Flora Medica

LAURACEjE.shaped, with an obconical equal deciduous* tube. Fertile stamens9, in 3 rows, the 3 inner furnished with a distinct stalkedgland on each side. Anthers oblong, glandular at the point,2-celled, the 6 outer looking inwards, the 3 inner outwards.Sterile stamens 3, stalked, with a long sharp head, belonging tothe inner whorl. Stigma discoidal ;ovary immersed in the tubeof the calyx. Caryopsis covered by the lobeless closed tubeof the calyx, and united to it. Leaf buds with a few coriaceouskeeled scales. Leaves 8-nerved, or 3-plenerved.687. C. densiflora Blume in Nees Laurin. 228. Kiteja orKitedja Javanese. Woods from 1400 to 1800 feet above thesea on the West of Java.A tree 60-80 feet high. Young branches round, smooth, very darkgreen ;at first covered with a short ochre-coloured downiness. Leaves3-nerved or triple-nerved, elliptical-oblong, bluntly cuspidate, smooth,glaucous beneath. Panicles corymbose, axillary, dense. Fruit globose,furrowed on the summit. Bark brownish, tonic, containing a greatquantity of bitter somewhat balsamic extractive matter. Leaves gratefullyaromatic ; they are used in infusion, like tea, against spasms ofthe bowels, and the convulsive affections of pregnant women. Blume.MESPILODAPHNE.Dioecious? Calyx 6-cleft; tube obconical, segments equal,permanent. Fertile stamens 9, in 3 rows, the 3 inner with2 sessile globose glands at the base. Anthers 4-celled ;the 6outer ovate and looking inwards, the 3 inner narrower andlooking outwards. Sterile stamens in 1 species forming a fourthrow, with a distinct stalk and a cordate-lanceolate head. Stigmadepressed, capitate. Fruit succulent, enclosed from the first inthe thick corky fleshy tube of the calyx, and covered over byits converging segments ; eventually exposed at the point bythe falling or rubbing off of the segments. Flowers panicled.688. M. pretiosa Nees Laurin. 237. Laurus Quixos Lam. enc.ill. 455. Woods near Para ; Maypure. Pao or Casca pretiosaA tree. Branches smooth, when young angular ; their bark whenold split lengthwise and cracked across till it looks as if tessellated.Leaves from 5-7 inches long, 1^-2 inches broad, oblong, tapering intoan obtuse point, acute at the base, smooth, papery, shining, with pinnatedveins. Flowers and flower-stalks all smooth. Ripe fruit small,marked at the vertex by a circular scar denoting the place from whichthe limb of the calyx fell ; very much like a small fig. Inner barkand the rind of the calyx of a most sweet odour and agreeable taste,resembling Cinnamon mixed with Orange-flowers, or oil of Bergamot.* Nees v. Esenbeck states the character thus " tubo obconico aequali deciduo ;" but Icannot reconcile it with the tube of the calyx eventually enclosing the fruit.334