A tree, which has attained great celebrity, is that called Cedron (Simaba Cedron, Planch.). The most ancient record of it which I can find is in the History of the Buccaneers, an old work published in London in the year 1699. Its use as an antidote for the bite of snakes, and its place of growth, are there distinctly stated; but whether on the authority of the natives, or accidentally discovered by the pirates, does not appear. If {94} the former was the case, they must have learned it while on some of their cruises on the Magdalena, for in the Isthmus the very existence of the tree was unsuspected until about 1845, when Don Juan de Ansoatigui, ascertained, by comparison, that the Cedron of Panama and Darien was identical with that of Carthagena. The virtues of its seeds, however, were known, years ago, from those fruits imported from the Magdalena, where, according to Mr. William Purdie, the plant grows in profusion about the village of San Pablo. In the Isthmus it is generally found on the outskirts of forests in almost every part of the country, but in greater abundance in Darien and Veraguas than in Panama. The natives hold it in high esteem, and always carry a piece of the seed about with them. When a person is bitten, a little, mixed with water, is applied to the wound, and about two grains scraped into brandy, or, in the absence of it, into water, is administered internally. By following this treatment the bites of the most venomous snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and other noxious animals, have been unattended with dangerous consequences. Doses of it have also proved highly beneficial in cases of intermittent fever. The Cedron is a tree, from twelve to sixteen feet high; its simple trunk is about six inches in diameter, and clothed on the top with long pinnated leaves, which give it the appearance of a palm. Its flowers are greenish, and the fruit resembles very much an unripe peach. Each seed, or cotyledon I should rather say, is sold in the chemist’s shops in Panama for two or three reals (about 1s. or 1s. 6d. English), and sometimes a much larger price is given for them.—Hooker’s Journal of Botany.
[A large number of the Cedron seeds have lately been received in New York, probably from a section of the country where they are cheaper than upon the Isthmus. As a remedy for the bites of venomous reptiles, like all others of the same class, it is of little value, but from its intense bitterness, it may be expected to possess great tonic powers, and if, in addition to these, further experience shall confirm the report of its virtues as an antiperiodic, it will prove a remedy of great value.]—ED. NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY.
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EDITORIAL.
COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE.
In September the flower is in full perfection, the long tube of the perianth of which has raised the six partite limb to the height of from six to eight inches above the ground. The flower remains for two or three weeks, and then dies down; and nothing of the plant is seen above the surface till the beginning of February, when the leaf stalk commences to rise. If at this time the plant be taken up, the old and new bulb will still be found to be united, but the new one will be observed to have increased little in size since autumn, being still hardly larger in diameter than the leaf stalk. The bulb thus grows little during the autumn, but in winter it increases rapidly in size; in April it is like a large hazel nut, and from that time it increases still more till the end of June or the beginning of July, when it is, as Dr. Christison states, as large as an apricot.
In April the leaf stalk is found perfected by a fine group of dark green leaves, generally three in number, and having within their sheath the capsules which ought to ripen their fruit in the course of the summer.
In May the old bulb will be found dry and withered, and containing very little starch; and in July if the plant be taken up, three bulbs will be found, the first now reduced to the form of a membrane, bearing no resemblance to a bulb at all; the second, arrived at full growth; and a third the progeny of the second.