Rotacea.

CISTUS CRETICUS.

Class XIII.

CRETAN CISTUS.

POLYANDRIA. Order I. MONOGYNIA.

Gen. Char. Corolla, five-petalled. Calyx, five-leaved, with two of the leaflets smaller.

Spe. Char. Leaves, spatulate, ovate, petioled, nerveless, rugged. Calyx, lanceolate.

This plant seldom rises to any great height-it is covered with a dark-colored bark, and sends off several simple branches; the leaves are oblong, pointed, waved, rough, viscous, veined, and stand in pairs upon short foot-stalks, which are broad at the base, so as to nearly surround the younger branches; the flowers are produced in succession at the extremities of the branches, in June and July— they are large, of a purple-red color, marked with dark spots at the base of each petal, and stand on short peduncles; the calyx is divided into five large oval-pointed persistent segments, of which the two outermost are smallest; the corolla is composed of five petals, which are large, roundish, spreading, and readily fall off on being touched; the filaments are numerous, very short, slender, and supplied with simple anthers of an orange color; the germen is oval, and supports a short style, furnished with a flat circular stigma; the capsule is roundish, and contains many small orbicular seeds.

This shrub, which is a native of Candia and some of the Islands of the Archipelago, was first cultivated in England by Mr. P. Miller, in the year 1731, and is now extended to most of the princi

pal gardens throughout that country, although it is not as common as many other exotic species of this genus. Not only this plant, but most of its congeners, abound with a glutinous liquor, which in summer exudes upon their leaves. It is well known that the Cistus Cretitus is the species from which the officinal labdanum is collected. This is done by means of an instrument called Ergastiri, made in the form of a rake, to which several leathern thongs are affixed instead of teeth, and with which the leaves of the shrub are lightly brushed backwards and forwards, so that the flued labdanum may adhere to the leather, from which it is afterwards scraped off with knives, and formed into regular masses for exportation.

Three kinds of labdanum have been described by authors, all possessing nearly the same properties; the Cistus creticus, Cistus ladaniferus, and the Cistus laurifolius, all of which are small evergreen shrubs, inhabiting the Grecian Islands. The best labdanum, which is the soft kind, has an agreeable smell, and a lightly pungent bitter taste; the hard is much weaker. Rectified spirits of wine dissolves nearly the whole gum into a golden-colored liquor; on distillation with water, there comes over a fragrant essential oil.

Medical Properties and Uses. Labdanum is a stimulant expectorant, and astringent, and was formerly employed internally as a pectoral, and in catarrhal affections, dysenteries, and many other diseases; but at present it is wholly confined to external use, and as an ingredient in the stomachic plaster, although seldom use in the United States for that purpose.

superior, barren, the three lower ones beaked. Lomentum. Spe. Char. Leaves, with five pair of leaflets, ovate. sharp-pointed, petioles without glands.

This tree rises from forty to fifty feet in height, producing many spreading branches towards the top, and covered with a brownish bark, intersected with many cracks and furrows; the leaves are pinnated, composed of four to six pairs of pinnæ, which are ovate, pointed, undulated, nerved, of a pale green color, and stand upon short foot-stalks; the flowers are large, yellow, and placed in spikes upon long peduncles; the calyx consists of five oblong, blunt, greenish, crenulated leaves; the corolla is divided into five petals, which are unequal, spreading, and undulated; the filaments are ten, the three under ones are very long and curled inwards, the remaining seven exhibit only the large anthers, which are all rostrated, or open at the end like a bird's beak; the germen is round, curved inwardly, without any apparent style, and terminated by a single stigma; the fruit is a cylindrical, pendulous pod, from one to two feet in length; at first, soft and green, afterwards it becomes brown, and lastly, black and shining, divided transversely into numerous cells, in each of which is contained a hard round compressed seed, surrounded with a black pulpy matter; the flowers appear in June and July.

This tree, which is a native of both the Indies, and of Egypt, was first cultivated in England by Mr. Philip Miller, in 1731. The pods of the East India Cassia are of less diameter, smoother, and afford a blacker, sweeter, and more grateful pulp than those which are brought from the West Indies, South America, or Egypt, and are universally preferred. In Egypt, it is the practice to pluck the Cassia pods before they arrive at a state of maturity, and to place them in a house from which the external air is excluded as much as possible; the pods are then laid in a strata of half a foot in depth, between which palm leaves are interposed; the two following days the whole is sprinkled with water, in order to promote its fermentation, and the fruit is suffered to remain in this situation forty days, when it is sufficiently prepared for keeping.

Medical Properties and Uses. The pulp of Cassia has long been used as a laxative medicine; and being gentle in its operation, and seldom occasioning griping or uneasiness of the bowels, has been thought well adapted to children, and to nervous and delicate females. Adults, however, find this of little effect, unless taken in very large doses, as an ounce or more; and therefore, to them, this pulp is rarely given alone, but usually in combination with some more active purgative. It has been observed by some, that its purgative quality is remarkably promoted by manna; but this effect was never discovered by Dr. Cullen, in his trials-testing its medicinal virtues. The U. S. Dispensatory recommend it given in small doses, in "cases of habitual costiveness." In quantities sufficient to purge, it occasions nausea, flatulence, and griping. In this country, it is very rarely prescribed, except as an ingredient in the confection of senna, which is a highly pleasant and useful laxative preparation. The dose of the pulp as a laxative, is one or two drachms, as a purge, one or two ounces.