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Show 354 SWEET FLAG, OR ACORUS. sides, internally of a white colour and loose spongy texture : its smell is strong; the taste warm, acrid, bitterish, and aro. matic; both the smell and taste are improved by exsiccation. MEDICAL VIRTUE. This root is generally looked uponas a carminative and sto2 machic medicine, and as such is sometimes made use of in practice. It is said by some, though erroncously, to be superior in aromatic flavour to any other vegetable that is produced in these northernclimes. It is, nevertheless, a sufficiently elegant aromatic. The fresh root candied is said to be employedat Con. stantinople as a preservative against epidemic diseases. The leaves of this plant have a sweet fragrant smell, more agreeable, though weaker, than that of the roots. DRAGON’S BLOOD TREE. CALAMUS ROTANG. ols Class V1. Hexandria. Order I. Monogynia. . vs Cuar. Calyx six-leaved: Corolla none: Berry dry, one_ See ed, inversely imbricated. si StEC. Coan, Corolla none: . F Calyxlyx six-leaved: -seeded - Berry dry, one-se . backwards imbricated. <r ‘i EE T DESCRIPTION. is tay be considered as a scandent kind of palm: the lower Part of the ste m is hollow, jointed, beset with spines; its upper part takes a horizontal direction, and overruns the neighbourIng a tree! ss aa reaching above a hundred feet. The leaves fines eet pie narrow, sword-shaped, serrated, with etaha. ; ; alyx six persisting leaflets. No corolla. Fruit oy a filbert, contains a réd resinous pulp, which soon ry. 2A 2 |