734
ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
Sp. Chau. — Leaves ovate-oblong, sinuate-dentate, very smooth, dec*duous. Fruit sessile, very long (Olivier, Voy. dans FEmpire Otto
t- ll P‘ 64 )' . r „ res
Small tree or shrub, from four to six feet high. Stem crooked. ^ ea rli
on short petioles, with a few short mucronate teeth on each side. -A c °two or three times as long as the cupule. , •
Hab .— Asia Minor, from the Bosphorus to Syria , and from the Arcpelago to the frontiers of Persia . .< e
Formation of Nutgalls. —The Hymenopterous insects of the tocalled Gallicolce, or Diploleparice (Cuvier , Regne Animal, t. v. p. 290)? a ,furnished with a terebra, or borer, by means of which they are ena*> ^to perforate the foliaceous or cortical parts of plants for the p u *'P os (!fof depositing their eggs, along with an acrid liquor, in the wound t**made. The irritation thereby produced gives rise to an influx of ^juices of the plant to the wounded part, and an excrescence is foru'C ’which is termed a gall ( galla). Here the insect undergoes its transitmations: the egg produces the larva (or maggot), which feeds onjuices of the plant, and is changed into the pupa. This afterwardscomes the perfect insect {imago), and, perforating the gall, escapes nits prison-house.
The external form and appearance of these productions are very e °stant when formed by the same insect, on the same part of the saI £plant; but the galls of different species of vegetables, as well thosethe same species, produced by a different insect, vary consideringThere is reason for believing that the form and appearance of the S a * iV . edetermined more by the insect than by the plant; for we sometimes b 1on the same oak two kinds of galls, of very dissimilar appearance,duced by different insects. j af
As familiar instances of galls, I may mention, first, the red carbunc**protuberances in the leaves of Salix Helix. The gall of the Sweet H .or Eglantine (Rosa rubiginosa) is called Bedeguar, or the Sweet sSponge, and will be noticed hereafter. Another well-known indige u i
gall is the Oak Apple, prod 1 * . g
usually spheroidal, but °f ^liable size; commonly? ’^, 0ever, not exceeding one ° r ^inches in diameter. Its te* ^is spongy. It has been emp^ 0 )^on account of the tannic * ^which it contains, as a sntute for nutgalls in dyeing-The gall of the Quer&{ t j, efectoria is the nutgatt 0 t j, cshops. It is produced h)Cynips Galla tinctori<e * u)Oak Apple. Animalia ). Olivier (op-
says, that this insect lives on the Quercus infectoria only. . trC o,
On the sides and at the ends of the branches and shoots of this - gthe female makes a puncture and deposits her egg. An excrescensoon formed, within which the larva is developed, which is change*^ j ginto the pupa, and then into the imago. As soon as the perfect in* 1.
i hii vt
pro-
Fig. 146.