; petals ovate, eijtire ; filaments ten, contiguous 
at the bafe; anthers incumbent, bifid at the bafe, yel¬ 
low : germ obcordate, compreffed; ftyle permanent; 
capfule fubturbinate, (obcordiite-angular, Swartz,) on 
a very fhort pedicel, five-cornered, with very narrow 
winged ribs on the round back of rhe angles, fuccu.lent, 
fmpoth, pale ferruginous (or yellow), five-celled, (from 
G Tl A 
two to five-celled,, Sw.) partitions quite Ample, mem¬ 
branaceous, -fixed to the middle of the cover; feeds 
large-, thicker and blunt above, attenuated below, con¬ 
vex on- one fide-, angular ©n the other, rufefeent ; two 
or three cells are frequently- abortive, -but the veftiges 
of them remain. The rind of the capfule is conti¬ 
nuous, and the partitions indivifible ; ft is one, there¬ 
fore, and not feverai, as Schreber would have it. Browne 
deferibes it as an evergreen of a dark gloomy call, con¬ 
tinuing its verdure in the drieft feafons, and at times 
throwing out a great number of blue flowers, which are 
fncceeded by compreffed befries of a Voundifh form. 
This tree takes many years to arrive at its full growth. 
The roots run far into the ground perpendicularly, Con¬ 
trary to the ufinal growth of timber-trees in the Weft 
Indies, which generally fiioot the largeft prongs of their 
roots in a horizontal direction, and are commonly ob- 
ferved to run very near the furface: The bark is thick 
and- fmooth ; the wood of a dark olive-colour, and 
crofs-grained, the ftrata running obliquely into one ano¬ 
ther, in form of an X. As timber it anfvvers where 
ftrength and duration are required, and its weight no 
impediment-. It takes a fine polifh, and anfwers well 
in the turner’s lathe ; but is now chiefly ufed for fhip- 
blocks. The gum is obtained by jagging the body of 
the tree in May. 11 exfudes c.opioufly from the wounds, 
though gradually ; and when a quantity is found accu¬ 
mulated, hardened by expolure to the air and fun, it 
is gathered, and packed in final 1 kegs. This gum has 
been fufped'ted fometimes to have been fophiflicated by- 
the negroes with the gum. of the manchineal tree, to 
which it bears fome fimilitude at the firft appearance ; 
but it is eafily diftinguifhed, by diffolving a little in 
fpirits : the true gum'imparts a whitifh tinge ; but the 
manchineal gives a greenifh caft : and this is (till farther 
diftinguifhabie by pouring a little of the fame tindure 
into water, which takes from the guaiacum almoft im¬ 
mediately the complexio'n of milk. The fruit is pur¬ 
gative, and, for medicinal ufe, far excels the bark. 
From the flowers alfo is prepared a laxative fyrup, re- 
fembling fyrup of violets. It is certainly one of the 
molt valuable trees in the Weft Indies ; fince the body, 
the bark, gum, fruit, leaves, and bloflom, are all ap¬ 
plicable to fome ufeful purpofe. The frelhbark opens 
the body, and is deemed a fweetener of the blood, but 
the pulp of the berries purges and vomits very vio* 
lentl-y. The refinous parts of the tree are of a warm 
adive nature, and found, by long experience, to atte¬ 
nuate and diffolve the blood .- they are efteemed fpeci- 
fics in old venereal taints, chronical rheumatifms, and 
other diforders arifing from the fizynefs of the juices; 
and generally adminiftered in decodions, (the relin 
fometimes in bolufes,) ordered for a continuance : but 
great care muff: be taken to moderate or temper the na¬ 
tive acrimony of thefe medicines in the beginning of 
a courfe, and to prepare the body for the ufe of them; 
the negled of which has been frequently the caufe of 
very difmal confequences in hot climates, and may pro¬ 
bably have the like effects fometimes in colder regions. 
There is a tindure made with the gum of this tree, 
that has been fometimes adminiftered with fuccefs, as 
well as the powder itfelf, in obftinate intermittent and 
remittent fevers ; in whieh cafes they commonly pro¬ 
cure a few ftools, as well as promote a general difeharge 
by the Ikin. The foliage of the tree is a very deterfive 
nature, and frequently ufed to fcour and whiten the 
floors in mod houfes about Kingfton; the. infufion of 
them is alfo ufed to walh painted linens, and other 
ftained garments ; which it is faid to do very effedti- 
ally, without changing the luftre of the dyes. The 
wood and relin only are now ufed in Europe. Since the 
ufe of mercury, it is feldom preferibed in the lues ve¬ 
nerea ; and if it be occafionally employed in fyphilis, 
it is rather with a view to corred other vitia in the ha¬ 
bit. Dr. Cullen looks upon it as analogous to the bal- 
fams and turpentines, and as having a confiderable 
power in ftimulating thq extreme veffels; and thus ac¬ 
counts 
