Flora Medica

SACCHARUM.pound, and supra-decompound ; glumes surrounded by wool. Paleae2, on the same (anterior) side, the inner one very small. Scales 2,large, broad cuneate, crenulate, fleshy, occupying the two posteriorsides of the ovary, opposite to the two palese. Roxb. From thisChinese sugar is made.1305. S. officinarum Linn, sp.pl. 79. Tussac.fi.des. Ant. i.t. 23. Roxb.fi. ind. i. 237- Kunth. agrost. 474. Cultivatedin both Indies, but its native country uncertain. (Sugar cane.)Stems solid, from 6 to 12 feet high, yellow, purple, red or striped.Leaves flat. Panicle terminal, spreading, erect, oblong, from 1 to 3feet long, gray from the quantity of long loose hairs that surround theflorets ;the branches alternate and very spreading. Rachis striated.Florets $"in pairs. Glumes smooth. Palea smooth, membranous,pink. The sugar cane is usually reckoned a medicinal plant, althoughit hardly deserves a placein a Medical Flora. Dr. Chisholm howeversays that its juice is the best antidote to arsenic.*#* A great many other species have been named as possessingmedicinal properties, but they either are not well authenticated, orappear to be unimportant. It is uncertain whether the Carapoucha, orCarapullo, cited by Mr. Pereira from Frezier as a narcotic grass, isreally of this order. I cannot trace the name, and the only Lima plantthat I find bearing a name at all like it is Physalis pubescens, whichaccording to the Flora Peruviana is there called Capuli.CYPERACE.E.Nat, syst. ed. 2. p. 384.No plants of this order appear of any medicinal consequence ;the following have, however, been named as medical plants, amongseveral others.1306. Cyperus longus Linn, as a stomachic.1307. Cyperus rotundus Linn, as a stomachic. GeneralHardwick says that its tubers have been given with benefit incholera.CAREX.Flowers unisexual, imbricated in cylindrical or ovate heads.$ . Bracts single, triandrous, withering and dry. ? . Bractspermanent, solitary, mucronate. Glumes 2, united into a compressedbifid utricle, containing a compressed or triangular digynousor trigynous fruit.1308. C.arenaria Linn, sp.pl. 1381. Eng. Sot. t.928. SmithEng. Fl. iv. 86. Sandy sea coast of Europe.613 R R 3