Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

FAMILY HERBAL. 29
stance within, as sweet as an almond. Between
the two coats of* this shell, as between those of
the anacardium, there is a sharp and caustic oil,
which serves in the same manner as the other
to take off freckles, but it must be used with
great caution. It actually burns the skin, so that
it must be suffered to lie on only a few moments ;
and even when used ever so cautiously, it sometimes
causes mischief.
The Bengal Bean-tree. Fala Bevgalensis.
A LARGE tree, native of the East, and not
unlike our plum-tree. It is thirty or forty feet
high ; the leaves are roundish, but sharp-pointed,
and of a deep green ; they arc finely indented, and
of a firm texture. The flowers are large and
white ; they resemble, in all respects, the blossoms
of our plum-trees. The fruit is a kind of plum,
of a long shape, with a small quantity of fleshy
matter, and a very large stone. It is a kind ot
myrobolan, but is not exactly the same with auy
that we use.
The Bengal bean, as it is called, is an irregular
production of this tree : it is very ill-named
a bean ; it is truly a gall like those of the oak;
but it does not rise like them from the wood or
leaves, but from the fruit of this particular plum.
It is as broad as a walnut, but flatted, and
hollowed in the center ; its is
original this :
There is a little black fly frequent in that country,
which lodges its eggs in the unripe fruit of
this particular plum, as we have insects in England,
which always choose a particular plant,
and a particular part for that purpose. The flv
always strikes the fruit while it is grc.cn, and has
but the rudiments of the stone. It grows dis-