ON CASSIA FISTULA. 
37 
ON CASSIA FISTULA. 
By Dr. X. Landerer, 
Hon. Member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Professor in the University of 
Athens, Pharmacien to the King of Greece, &c. 
Pharmacologists distingish the following varieties of the drug 
called Cassia Fistula, namely : 
1. Cassia Levantica. 
2. Cassia JEgyptiaca. 
3. Cassia Occidentalis. 
4. Cass ia fistula Brasiliensis sen Marylandica. [?] 
Respecting the second of these, Egyptian Cassia Fistula, 1 have 
received some particulars not wholly without interest, which I will 
venture briefly to detail. 
Among laxative and resolvent medicines none is more frequently 
employed in the East, than Cassia Fistula administered in the form 
of decoction, or as an electuary mixed with a sweet or acidulous 
beverage, as Bosa or Scherbet. 
The use of Cassia has of late much diminished, and the cul- 
ture of the trees in Egypt is becoming somewhat neglected. At 
the present day the Cassia fistula, Lin., grows in the neighborhood 
of Aphti, a village near the towns of Damation and Feraskuri, 
which are about two days' journey from Alexandria. The trees, 
which are here sufficiently numerous to form a little forest, are 
from forty to fifty feet in height, and frequently exceed two feet in 
circumference; their age is estimated by the villagers at from two to 
three centuries. In January and February the trees flower ; the 
large yellow very odorous blossoms are employed by the inhabi- 
tants of the country as a perfume for the clothes. The collection 
of the fruit commences in June and lasts till August. Loaded with 
thousands of long pendulous fruit reaching to the earth, the Cassia 
trees at this period present a most interesting appearance, remind- 
ing one by their pendant branches of the weeping-willow. Under 
their shade the Arab protects himself from the burning heat of the 
sun, and there also seeks shelter at night- 
The quantity of Cassia Fistula carried to the bazaars of Alex- 
andria and Cairo amounts to 500 quintals [50,000 pounds weight 
per annum], the half of which is consumed in Egypt, the remainder 
being exported to Constantinople, Marseilles, Triest and Odessa, 
3 
