Flora Medica

FABACE^i, OR LEGUMINOSJE.smooth. A decoction of the leaves and flowers has been employedwith success against the fevers of Tortola. Root acrid and even poisonous.Schomburgk in Linn. 'x. 512. The wood makes the best of allcharcoal.The leaves when bruised have a smell resembling that of savine, andthe infusion, of either them or the flowers, is considered a powerfulemmenagogue, so as even to bring on abortion. The leaves are alsosaid to be purgative, and to have been used as a substitute for senna.The seeds, in powder, are stated to form a remedy for the belly-ache.Macfadyen.ILEMATOXYLON.Sepals 5, united at the base into a permanent tube. Petals 5,scarcely longer than the sepals. Stamens 10 ; filaments hairyat the base ; anthers without glands. Style capillary. Legumecompressed, flat, lanceolate, acuminate at each end, 2-seeded ;the sutures indehiscent, the valves bursting longitudinally.549. H. campeachianum Linn. sp. pi. 549. DC.prodr.ii.4f85.Macfady. fl. jam. 332. Shane ( h. t. 10. f. 1 4.) Campeachy,common all over the West India Islands. (Logwood.)A low spreading tree ;stem generally crooked and deformed, seldomthicker than a man's thigh ;branches somewhat flexuose, terete, coveredwith whitish dots ; in mountain and moist situations unarmed ; in theplains or where the tree is stunted, furnished with spines below theleaves. Leaves 2-& from the same point (an irregular rough tubercularprominence), pinnate, sometimes dividing in a bipinnate manner, at thelowest pair of leaflets leaflets ; 4-paired, shortly stalked ;obovate orobcordate. Racemes at first about the length of the leaf, afterwards, 'asthe pods form, elongating. Flowers on pedicels half an inch in length,yellow, slightly fragrant. Calyx deeply 5-parted lobes ; unequal, thin,membranous, purplish, deciduous; tube short, green, bell-shaped. Petalsnearly equal, obovate, wedge-shaped at the base, scarcely longer thanthe sepals. Stamens alternately short, inserted, as also the petals, onthe inside of the margin of the persistent tube of the calyx anthersjovate. Ovary lanceolate, compressed, 3-seeded ; style projecting beyondthe stamens and petals ; stigma capitate, expanded. Pods compressed,flat, lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, 2-seeded, not opening at thesutures, but bursting longitudinally by a division passing down throughboth the valves. Macf. Chiefly used by dyers. It is a powerfulastringent and may be employed as a substitute for Kino, Catechu, &c.In diarrhoea and dysentery the decoction is used with benefit. Macf.BOWDICHIA.Calyx turbinate-campanulate, 5-toothed ; teeth acute, erect,the upper approximated. Petals 5, distinct ; the lateral oneslongest, arranged in a somewhat papilionaceous manner. Stamens10? distinct. Legume stipitate, with 10 ovules, compressed,membranous, with a winged border on the seed-edge,1-celled, indehiscent. Embryo straight. DC.550. 13. virgilioides HBK. vi. 376. DC. prodr.ii. 519.