Flora Medica

NECTANDRA.fennel mixed with cloves according to Nees, of camphor according toMartius ; its taste is aromatic, not hot.N. B. Another species, the Nectandra Puchury minor of Nees,said also to yield seeds having similar qualitiesits bark is de-is;scribed as resembling Sassafras when fresh, but tasteless and scentlesswhen dry. The cotyledons smell like Balsam of Peru. It yields theSassafras nuts of the London shops according to Humboldt.DICYPELLIUM;Dioecious. Calyx deeply 6-parted, spread out, with equalpermanent segments. $ unknown. $ ;sterile stamens in 3rows ;the 3 outer perfectly petaloid;the 3 next petaloideounguiculate,inflexed at the point, with 4 pits below the point ;the 3 inner compressed, sessile, truncate, with 2 pits on eachside below the point and 2 glandular protuberances at the back.Fruit dry, seated in the enlarged, fleshy, shrivelled calyx, andamong the enlarged hardened sterile stamens. Inflorescencesimple few-flowered racemes.694. D. caryophyllatum Nees Laur. 344-. Persea caryophyllaceaMartius in Nees and Eberm. handb. ii. 435. Licaria guianensisAubl. quian.i. 313. t. 121. Bois de Rose French settlersin Cayenne ; Licari Kanali Caribs. Woods of Brazil, Guiana.A tree. Leaves alternate, oblong, tapered to a very fine pointwhich is nevertheless bluntish, acute at base, papery, smooth, nettedon the under side. Racemes 1 or 2 together at the base of a terminalbud, from 1 to li inch long, their peduncle included, 3-6-flowered.Fruit drupaceous, ovate, depressed at the apex and plaited in a stellatemanner. Bark smelling of cloves, with a hot clove-like peppery taste,and powerful tonic properties. Nees v. Esenbeck inquires whether thismay not be the " Linharea aromatica, Canella do Mato, Arruda inRoster's travels, p. 493 ? " OREODAPHNE.Hermapnrodite. Dioecious or polygamous. Calyx 6-partedor 6-cleft, nearly equal ; the limb eventually disappearing. Stamens9 ; anthers oblong, with narrow filaments, 4-celled, the3 inner looking outwards. Sterile stamens in a fourth row, none,or subulate, or incomplete. Fruit succulent, more or less immersed in a deep thick cup, formed out of the altered tube ofthe calyx. Flowers panicled or racemose, axillary, occasionallyumbellulate.695. O. opifera Nees Laurin. 390. Ocotea opifera Mart, inBuchn. repert. 1830. xxxv. 179. Feruss. bull. 1831. Jan. p. 63.Woods of Para, and the Rio negro.Leaves oblong, cuspidate, tapering into the petiole, silky on the337 z