MATERIA  MEDICA  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  EXHIBITION.  549 
and  Bungtelai  by  the  Siamese.  The  French  collection  of  pro- 
ducts from  Cochin  China  includes  a  specimen  of  it,  which  in  the 
catalogue  is  referred  doubtfully  to  Stereulia  (Seaphium)  scaphi- 
gera  ;  it  is  stated,  though  probably  in  error,  to  be  used  in  dye. 
ing.    It  is  also  sent  to  the  Exhibition  from  Siam. 
Radix  Behen. — This  drug  which  held  an  important  place  in 
the  medical  writings  of  the  Arab  school,  and  which  thence 
became  introduced  into  most  of  the  Pharmacopoeias  of  Europe 
up  to  the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  was  recently  the 
subject  of  an  interesting  communication  to  the  "  Journal  de  Phar- 
macie  et  de  Chimie,"  by  Professor  Guibourt,  of  Paris.  There 
are  two  sorts  of  Behen,  the  white  and  the  red,  both  of  which 
have  long  been  obsolete  'in  Europe,  though  still  found  in  the 
bazaars  of  the  north-west  of  India,  whence  specimens  have  been 
sent  to  the  Exhibition.  White  Behen  is  referred  by  all  writers 
on  materia  medica  to  Centaur ea  Behen  L.,  a  plant  of  Persia  and 
traditionally  also  of  the  Lebanon.  Red  Behen  is  generally 
attributed  to  Statice  Limonium  L.,  but  the  root  of  this  plant, 
whether  produced  in  Europe  or  in  Asia,  is  so  very  different  that 
I  cannot  suppose  there  is  the  least  connection  between  it  and 
the  drug  in  question. 
Amomum  Fruits  The  Exhibition  contains  the  fruits  of 
several  species  which  are  not  without  interest  to  the  pharma- 
cologist. Thus  we  find  fruits  of  Amomum  cardamomum  L., 
and  A.  xanthoides  Wall.,  sent  from  Siam  and  Cochin  China ;  and 
fruits  of  A.  maximum  Roxb,  from  India.  From  the  French  set- 
tlements of  the  Gaboon  River,  come  specimens  of  the  fruits  of 
Amomum  citratum  Pereira,  a  species  of  which  we  at  present 
know  very  little,  but  which  is  remarkable  for  the  agreeable 
lemon-like  odor  of  its  large  angular  seeds.  The  fruit  of  A. 
Banielli  Hook,  f.,  a  very  variable  plant,  common  all  along  the 
coast  of  tropical  Western  Africa,  is  in  one  of  the  English  col- 
lections, where  we  also  find  fruits  of  A.  latifolium  Afz.,  which 
are  striking  from  their  large  size.  A.  latifoliurn,  a  native  of 
Sierra  Leone,  was  described  by  Afzelius  in  1813  in  his  "Rein- 
edia  Guineensia,"  published  at  Upsal,  but  it  is  a  plant  still 
almost  unknown  to  botanists.  There  are  specimens  of  two 
other  fruits  of  Amomum  from  the  Portuguese  settlements  on 
the  west  coast,  which  probably  belong  to  undescribed  species. 
