Flora Medica

4-76. C. capricida Wall. cat. No. 718. Prunus undulataDon. prodr. 239. C. undulata DC. prodr.ii. 540. HimalayaMountains.Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, finely glandular-serrate, deciduous,thin, quite smooth on each side, light green and shining beneath ;petioles without glands. Racemes very finely downy, axillary, butlittle longer than the leaves. Flowers small, white. Segments ofcalyx obtuse. So poisonous as to kill goats in Nepal.PRUNUS.Calyx inferior, bell-shaped, deciduous, with 5 obtuse concavesegments. Petals 5, roundish, concave, spreading, larger thanthe segments of the calyx, their short claws proceeding from itsrim. Filaments 20-30, awl-shaped, nearly as long as the corolla,from the rim of the calyx within the petals. Anthersshort, of 2 round lobes. Ovary superior, roundish ;style threadshaped,terminal, the length of the stamens; stigma orbicular,peltate. Drupe roundish or elliptical.Nut very hard, somewhatcompressed, of 1 cell and 2 more or less distinct sutureswith an intermediate furrow. Leaves rolled up when young.4?77. P. Cocumilia Tenore prodr. suppl.ii. 67. DC. prodr.ii. 538. Alt. r. ist. incoragg. iv. 444. c. ic. fl.t. neap. 144.Woods of the lower mountains of Calabria.Peduncles short, in pairs. Leaves elliptical obovate acuminate ateach end, smooth, crenulate ;crenatures and peduncles covered withdeciduous glands. Fruit ovate-oblong, mucronulate, austere. Thebark of this plant, which seems to be nothing more than a wild state ofour domestic Plum, is spoken of in the highest terms as a remedy forthe intermittent fevers of Calabria. In Neapolitan hospitals it has beenfound superior to Cinchona.478. P. spinosa Linn, sp.pl 681. Eng. Bot. t. 842. Woodv,t. 84. DC. prodr.ii. 532. Smith Enff.Fl.il 357. Commonin the woods and hedges of all Europe. (Sloe.)A rigid bushy shrub, with sharp spinous branches ;the bark blackish,a little glaucous and polished. Leaves scarcely an inch long ;theearlier ones obovate ; all smooth, except when very young. Flowerspure white, copious, earlier than the leaves, solitary, on short simplestalks, each from a small bud at. the bases of the leaf-buds. Calyxspreading. Petals with scarcely any claws. Fruit globular, black,rather larger than a black currant, acid, astringent, and very austere,not eatable except when baked or boiled with a large proportion ofsugar. The juice, inspissated over a slow fire, is a substitute forCatechu. In some form or other, this isjuicesaid to be used in factitiousor adulterated Port wine. The leaves also are reckoned amongthe adulterations of tea in England. They possess, in fact, a portionof that peculiar aromatic flavour which exists in Spiraea Ulmaria, theAmerican Gualtheria, and some other plants, and which resembles the233