Flora Medica

Bertholl. in n. act. acad. N. C. xv. t. 35-39. Asparagus DracoLinn. sp. pi. 451. Canary Islands, and East Indies.A large tree with an irregular branching forking head, the branchesof which are swollen and bear leaves only at their points, which areoften divided into fingers. Leaves about a foot long, ensiform, mucronate,half involute, bright green, longitudinally striated, keeled both onthe inside and outside; secreting roundish compressed tears whichharden into a kind of resin. Racemes terminal, about 2 feet long,erect, compound, whitish green. Flowers numerous, articulated withtheir pedicel and therefore readily dropping off, usually in clusters of 4,whitish green, or white when fully expanded, at which time their segmentsare revolute. Berry yellowish, with 6 furrows. Dragon's-blood,a tonic astringent resin, sometimes employed in diarrhoea and passivehaemorrhages, is yielded in part by this tree, from the surface of theleaves, and from the cracks in its trunk. It is however scarcely knownto modern druggists, who sell the astringent resin of Pterocarptis.1259. D. terminalis Blume (D. ferrea Spreng.}, and1260. D. ferrea Linn. (D. terminalis Jacq.) are said to haveastringent roots, found useful in dysentery.ALOE.Perianth tubular, 6-cleft, fleshy, nectariferous at the basethe sepals of the same form as the petals, and closely imbricatingthem. Stamens hypogynous, as long as the perianth, or evenlonger. Capsule membranous, scarious, 3-cornered, 3-celled,3-valved, with a loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds numerous, in 2rows, roundish or angular.1261. A. vulgaris Lam. encycl.i. 86. ail. i.Desf.fl.310.A. barbadensis Mill. diet. ed. 8. No. 2. DC. pi. grasses p. 27.R. and S. vii. 693. A. perfoliata ir, vera Linn. sp. 458.(Rheede xi. t. 3.) AXoij Diosc. The East Indies and Barbarynow cultivated in the West Indies ; ;as well as Italy,Sicily, and Malta.Stem woody, simple, cylindrical,short. Leaves fleshy, amplexicaul,first spreading, then ascending, lanceolate, glaucous-green, flat above,convex below, armed with hard distant reddish spines perpendicular tothe margin ; a little mottled with darker colour ; the parenchymaslightly coloured brown and very distinct from the tough leatherycuticle. Scape axillary, glaucous reddish, branched. Spike cylindricalovate.Flowers at first erect, then spreading, afterwards pendulous,yellow, not longer than the stamens. This yields what are calledBarbadoes Aloes, or hepatic aloes by some writers, but not the truehepatic aloes it is ; imported in gourds from Jamaica and Barbadoes, isof a dark-brown or black varying to reddish-brown or liver-colour, andhas an unpleasantodour.1262. A. socotrina Lam. encycl.i. 85. DC. plant, grass.85. Woodv. t. 202. Bot. Mag. t. 472, 1474. R. and S.t.594