Flora Medica

CHIOCOCCA.is supposed to be anthelraintic. The bark and young shoots are usedin dysentery. Ainslie.CHIOCOCCA.Limb of calyx 5-toothed. Corolla funnel-shaped, with an obconicaltube or throat, and a 5-lobed acute limb. Stamens 5,downy, hardly adnate to the bottom of the corolla; antherslinear, enclosed. Style clavate or 2-lobed at the apex. Berrysomewhat didymous, compressed, crowned by the teeth of thecalyx, with 2 1papery -seeded stones. Shrubs often with asomewhat scandent habit. Leaves ovate or oblong, smooth.Racemes axillary, simple or panicled. Flowers yellowish white.mat. med. bras. xvii. t. 5. DC.874. C. anguifuga Mart. spec.prodr. iv. 482. C. brachiata Fl. ii.peruv. 67. t. 219. b. C. racemosaHBK. iii. 352. C. parviflora and paniculata Wittd. inR. and S. v. 203. Woods of Brazil, Cayenne, Peru, and someof the West India Islands.Root perpendicular, round, branched, as thick as the thumb, with astrong acrid fetid smell when fresh, when dry having at first somethingthe taste of coffee, but afterwards acrid and nauseous, stimulatingthe flow of saliva. Stems weak, erect, 6-10 feet high. Leaves opposite,stalked, ovate, broadly wedge-shaped or rounded at the base,tapering into a long narrow point, smooth and green on each side.Stipules short, truncate. Peduncles axillary, nearly horizontal, smoothor downy at the angles, branched. Pedicels somewhat secund. Berriesroundish, compressed, smooth, 2-3 lines in diameter. See nextspecies.875. C. densifolia Mart. spec. mat. med. bras. xvii. t. 6. DC.iv. prodr. 482. Woods of Brazil, especially in the province ofBahia. (Cahinca.)Root like that of the last. Trunk arborescent, 8-10 feet high.Branches horizontal. Branchlets spreading, straight, decussate. Leavesdecussate, roundish-ovate or even cordate at base, acute, thickish,smooth on each side, shining deep green on the upper side. Stipulesshort, truncate with a mucro. Racemes axillary simple, secund.Common peduncle downy ; pedicels smooth. Calyx 5-cleft, withlinear-lanceolate acute erect segments. Corolla inflated, funnel-shaped,smooth, yellowish white, sometimes with a few purplish streaks in thethroat ; with the segments of the limb ovate, acute, inflexed. Theroots of these two species are employed with confidence by the nativesof Brazil as a certain remedy for serpent bites. The infusion of thebark of the root produces the most violent emetic and drastic effects.In the words of Von Martius": JEgrotus scilicet, e veneno languidus,soporosus, vix sui compos, ex quo medicinam sumserit, primum eructationibuscreberrimis et tantis motibus convulsivis excruciatur, ut,licet exsanguis et quasi cum facie hippocratica, sub summa virium labe,in lectulum corruisset, ne unicum quidem temporis momentum quietusmaneri possit. Tandem post plurimos et visu terribiles spasmos universaleset corporis volutationes, in enormes rapitur vomitus, quibussalivam, bilem, chymum, immo fceces larga copia edit. Tune accedunt439 FF 4