332 
Useful  Plants  of  Verbenacece. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharui. 
1      July,  1885. 
late  acute  and  entire  leaflets ;  the  bluish,  purplish  or  whitish  fragrant 
flowers  are  in  sessile  clusters  at  the  end  of  the  branches,  forming  an 
interrupted  spike  ten  inches  or  more  in  length ;  the  fruit  is  globular, 
blackish-brown,  of  about  the  size  of  black  pepper,  four-celled  and 
four-seeded,  and  has  a  rather  strong  aromatic,  somewhat  narcotic  odor, 
particularly  when  rubbed,  and  a  peppery  taste.  The  leaves  are  like- 
wise pungent,  and  were  formerly  employed  in  many  diseases  as  a  stimu- 
lent  and  irritant ;  the  fruit,  however,  was  more  frequently  used  for 
similar  purposes,  also  as  a  spice  in  place  of  pepper,  under  the  incorrect 
name  of  semen  agni  casti.  Landerer  (1835)  found  in  the  fruit  a  vola- 
tile principle,  acrid  and  acid  oil  and  a  crystalline  principle  of  a  bitter 
taste,  soluble  in  alcohol  and  partly  soluble  in  acetic  acid,  which  solu- 
tions are  precipitated  by  alkalies  and  by  tannin.  The  principle  has 
been  named  viticin  and  castin,  but  its  true  nature  has  not  been  deter- 
mined. The  other  species  of  vitex  are  likewise  somewhat  stimulating; 
those  of  the  West  Indies  and  others  are  arboreous,  some  of  thetn  being 
valuable  for  timber.  The  fruit  of  Vitex  trifolia,  Lin.  is  called  in 
India  wild  j^epper. 
The  genus  Lantana  of  tropical  America  is  well  known  in  our  gar- 
dens and  represented  by  a  number  of  species  bearing  bright-colored 
showy  flowers,  which  often  change  in  color  before  they  fade.  Thus 
the  prickly  1j.  Camara,  Lin.,  a  native  of  the  West  Indies  and  of 
vSoutli  America,  northward  to  our  Gulf  States,  has  deep  golden  yellow 
flowers,  changing  to  orange  color  and  scarlet.  L.  nivea,  Ventenat,  in 
some  of  its  varieties  changes  its  white  flowers  to  blue.  L.  mixta,  Lin., 
like  the  preceding  species  indigenous  to  Brazil,  has  also  white  flowers 
the  color  of  which  passes  through  diff^erent  shades  of  yellow  and  orange 
to  red.  Many  liybrids  have  been  produced  by  gardeners  from  these 
and  other  species,  and  are  characterized  by  the  striking  mutation  of  the 
color  of  their  flowers.  The  herbaceous  portion  of  the  lantanas  is  more 
or  less  agreeably  aromatic,  and  is  popularly  employed  in  the  native 
countries  of  the  different  species  for  its  sudorific  action  and  externally 
in  fomentations  and  cataplasms.  In  addition  to  the  species  mentioned, 
L.  odorota,  Lin.,  L.  involucrata,  Lin.,  and  L.  trifolia,  Lin.,  may  be 
enumerated  which  with  others  are  known  in  the  West  Indies  as  wild 
sage.  L.  Pseudo-thea,  Saint- Hilaire,  is  probably  the  most  important 
species,  it  being  used  in  Brazil  in  place  of  Chinese  tea,  but  whether  it 
also  contains  tlieine  has  not  been  ascertained ;  the  plant  is  known  in 
