Flora Medica

DORSTENIA.Hooker in Bot. mag. t. 2804. Caa-apia Marcgr. bras. 52. ic.Jamaica, Brazil, Trinidad.Root oblong, woody, praemorse, powerfully aromatic. Stemless.Leaves cordate, oblong, obtuse, crenulated, serrated, or toothletted,cucullate at the base. Scape as long as the petioles. Receptacleorbicular, somewhat cupshaped, crenated at the margin. The tuberousroot is used like the Serpentaria against nervous fevers and generaldebility, as well as against the bite of serpents, and when quite fresh,is said to operate more powerfully than that, but more speedilyto loseits virtue. Sometimes also it serves as a gentle emetic. This plantisfrequently confounded with other species of Dorstenia, all which,however, are inferior to it in salutary virtue. It is not to be doubtedthat the Contrayerva of the druggists' shops would always have retainedthe reputation it once enjoyed, if, instead of the weaker Mexicanand West Indian species, this Brazilian kind had become an article ofcommerce. It grows in strong clayey soils, in the mountainous partsof S. Paulo and Minas, whereas the other species prefer the shade ofmoist woods, and rich mould. In this plant, as is the case with severalin Europe, which grow both on low grounds and on eminences, it isobserved that those from the mountains are more powerful. Martins.623. D. Houston! Mill. diet. No. 2. Willd. i. 682. Houstoninphil. trans. No. 421. p. 195. fig. 5. High rocky ground nearCampeachy.Stemless. Leaves cordate, entire, or palmately angular, acute. Receptaclequadrangular, wavy.624-. D. Drakena Mill. diet. No. 3. Willd. i. 683. HoustonHigh ground near Vera Cruz.1. c. fig.4.Stemless. Leaves cordate, interruptedly pinnatifid with the segmentsovate, acute, entire. Receptacles oval, entire.ANTIARIS.Monoecious. $ on a convex fleshy receptacle, scaly on theunder side and there attached by a stalk in the middle. Sepals3-4, imbricated. Anthers 3 or 4, nearly sessile. ? solitary ona scaly peduncle. Calyx 0. Ovary 1-celled ;ovule inverted.Style 2-parted. Fruit a fleshy1 -seeded drupe. Embryo inverted,without albumen.625. A. toxicaria Lesch. in aim. mus. xvi. 476. t. 22. BlumeRumphia i. tt. 22, 23. p. 56. (Rumph. ii. t. 87.)Islands ofthe Indian Archipelago, particularly Java, Baly, and Celebes.(Antsjar or Upas.)A very large tree. Leaves oval-oblong, obtuse, or rather acute,unequally cordate, when young toothletted and hairy on both sides.Peduncles simple. $. Flowers turbinate, downy, pedicellate.