Flora Medica

CEDRELACE.S:.10-toothed ; each tooth bifid ; anthers 10, oval, arising from inside thetube below its crenatures. Bark an efficient remedyfor the dangerousjungle fever of India, when Cinchona produces no effect. It has alsobeen employed successfully in India in bad cases of gangrene, and inGreat Britain in typhus fever, and as an astringent. (See Duncantentam. inaug. de Soymida, 8vo. Edinb. 1794.)CEDRELA.Calyx short, 5-cleft.inside down the middle.Petals 5, erect, keeled or plaitedin theStamens and pistil on a common stalk.Disk adnate with the stalk, glandular, 5-ribbed, concrete betweenthe ribs with the interposed plaits of the petals, 5-lobed. Filaments10, inserted on the summit of the disk; the 5 alternatewith the petals subulate, fertile ; the other 5 very short, sterileor wanting. Ovary on the top of the stalk and disk, 5 celled:ovules 8-12 in each cell. Style short, deciduous: stigma peltate,obscurely 5-angled. Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, dehiscingfrom the apex valves ; separating from the persistent 5-angledaxis by the dissepiments. Seeds pendulous, winged downward.Leaves pinnated leaflets ;opposite or nearly so, many-paired,unequal-sided. Panicles terminal, large, pyramidal. Parts offlowers occasionally quaternary and senary.307. C. Toona Roxb. corom. iii. t. 238. fl.ind. i. 635. DC.i.prodr. 624. A. de J. Meliac. 103. W. and A. i. 124.C. febrifuga Blume Bijdr. 199. Forsten diss. de Cedrel. c. ic. opt.Bengal, Java.Trunk erect, of a great size and height. Bark smooth, gray.Branches numerous, forming a large, beautiful shady head. Leavesalternate, abruptly pinnate, drooping, from 12 to 18 inches long. Leafletsin from 6-12 pairs, opposite, or nearly so, obliquely lanceolate,waved at the margins, smooth, tapering to a long acute point, quiteentire, or slightly and distinctly toothed. Panicles terminal, nearly aslong as the leaves, pendulous, divaricating, much branched, smooth.Bracts minute, deciduous. Flowers very numerous, small, white,fragrant like honey. Calyx 5-parted. Petals 5, oblong, ciliated, curvedover the stamens, and keeled inside near the base. Hypogynous glands5, large, hairy, orange-coloured ; filaments erect, inserted into thecentre of these, rather shorter than the petals. Ovary superior, oblong ;stigma large, flat, 5-lobed. Capsule oblong, rather larger than a fieldbean, 5-celled, 5-valved; the valves opening from the apex and fallingoff with the seeds. Seeds numerous, imbricated, winged. The barka powerful astringent, and though not bitter, a tolerably good substitutefor Peruvian Bark in the cure of remitting and intermitting fevers ;particularly when joined with a small portion of the powdered seed ofCaesalpinia Bonduccella (Kutulegee of the Bengalese), which is a mostpowerful bitter. Roxb. The bark was used in Java by Dr. Blume,with much success in the worst epidemic fevers, diarrhrea, and othercomplaints ; Horsfield also applied it in various cases of dysentery,but in the last stage, when the inflammatory symptoms had disappeared.156