Flora Medica

ANACARDIACEJE.fresh juicy bark is used in Brazil for rubbing newly-made ropes with,which it covers with a very durable bright dark-brown coating. It issaid by Prince Maximilian of Wied Neuwied, to be employed by theIndians in diseases of the eyeṖISTAC1A.Rowers dioecious, apetalous. $ . Raceme amentaceous with1 -flowered bracts. Calyx 5-cleft. Stamens 5 ;anthers subsessile4-cornered. $ Raceme more . lax. Calyx 3-4-cleft. Ovary1-3-celled. Stigmas 3, rather thick. Drupe dry, ovate, witha somewhat bony nut, usually 1-celled and 1 -seeded; sometimesbearing 2 abortive cells at the side. Seeds solitary, erect, withoutalbumen. Cotyledons thick, fleshy, oily, with a superiorlateral radicle. Trees with pinnated leaves.596. P. vera Linn. sp. pi. 1454. Lam. illustr, t. 811. f. 1, 2.Ach. Rich. hot. med. 596. DC. prodr.ii. 64. Syria; nownaturalised all over the South of Europe. (Pistacia Nut.)A small scrubby tree. Leaves alternate, unequally pinnate, coriaceous,smooth ; leaflets in 3-5 pairs, oval, obtuse. Flowers borne onwood 2 years old, and proceeding from a scaly bud, the parts of whichare woolly at the edge. Males arranged in a branched raceme. Calyxlobeserect, membranous, linear-lanceolate, or subulate. Stamens 5,larger than the calyx. Female flowers in little simple or 3-floweredspikes. Calyx much as in the male. Ovary ovate, slightly stipitate,1-celled, containing a single ovule borne by a long umbilical cordspringing from the bottom of the cell. Stigmas 3, nearly sessile, thick,blunt, reflexed. Drupe oval, elongated, dry, opening into 2 valveswhen quite ripe and about the size of an olive ;kernel large, fleshy,of a bright pale green colour. Fruit commonly employed in the Southof Europe at dessert, for confectionary. It contains a considerableof fixed oil, and makes an excellent emulsion for irritation ofrmtity urethra and for other purposes.597. P. Terebinthus Linn. sp. 1455. DC. prodr.ii. 64.Woody, t. 153. S. and C. iii. t. 129. Syria and the GreekArchipelago.A rather smaller plant than the last, but very much like it. Leaflets7-9, oval, lanceolate, acute, smooth, entire, deep-green and shiningabove, whitish beneath. The scales from amongst which the maleflowers escape are closely covered with brown hairs. Fruit purple,almost round, much smaller than in the preceding. Cyprus turpentineis obtained from the trunk by incision. When pure this is verythick, yellowish, sweet-scented, resembling Lemon or Fennel in somedegree, with an agreeable and by no means acrid taste. Follicularhorn-like galls are produced on this species in the South of Europe,which have been used according to Clusius in the manufacture of a" sanative and"glutinous balsam. Linncea, x. 58. and 442.598. P. Lentiscus Linn sp. pi. 1455. Duham. ed. nov. iv. 1. 18.DC. prodr.ii. 65. Ach. Rich. hot. med. 598. P. massiliensisMill. diet. P. chia Desf. cat. hort. par. In all the basin of theMediterranean.288