Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/369

ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY.

183 the Balsamic or acrid or even poisonous qualities of the resinous juices with which nearly the whole abound, and from which the order derives its name. To arrive at a clearer understand- ing of the properties of this extensive class it seems requisite in considering them, to treat separately of those of its different divisions.

To this suborder belongs Semecarpus anacardium, the well known mark- ing nut of India. The juices of this tree are very acrid and injurious to those who work on the wood, while that of the nut applied to the skin causes inflammation and blisters. It is used as a remedy against Rheumatism and sprains. The- receptacles of the fruit of Anacardium ocidevtale or cashew- nut, are eat like apples, and the fruit itself after being freed from the acrid shell by burning, makes an moderately good substitute for almonds, and is very often used as such. The Mango also belongs to this tribe but does not require notice here, being generally well known. This fruit when freely used is said to excite boils and other inflammatory affections of the skin, but, so far as my own experience extends, I am disposed to attribute these ailments to the heat of the season rather than to the fruit, as I have seen hundreds of instances where they occurred during the hot season before a single Mango had been eat, and afterwards disappear when they were being largely consumed.

The Rhus or Sumach family have been long celebrated for their acrid poisonous properties. R. toxicodendron and R. venenata afford striking examples of these qualities. It is said that merely handling the leaves of the former is sufficient to cause a crop of vesicles, and expo- sure to the volutile emanations that take place from both trees has been known to excite in sus- ceptible persons severe indisposition, or they have had their bodies covered with a crop of pustules. The two species of Rhus, natives of India, are not endowed with these acrid properties, at least I have never experienced any such effects though I have frequently been most freely exposed to and handled both, nor have I ever heard of any one being so affected by them. Notwithstanding these poisonous properties R. toxicodendron is a good deal used in medicine, especially in dropsical, and supposed Consumptive cases. Stagmarea a native of the eastern Islands, and Holigarna a native of Malabar, are said to possess similar properties, and these of a very acrid poisonous character. The juice of both is employed as a varnish or lacquer, that of the former is very much used by the Chinese and Japanese for var- nishing all kinds of wooden articles, the elegance of which causes them to be dispersed to all parts of the world. The juice of the Holigarna is used for lacquering shields in Malabar. For a very full and interesting account of Stagmarea see " Companion to the Botanical Magazine, vol. 1 page 267-8." The juice of Melanorrhaea Wallich, so called from the dark coloured juice which exhudes from wounds in its bark, is employed for similar purposes in the Tenaserim provinces, a full account of which is given in Wallich's Plant: Asiat : Rariores : Pistacia the last genus which I shall mention, found in Syria and along the shores of the Mediterranean, affords from two of its species, P. terebinthus and P. lentiscus, the well known Cyprus turpen- tine, and still better and much more extensively used ' Gum Mastich,' so famed as a masticatory for whitening and preserving the teeth. From this slight enumeration, which does not nearly embrace the whole, it will be seen that this suborder includes a large proportion of interesting and useful trees.

The fruit of Spondias mangifera is eatable — so is that of some of the West Indian species, wheie they have received the name of hog's plums. From wounds in the bark of & mangifera a large quantity of a very pure gum flows, which is, I believe, collected and currently sold in the Bazaars as gum arabic, which it greatly resembles. In this product, this suborder differs widely from all the others of the order, and combined with its Botanical pecu- liarities goes far to justify its separation as a distinct order. Rheede, in Hortus Malabaricus, attributes many valuable properties to this tree which seem to be either imaginary or generally unknown, as I have never in a single instance heard of its being used medicinally. Roxburgh states that the young fruit is made into pickles, tarts, &c.

The products of this tribe are much more highly esteemed than those of either of the preceding — among those we find Myrrh, Copaiva, Olibanum, Balm of Gilead, Frankincense, &c. The fragrant unirritating balsamic qualities of all these substances, so very