Spec. Plant. Willd. ii. 513. Cl. 10. Ord. 1. Decandria Monogynia. Nat. ord. Leguminosae. G. 813. Cal. five-leaved. Petals five. Anthers three superior, barren; the three lower ones beaked. * Sennas. Sp. 18. C. Fistula. Purging Cassia. Med. Pot. 3d ed. 445. t. 160.

(Conna) Hort. Malabar. Part i. p. 37. fig. 22.

1 Vauquelin obtained an oil resembling that of the clove from the leaves of Agathophyllum Ravensara.

2 It is made with ij. of cloves, and viij. of alcohol, 32° Beaume, digested for six days and filtered.

Sp. 24. C. Lanceolata. Lanceolate Cassia. De Candolle, Prodromus Syst. Nat. Sp. 25. C. Obovata. Obovate Cassia.

1. Cassia Fistula.1

Officinal. Cassia pulpa, Lond. Cassia Fistulae fructus, Edin. Cassia Fistula; pulpa leguminis, Dub. Cassia pulp.

Syn. Casse (F.), Rohnkassie(G.), Pypkassie (Dutch), Cassiever (Dan. Swed.), Polpa di Cassia (I.), Fistularis {S.), Ameltas(H.), Suvernaca (San.), Konnekai (Tain.), Khyar Sheber (Arab.), Khyar Chirber (Pers.), Urangu (Jav.), Mentus (Malay), Sonali (Beng.).

This tree is a native of both the East and West Indies and of Egypt. It rises to the height of forty or fifty feet, with a large trunk, covered with a soft cineritious bark, and is much branched at the top. The leaves are composed of six pair of ovate, pointed, undulated pinnae, of a pale green colour, with many transverse nerves, and peduncled : the stipules are scarcely apparent. The flowers, which appear in June, are of a golden colour, placed upon long pendent terminal spikes.2 The leaves of the calyx are crenated, blunt, and greenish; the petals unequal, spreading, and waved. The three undermost filaments are long and incurved; the others exhibit large anthers, three of which are rostrated, or like the open beak of a bird, at the extremity. The fruit is a long, woody, dark brown pod, about the thickness of the human thumb, and nearly too feet in length, cylindrical, with two longitudinal furrows on one side, and one on the other; and divided into numerous transverse cells, each containing one smooth, oval, yellowish, shining seed, with red lines dividing it longitudinally, imbedded in a soft black pulp.3

The pods are said to undergo a kind of fermentation, to prepare them for keeping. Those which are brought to this country come principally from the West Indies, packed in casks and cases; but a superior kind is brought from the East Indies; and is easily distinguished by its smaller, smooth pod, and by the greater blackness of its pulp. The heaviest pods, and those in which the seeds do not rattle on being shaken, are the best, and contain the greatest quantity of pulp, which is the part used.

Qualities.-The pulp has a slight, rather sickly odour, and a sweet mucilaginous taste. It is viscid; almost entirely soluble in water, and partially so in alcohol and sulphuric ether. The watery infusion, which shows a tendency to gelatinize, has, when filtered, a deep brown colour, and yields a precipitate with alcohol, and the solution of the acetate of lead. The alcoholic and ethereal tinctures are not affected by the addition of water; although, when they are evaporated, a thin pellicle of resin remains. No alteration is produced on the alcoholic and watery infusions by infusion of galls, nitrate of silver, sulphate of iron, nor the nitric nor sulphuric acids; chlorine throws down a yellow-coloured precipitate, which is insoluble in ether. Hence there is a reason for concluding, with Vauquelin, that this pulp contains sugar, gelatin, gluten, mucus, a small portion of resin, extractive, and some colouring matter.

Myrepsici, ultimi fere Grtecorum medicorum. Chaiarxambar of the Egyptians. Prosper Alpinus, de Plantis Aegypti, cap. ii.

2 Alpinus says, "Sunt etiara hi valde odorati, praesertimque oriente sole." Ibid. 1. c.

3 Gartner de Fruct. i. 313. t. 147.

Medical properties and uses.-Cassia pulp is gently laxative; but although it is adapted for children and very delicate women, yet it is apt to induce nausea, flatulence, and griping, when taken in doses sufficient for stronger habits. To assist its operation, and prevent the griping, it is usually conjoined with some neutral salt and an aromatic; but it is now rarely prescribed in any case. The dose is 3iij. to j. or more.

Officinal preparations.- Pulpa Cassia fistularis expressa, E. Confectio Cassiae, L. Electuarium Cassiae, D. Confectio Sennae, L. Electuarium Sennae comp. E.

2. Cassia Lanceolata. C. Obovata.

Officinal. Senna, Lond. Foliae Cassia Sennae, Edin. Cassia Senna; folia, Dub. Senna leaves.

Syn. Sene (F.), Sennablatter (G.), Sennet (Swed.), Liscie Senesowe (Pol.), Senne (Dutch), Senat (Dan.), Senna (I. & Port.), Sen (S.), Suna (Arab.), Sena Mecci (H.), Nilaverei ( Tarn.).

1 C. Nectoux. Vide Phil. Mag. xv. 55. 2 Flore d'Egypt, Ixxv. tab. 27. fig. 1.

These species of Cassia, which yield the Senna of commerce, are annual plants, natives of Upper Egypt, Benou in Central Africa, and India. The best grows in the valleys of Nubia1, where it is named Abyreyga; flowering in July and August. It is the C. acutifolia of Delile2, and furnishes the Tripoli Senna, and forms a large portion of that which is termed Alexandrian. It rises with an erect, branching, woody, whitish stem about two feet in height. At the base of the leaves, which are pinnate, and placed in alternate order, are two narrow-pointed stipules: the leaflets, of which each leaf has five or six pair, are sessile, oblique at the base, oval, pointed, scarcely an inch in length, rather more than one fourth of an inch broad, and of a yellowish green colour. The flowers are yellow, in loose axillary spikes: the calyx is deciduous, consisting of five narrow, obtuse, concave leaflets:

the petals are roundish, concave, entire; the three lower ones larger than the two upper: the undermost filaments also are longer than the others, and furnished with large rostrated curved anthers: and the germen is long and flat, with a short incurved style terminated by an obtuse stigma. The fruit is an ovate, reniform, membranous, leafy, compressed legume, torose and marked with capillary, transverse, parallel striae: bivalve, with six or nine cells, divided by very thin tranverse partitions, and each containing one oblong heart-shaped seed.1