Flora Medica

STERCULIACEJE.panicled. Calyx deeply divided; the teeth spreading, lanceolate,nearly smooth on the outside, slightly velvety within. Anthers 15.Carpels oblong, many-seeded. W. and A. Fruit employed in gonorrhoeain Java. Leaves and repellent aperient. A decoction of thefruit mucilaginous and astringent. AinsKe.SOUTHWELLIA.Calyx campanulate, 5-7 -cleft; the segments cohering at thepoint. $ stamen-tube cylindrical, enclosed in the calyx, withthe stamens free at the point, and bearing irregularly a heap of stamens.$ stamen-tube like the male, with 15-30 sessile anthersarranged in a simple sinuated row. Ovaries united. Stylesadhering, recurved ;stigmas somewhatpeltate, cohering, radiating.Follicles sessile, few-seeded Tropical trees of the old world ;leaves usually simple. Flowers usually with a yellowish cast.271. S. Tragacantha Schott. meletem. 62. Sterculia TragacanthaLindl. in Sot. t.Reg. 1353. Sierra Leone.Branchlets downy, ferruginous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, oblong,cuspidate, generally rounded at each end, quite entire except at theapex which is sometimes bifid or trifid, smooth upon the upper surface,downy on the under and on the petiole; down stellate. Paniclesdensely downy, contracted, axillary, either shorter or longer than theleaves. Calyx campanulate, downy, brownish purple, 5-cleft, the segmentsshining at the apex. Known at Sierra Leone as the Tragacanthtree, a gum resembling Gum Tragacanth being copiously exuded by itwhen wounded.WALTHERIA.Calyx 5-cleft, persistent, with a 3-leaved lateral deciduousinvolucel. Petals 5, equal, attached by their claws to the staminalcolumn. Filaments united into a nearly entire or 5-clefttube. Ovarium oblique,1 -celled (by the obliteration of 4 cells) :ovules 2, superposed. Style single, slightly lateral. Stigmapenicillate. Capsule consisting of 1 coccus, nearly globose,membranaceous, 1 -seeded, 2-valved. Embryoin the axis of afleshy albumen. Herbaceous plants, shrubs, or little trees, withstellate pubescence. Leaves entire, serrated. Flowers yellow,axillary and terminal, capitately or spicately conglomerated,with many interposedbracteoles. W. and A.272. W. Douradinha Aug. de St. Hil. pi. us. No. 36./. bras.i. 153 Rocky banks of the Uruguay in Brazil.Stems suffruticose, ascending. Leaves ovate or roundish ovate,obtuse, cordate, the lower hairy, the upper downy and glaucous.Heads of flowers terminal, or a few of them axillary. Calyx downy.Petals bearded above the claw. Stamen-tube nearly entire. Mucilaginous.Brazilians use it in complaints of the chest, and they also believeit serviceable in venereal complaints.136