Flora Medica

LAURACEJE.NECTANDRA.Hermaphrodite. Calyx 6-parted, rotate ;segments deciduous,the 3 outer rather the broadest. Anthers 9, ovate, nearlysessile, with 4 cells arranged in a curve, and distinct from thetip of the anther ;cells of the interior anthers inverted. Glandsin pairs, globose, sessile, at the base of the 3 interior stamensnext their back. Sterile stamens either tooth-shaped and biglandularat the base, or eglandular and then with a small ovalhead. Fruit succulent, more or less immersed in the tube ofthe calyx changed into a truncated cup. Flowers panicled orcorymbose, axillary, lax, pretty ample.691. N. cymbarum Nees Laurin. 305. Ocotea cymbarumHBK. n. g. et. ii.sp. pi. 166. Ocotea amara Mart. in. Buchn.Repert. 1830. xxxv. 180. Feruss. bull. 1831. Jan. p. 63.Woods of the Oronoko near S. Fernando de Atabapo, where itis called " Sassafras;" in the ancient forests of the Rio Negro inBrazil.A tree 100 feet high. Branches and all the parts smooth. Leavesoblong-lanceolate, papery, shining above, they and the peduncles of thefruit, which are short at the base of the branches and new shoots, quitesmooth. Cup large, with a double edge. Bark aromatic, bitter,stomachic. Martius suspects that it is one of the ingredients in thefamous Woorary poison of Guiana.692. N. Cinnamomoides Nees Laurin. 307. Laurus CinnamomoidesHBK. n. g. et. sp. pi. ii. 169. Cinnamomum sylvestreamericanum Seba Thesaur. ii.p. 90. t. 84-. f. 6. Temperateshady country of New Grenada, where it is called " Canela ;"cultivated about Mariquita.Leaves oblong tapering into a fine point, acute at the base, betweenpapery and leathery, naked, smooth and shining above, finely downybeneath, with numerous distinct narrow costal veins. Bark with theflavour and smell of cinnamon, as which it is used in New Grenada.693. N. Puchurymajor Nees Laurin. 328. Ocotea Puchurymajor Martius in Buchn. repert. 1830. xxxv. 171. Feruss. bull.1831. Jan. 62. p. Puchury, Puchery, Puchyry of the Brazilians.Woods of Tabatinga in the province of Rio Negro in Brazil.Leaves oblong or elliptical, tapering to a narrow point, betweenpapery and leathery, smooth, reticulated, of the same colour on bothsides. Peduncles axillary short. Cup of the fruit very large andspongy. Martius assigns the Pichurim beans to this plant (seeAydendron Laurel). The fruit, in the early months of the year dropfrom their cups to the ground, when they are collected by the natives,cleaned of their flesh and pericarp and dried by a gentle heat. Theyare used in dysentery, diarrhoea, cardialgia, spasmodic colic, strangury,incontinence of urine and other disorders. The bark has the smell of336