the bay-tree; a genus of the monogyne order, belonging to the enanctandra clas of plants.

Species. 1. The nobilis, or common bay-tree, is a native of Italy, and hath an upright trunk branching on every side from the bottom upward, rising 20 or 30 feet high; spear-shaped, nervous, stiff, evergreen leaves, three inches long and two broad; with small, yellowish, quadrifid, dioecious flowers, succeeded by red berries in autumn and winter. Of this species there are varieties, with broad, narrow, striped, or waved leaves. 2. The officinalis grows naturally in North America. It rises with an upright stem, branching eight or ten feet high, covered with a purplish bark; oblong, oval, acuminate, veined, deciduous leaves, two or three inches long, and half as broad, growing opposite; with small white flowers succeeded by red berries in those places where it is native, but not in this country. 3. The benzoin, or benjamin tree, is also a native of North America; grows 15 or 20 feet high, divided into a very branchy head; with oval, acute, unveined, deciduous leaves, three or four inches long, and half as broad; and small yellowish flowers, not succeeded by berries in this country. 4. The salisfrax is a native of the same country. It hath a shrub-like straight stem, branching 10 or 15 feet high; garnished with both oval and three-lobed, shining, deciduous leaves, of different sizes, from three to six inches long, and near as broad, with small yellowish flowers succeeded by blackish berries, but not in this country. 5. The indica, or indian bay-tree, rises with an upright straight trunk, branching regularly 20 or 30 feet high; adorned with very large, spear-shaped, plane, nervous, evergreen leaves on reddish footstalks; and branches of small whitish-green flowers, succeeded by large oval black berries which do not ripen in this country. 6. The borbonia, or Carolina red bay-tree, rises with an upright straight stem, branching 15 or 20 feet high; with large, spear-shaped, evergreen leaves, transversely veined; and long bunches of flowers on red footstalks, succeeded by large blue-berries, fitting in red cups. 7. The camphora, or camphor-tree, grows naturally in the woods of the western parts of Japan, and in the adjacent islands. The root smells stronger of camphor than any of the other parts, and yields it in greater plenty. The bark of the stalk is outwardly somewhat rough; but in the inner surface smooth and mucous, and therefore easily separated from the wood, which is dry and of a white colour. The leaves stand upon slender footstalks, have an entire undulated margin, running out into a point; have the upper surface of a lively and shining green; the lower herbaceous and silky; and are furnished with a few lateral nerves, which stretch archwise to the circumference, and frequently terminate in small warts; a circumstance peculiar to this species of laurel. The flowers are produced on the tops of footstalks, which proceed from the arm-pits of the leaves; but not till the tree has attained considerable age and size. The flower-stalks are slender, branched at the top, and divided into very short pedicels, each supporting a single flower. These flowers are white, and consist of six petals, which are succeeded by a purple and shining berry of the size of a pea, and in figure somewhat top-shaped. It is composed of a soft pulpy substance that is purple, and has the taste of cloves and camphor; and of a nucleus or kernel of the size of a pepper, that is covered with a black, shining, oily rind, of an insipid taste. 8. The cinnamomum, or cinnamon-tree, is a native of Ceylon. It hath a large root, and divides into several branches, covered with a bark, which on the outer side is of a greyish brown, and on the inside has a reddish cast. The wood of the root is hard, white, and has no smell. The body of the tree, which grows to the height of 40 or 50 feet, is covered, as well as its numerous branches, with a bark which at first is green and afterwards red. The leaf is longer and narrower than the common bay-tree. When first unfolded, it is of a flame colour; but after it has been for some time exposed to the air and grows dry, it changes to a deep green on the upper surface, and to a lighter on the lower. The flowers are small and white, and grow in large bunches at the extremity of the branches; they have an agreeable smell, something like that of the lily of the valley. The fruit is shaped like an acorn, but is not so large.

Culture. The common sort is propagated either by seed, layers, or suckers. The seed should be sowed after the berries are ripe, or early in the spring; covering them with earth near an inch deep, or in drills half a foot alunder, the same depth. The plants will come up late in the spring. They must be frequently watered during summer, and in winter screened from the severe frost by means of mats or some other covering; and after having two summers' growth in the seed-bed, transplant the strongest of them in the following spring two feet alunder, and a foot apart in each row; giving water in dry weather till they have taken good roots, and hoeing down the weeds in summer. Here they may remain till half a yard or two Laurus or three feet high; and then planted out into the shrubbery in autumn or spring. If the berries are sowed in pots and plunged in a hot-bed in spring, it will bring the plants better forward. The deciduous bay, Benjamin, and sassafras-tree, are propagated in the same manner. The Indian bay, the camphor, and the cinnamon-tree, require the treatment common to greenhouse plants.

Uses. The leaves and berries of the common bay-tree have a moderately strong aromatic smell, and a warm, bitterish, pungent taste: the berries are stronger in both respects than the leaves, and afford in distillation a larger quantity of essential aromatic oil; they yield also an almost insipid oil to the press, in consequence of which they prove unctuous in the mouth. They are warm carminatives, and sometimes exhibited in this intention against flatulent colics, and likewise in hysterical disorders. Their principal use in the present practice is in glysters, and some external applications. The uses of benzoin and camphor have been explained under these articles and the places referred to. The root of the sassafras has a fragrant smell, and a sweetish, aromatic, subacid taste; the bark tastes much stronger than any other part; and the small twigs stronger than the large pieces. It is a warm aperient and corroborant, and frequently employed with good success for purifying and sweetening the blood and juices. For these purposes, infusions made from the raised root or bark may be drank as tea. In some constitutions indeed, such liquors are, by their fragrance, apt, on first taking them, to affect the head; but in such cases they may be advantageously freed from their flavour by boiling. A decoction of sassafras, boiled down to the consistence of an extract, proves simply bitterish and subastringent. Hoffman assures us, that he has frequently given this extract to the quantity of a scruple at a time, with remarkable success, for strengthening the tone of the viscera in cachexies; as also in the decline of intermittent fevers, and in hypochondriacal spasms. Sassafras yields in distillation an extremely fragrant oil of a penetrating pungent taste, so ponderous (notwithstanding the lightness of the drug itself) as to sink in water. Rectified spirit extracts the whole taste and smell of sassafras; and elevates nothing in evaporation: hence the spirituous extract proves the most elegant and efficacious preparation, as containing the virtue of the root entire.

The cinnamon is the under-bark of the laurus cinamonum above described. The best season for separating it from the outer-bark, which is grey and rugged, is the spring, when the sap flows in the greatest abundance. It is cut into thin slices, and exposed to the sun, and curls up in drying.—The old trees produce a coarse kind of cinnamon; the spice is in perfection only when the trees are not older than three or four years. When the trunk has been stripped of its bark, it receives no further nourishment; but the root is still alive, and continues to throw out fresh shoots. The fruit of the tree is shaped like an acorn, but is not so large. It contains a seed from whence the tree may be raised, and is commonly ripe in September. When boiled in water, it yields an oil which swims at top, and takes fire. If left to cool, it hardens into a white substance, of which candles are made which have an agreeable smell, and are reserved for the use of the king of Ceylon. The cinnamon is not reckoned excellent unless it be fine, smooth, brittle, thin, of a yellow colour inclining to red; fragrant, aromatic, and of a poignant, yet agreeable taste. The connoisseurs give the preference to that the pieces of which are long, but slender. That which comes to us is generally mixed with the Cassia bark; but this last is easily distinguished. Cinnamon splinters in breaking, and has a roughness along with its aromatic flavour; while the Cassia breaks over smooth, and has a mucilaginous taste. Cinnamon is a very elegant and useful aromatic, more grateful both to the palate and stomach than most other substances of this class. By its astringent quality it likewise corroborates the visceras, and proves of great service in several kinds of alvine fluxes, and immoderate discharges from the uterus.