222 
Notes  on  the  Genus  Myrica. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1894. 
manuals,  is  characterized  by  the  globular  fertile  catkins,  the  ovary 
being  surrounded  by  8  long  linear  scales  persistent  in  fruit.  The 
leaves  are  narrowly  lanceolate  and  pinnatifid,  the  lobes  being  num- 
erous and  rounded.  In  shape  they  resemble  the  fronds  of  the 
spleenwort  fern  and  hence  the  specific  name  above  given.  They 
are  pleasantly  aromatic. 
Our  plant  has  enjoyed  several  names.  Originally  Linnaeus  placed 
it  in  the  closely  allied  genus  Liquidambar,  naming  it  Liquidambar 
peregina.  O.  Kuntze  now  claims  that  the  correct  binomial  should 
be  Myrica  peregina.  Liquidambar  asplenifolia,  Comptonia  aspleni- 
folia  and  Myrica  Comptonia  are  some  of  the  names  applied  to  it  by 
various  botanists.  The  common  English  names  that  have  been 
given  to  it  are  Sweet  Fern,  Sweet  Ferry,  Sweet  Bush,  Fern  Gale  and 
Spleenwort  Bush.  Attention  has  recently  been  directed  to  the 
tannin  present  in  a  fair  quantity  in  the  rhizome  and  also  in  the  over- 
ground-portions of  the  plant.  Lindley  states  that  the  aromatic  bark 
contains  Benzoic  and  Tannic  acids  with  a  resinous  matter.  The 
dried  leaves  yielded  to  Schimmel  &  Co.,  0.08  per  cent,  of  a  peculiar 
volatile  oil.  The  leaves  and  the  rhizome  and  rootlets  have  been  used 
quite  extensively  in  domestic  practice ;  tonic,  astringent  and  alterative 
properties  being  assigned  thereto.  In  the  form  of  decoction,  or 
this  sweetened  to  make  a  syrup,  it  checks  diarrhoea  and  is  a  favorite 
remedy  in  cholera  infantum.  It  has  been  used  for  night  sweats  and 
the  infusion  externally  applied  in  rhus  poisoning.  The  dried  leaves 
furnish  the  country  lads  with  their  first  smoke.  The  syrup  made 
from  these  leaves  is  a  good  disguise  for  quinine. 
The  writer  is  not  aware  of  any  published  account  of  the  anatomical 
structure  of  this  plant.  The  leaf  is  quite  hairy  on  the  lower  surface, 
especially  at  the  midrib  and  margins.  On  the  upper  surface  they 
are  fewer  in  number,  but  more  numerous  along  the  midrib.  The 
midrib  is  quite  prominent  on  the  lower  surface  of  the  leaf,  and  about 
2  or  3  lateral  veins  extend  into  each  lobe,  and  the  anastomising, 
while  not  prominent,  can  be  distinctly  seen.  Fig.  I  (see  plate),  illus- 
trates the  structure  as  shown  on  transverse  section  through  the  mid- 
rib. The  surface  is  well  marked  with  simple  trichomes,  many  of  which 
are  branched,  and  with  glands.  The  conductive  system  or  fibro-vas- 
cular  portion  of  the  midrib  consists  of  a  broadly  wedge-shaped  almost 
semi-circular  xylem  portion,  the  wood  cells  and  ducts  being  arranged 
ind  istinct  radial  rows  and  subtended  by  a  very  narrow  cambium 
