230 
WILD  SENNA. 
is  produced  by  a  tree  growing  in  the  more  barren  parts  of  the 
district  of  Ceylon,  in  which  he  resides  (Badulla),  and  belonging 
to  the  Anacardiaceae,  a  tribe  of  plants  which  abounds  in  black 
resinous  juice,  whence  the  black  varnishes  used  in  China  and 
India  are  obtained.  It  would  seem  to  be  the  Semecarpus  obo- 
vatum.  From  natural  fissures  of  the  bark,  there  runs  out  a 
clammy  juice,  which,  at  first  white,  becomes  afterwards  black  by 
exposure  to  the  sun's  rays,  hardening  into  masses  of  different 
sizes  with  pieces  adhering.  The  resin  is  hard,  breaks  with  a 
smooth  shining  fracture,  burns  with  a  bright  flame,  melts  in  fire, 
and  is  soluble  in  turpentine,  insoluble  in  water,  and  adheres 
strongly  to  wood  and  metal.  It  is  free  from  acridity.  It  forms 
a  superior  black  varnish  when  added  to  a  saturated  solution  of 
vateria  resin,  or  East  Indian  copal,  in  oil  of  turpentine. 
Two  specimens  of  Ceylon  resin,  which  I  have  here  from  the 
Paris  collection,  are  merely  species  of  dammer. — Jour.  Frank. 
Institute,  from  Jour.  Society  of  Arts,  London,  1855. 
/      o  ">  (To  be  continued.) 
A  *  *   '_ 
ON  WILD  SENNA. 
By  Dr.  Carl  Martius. 
At  the  meeting  of  Apothecaries  held  at  Munich,  Dr.  Walz 
exhibited,  under  the  name  of  Wild  Senna,  some  leaves  which 
had  come  into  his  possession,  and  with  which  none  of  those  pre- 
sent was  acquainted.*  At  the  meeting  of  Naturalists  at  Vienna, 
these  leaves  were  also  exhibited  by  Dr.  Walz,  as  Folia  Ooluteo3. 
More  recently  I  have  received  the  August  number  of  the  Neues 
Jahrbuchfur  Pharmacie,  in  which,  at  page  87,  a  notice  on  the 
subject  occurs  from  the  pen  of  the  same  savant.  His  examina- 
tion into  the  origin  of  these  leaves  led  to  no  definitive  conclusion. 
The  supposition  that  Coriaria  myrtifolia  might  afford  them,  was 
disproved  by  a  comparison  with  that  plant  as  growing  in  the 
Botanical  Garden  at  Heidelberg, — although  some  of  their  physi- 
cal characters,  such  as  smell  and  taste,  seemed  to  favor  such  an 
opinion.    The  question  was  not  that  of  the  adulteration  of  Senna 
*  Augsburger  Allgem.  Zeit.  Beilage,  v.  5,  Aug. — Archiv  d.  Pharmacie, 
October,  p.  100. 
