662 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharni. 
1      Kov.,  1885. 
united  by  broad  membranous  false  stipules,  which  are  caducous  and 
leave  a  transverse  scar.  Flowers  in  axillary  groups ;  calyx  five-parted, 
membranous  on  the  margin,  the  divisions  triangular  and  scarcely  acute; 
corolla  salver-shaped,  yellowish,  exceeding  the  calyx,  the  tube  about  1 
cm.  long,  the  limb  five-parted,  and  on  the  inner  side  white  hairy ; 
stamens  5,  inserted  in  the  throat,  the  anthers  connivent.  Ovary  round, 
with  a  slight  furrow,  hairy  above  and  surrounded  by  a  nectary  of  5 
rather  large  glands.  Style  filiform,  the  glandular  stigma  projecting 
from  the  anthers.  Follicle  round,  dehiscent  by  the  ventral  suture,  15 
or  16  cm.  long,  5  or  six  mm.  thick,  striate,  dark  gray.  Seeds  7  or  8, 
nearly  cylindrical,  obliquely  truncate,  with  a  kmgitudinal  furrow, 
about  2  cm.  long,  gray,  not  hairy,  the  endosperm  thin  and  adhering  to 
the  testa;  radicle  superior,  about  2  mm.  long;  cotyledons  elliptic,  10 
to  12  mm.  long,  adhering  above. 
Pangium  eclule,  Reinwai^dt ;  nat.  ord.  Bixace?e.  Attention  has  been 
recently  directed  by  Chatel  ("Jour,  de  Med.  de  Paris")  to  the  medici- 
nal properties  of  this  tree  which  are  well  known  in  the  East  Indian 
islands,  where  the  tree  is  indigenous  and  cultivated.  It  attains  a  con- 
sideral)le  size,  and  has  alternate,  stipulate,  long-petiolate,  smooth  and 
dark  green  leaves,  which  are  about  10  inches  long,  cordate,  entire  or 
trilobed  and  five-  to  seven-nerved.  The  large  flowers  are  axillary,  the 
pistillate  ones  solitary  and  the  staminate  ones  cymose.  The  fruit  is  a 
large  globular  or  ovate  indehiscent  berry  with  a  red-brown  or  gray- 
brown  punctate  pericarp  resembling  that  of  the  pomegranate.  Imbed- 
ded in  the  pulp  are  numerous  seeds  attached  to  parietal  placentas,  and 
of  an  irregular  globose  and  angular  shape,  one  side  being  marked  by 
the  elongated  hilum ;  the  testa  is  hard  and  woody,  dark  gray  or  black- 
ish, rough  from  projecting  branching  veins  forming  an  irregular  net- 
work, and  encloses  a  fleshy  and  oily  albumen  surrounding  a  large 
embryo  with  a  conical  oblique  radicle  and  with  two  foliaceous,  palm- 
ately  veined  cordate  cotyledons. 
According'to  Blunie,  quoted  by  Baillon,  the  plant  contains  a  viscous 
extractive  matter  and  an  alkaloid  resembling  menis])ermine.  All  parts 
of  the  plant  are  said  to  possess  anthelmintic  properties,  and  a  narcotic 
action,  producing  headache,  drow^siness,  nausea  and  a  kind  of  intoxica- 
tion and  delirium,  which  may  terminate  in  death.  This  applies  to  the 
bark,  leaves,  fruit  and  seed,  the  bark  as  well  as  the  leaves  being  also 
used  for  stupefying  fish.  The  leaves  have  an  unpleasant  acrid  taste 
and  are  often  employed  topically  against  cutaneous  affections  and  ulcer- 
