part 2

. (1862) 518; beautifully figured in Hayne, _Arzneigewächse_, xiv. (1843) plate 2.

[2092] For more particulars see Oberlin and Schlagdenhauffen, _Journ. de Pharm. 28_ (1878) 248.

[2093] _Pharm. Journ._ xiv. (1855) 319.

[2094] Wittstein’s _Vierteljahresschrift für prakt. Pharm._ xviii. (1869) 161.

SEMEN TIGLII.

_Semen Crotonis_; _Croton Seeds_; F. _Graines de Tilly ou des Moluques_, _Petits Pignons d’Inde_; G. _Purgirkörner_, _Granatill_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Croton Tiglium_[2095] L. (_Tiglium officinale_ Klotzsch), a small tree, 15 to 20 feet high, indigenous to the Malabar Coast and Tavoy, cultivated in gardens in many parts of the East, from Mauritius to the India Archipelago. The tree has small inconspicuous flowers, and brown, capsular, three-celled fruits, each cell containing one seed. The leaves have a disagreeable smell and nauseous taste.

=History=—In Europe, the seeds and wood of the tree were first described in 1578 by Christoval Acosta—the former, with a figure of the plant, appearing under the name of _Piñones de Maluco_.[2096] The plant was also described and figured by Rheede (1679)[2097] and Rumphius (1743).[2098] The seeds, which were officinal in the 17th century, but had become obsolete, were recommended about 1812 by English medical officers in India,[2099] and the expressed oil by Perry, Frost, Conwell and others about 1821-24. The oil then in use was imported from India, and was often of doubtful purity, so that some druggists felt it necessary to press the seeds for themselves.[2100]

[2095] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen’s _Medic. Plants_,