Flora Medica

HYMEN^A.capable of being divided into 2 ;the 2 exterior thickish, coloured withpurple, the others partially so, ovate, obtuse. Petals 5, white, ovate,thin, with pelluciddots. Stamens 10, distinct, filiform, subulate, nearly1 i inch long, white ;anthers oblong.Ovary stipitate, oval, compressed ;style filiform, curved ; stigma simple. Legume woody, ovate-oblong,1-celled, containing faecula, about 3-seeded; valves of a chocolatecolour,hard, convex and rough. The meally substance in which theseeds are embedded is sweet and pleasant, but apt to purge whenitrecently gathered loses this ; property as it becomes old. A decoctionof the pulp, allowed to ferment, forms an intoxicating drinkresembling beer. A fine transparent resin of a yellowish or red colourexudes between the principal roots. It is the Gum Animi of the shops.It burns readily, emitting a fragrant smell, and has been employed byway of fumigation in attacks of spasmodic asthma, and other embarrassmentsof respiration. In solution, it is given internally in doses of atea-spoonful, as a substitute for Gum Guaiacum, for rheumatic andpseudo-siphilitic complaints, and employed externally as an embrocation.The resin, called Jatahy, Jatchy, or Copal, and in Minas Geraes Jatobd,is used, not only for various kinds of varnish, but also against tediouscoughs, weakness of the lungs, spitting of blood, and incipient phthisispulmonalis. The curadores have a method of mixingit with sugar andrum, so as to make a very agreeable emulsion, or syrup. 'Martins.A decoction of the inner bark is said to act as a vermifuge. Macfadyen.ALOEXYLON.Sepals 4-, acute, deciduous, the lower falcate, incurved, twiceas long as the others. Petals 5, unequal, longer than the calyx.Stamens 10, distinct. Ovary compressed, curved. Style filiform.Legume woody, smooth, falcate, 1 -seeded. Seed oblong,curved, arillate. Lour.554. A. Agallochum Lour. cock. i. 267. DC. ii.prodr. 518.Highest mountains of Cochin-china, near the great riverLaoum, which flows between that kingdom and Laos.A large tree. Bark tough, fibrous, brown, smooth. Leaves lanceolate,8 inches long, entire, flat, smooth, somewhat coriaceous, alternate,stalked. Flower terminal ; peduncles many-flowered. Lour. Thistree produces one of the two sorts of Calambac, Eagle-wood, or Lignaloes,a fragrant substance, which Loureiro states consists of a concretionof the oily particlesinto a resin in the centre of the trunk ; it isbrought on by some disease, and the tree in time dies of it. Thearomatic fragments are taken out of the trunk. Of all perfumes" themost grateful to Oriental nations ; stimulant, corroborant, cephalic,cardiac." Its scent is used against vertigo and paralysis. Powderprevents vomiting and stops diarrhoea by its tonic, but astringent properties.Lour.According to Dr. Royle Eagle-wood is a corruption of the Malayanagiia, which in Sanscrit is aggura and in Hindu aggur, the name of thesubstance. Aloe-wood is supposed by Sprengel to have gained itsname from a/lowat or allieh Arabic names of the plant, converted intoaXnijv. Aloe-wood has nothing to do with aloes.267