Flora Medica

APOCYNACEJE.1113. C. Thevetia Linn, has a dangerous venomous milk.The bark is bitter and cathartic, and is reported to be a powerfulfebrifuge, 2 grains only being affirmed to be equal to anordinary dose of cinchonaṠTRYCHNOS.Calyx 45-parted. Corolla tubular, with a spreading 4-5-cleftlimb, and a valvate aestivation. Stamens 4-5, inserted into thethroat of the corolla, which is either naked or bearded. Ovary2-celled, with indefinite ovules attached to a central placenta ;style 1 ;stigma capitate. Berry corticated, 1 -celled, manyseeded,or by abortion 1 -seeded. Seeds nidulant, discoidal.Albumen large, cartilaginous, almost divided into 2 plates.Embryo with leafy cotyledons.1 1 1 4. S. Nux vomica Linn.fl. zeyL 91 . Roxb. corom. i. 8. t. 4 .ind. jft. i. 575. (Rheede i. t. 37.) Coromandel, Ceylon, andelsewhere in the East Indies. (Kuchila in Bengal.)Trunk short, often crooked, but pretty thick. Branches irregular,covered with smooth ash-coloured bark ; young shoots highly polished,deep green. "Wood white, hard, close-grained, and bitter. Leaves opposite,short-stalked, oval, shining, smooth on both sides, from 3 to 5nerved, or rather between that and triple, or quintuple, differing in sizefrom 1J to 4 inches long, and from 1 to 3 broad. Flowers small,greenish-white, collected in small terminal corymbs. Calyx 5-toothed,permanent. Filaments scarcely any, or exceedingly short, insertedover the bottom of the divisions of the corolla ;anthers oblong, halfwithin the tube, and half out. Ovary 2-celled, with many ovules ineach cell, attached to the thickened centre of the partition. Style thelength of the tube of the corolla'; stigma capitate. Berry round,smooth, size of a pretty large apple, covered with a smooth, somewhathard shell, of a rich beautiful orange colour when ripe ; filled with a white,soft, gelatinous pulp. Seeds several, immersed in the pulp of the berry.The wood is exceedingly bitter, particularly that of the root, which isused to cure intermittent fevers, and the bites of venomous snakes. Theseeds are employed in the distillation of country spirits, to render themmore intoxicating. The pulp of the fruit seems perfectly innocent, as it isgreedily eaten by many sorts of birds. Roxb. The seeds are extremelypoisonous, in large doses producing extraordinary rigidity and convulsivecontraction of the muscles previous to death. In very small and repeateddoses itpromotes the appetite, assists the digestive process, increasesthe secretion of urine, and sometimes acts slightly upon the bowels.It is employed medicinally in paralysis, dyspepsia, dysentery, affectionsof the nervous system, &c. ;and appears to be very active in removingimpotence. It appears however that virility is preserved no longer thanthe use of the drug is persevered in. See Mr. Pereira's excellentaccount of the action of Nux Vomica, in the Med. Gaz. xix. 440. Thebark of this plant has been sold in Europe as a sort of Angustura bark,and obtained the name of false Angustura. It was at one time assignedto Brucca antidysenterica ; but Guibourt suspected it to be produced bysome plant allied to Strychnos M. Batka, a ; druggist of Prague, referredit to Strychnos NuxVomica (Guibourt, ed. 3. ii. 4); and Mr. Pereira528