the TAMARIND-TREE, in botany: A genus of plants arranged by Linnaeus under the clas of triandria and order of monogynia; but Woodville, Schreber, and other late botanists, have found that it belongs to the clas of monodelphia and order of triandria. In the natural system it is ranked under the lomentaceæ. There is only one species, the indica, which is a native of both Indies, of America, of Arabia, and Egypt, and was cultivated in Britain before the year 1633.

The tamarind-tree rises to the height of 30 or 40 feet, sending off numerous large branches, which spread to a considerable extent, and have a beautiful appearance; the trunk is erect, and covered with rough bark, of a greyish or ash-colour; the leaves are small and pinnated, and of a yellowish green colour: the flowers resemble the papilionaceous kind, and grow in lateral clusters; the calyx consists of four leaves, and the corolla of three petals, which are of a yellowish hue, and are beautifully diversified with red veins: the fruit is a pod of a roundish compressed form, from three to five inches long, containing two, three, or four seeds, lodged in a dark pulpy matter. The flowers appear, according to Jacquin, in October and November; but, according to Dr Wright, they continue during the whole of June and July, and then drop off.

The pulp of the tamarind, with the seeds connected together by numerous tough strings or fibres, are brought to us freed from the outer shell, and commonly preserved in syrup. According to Long, tamarinds are prepared for exportation at Jamaica in the following manner: "The fruit or pods are gathered (in June, July, and August) when full ripe, which is known by their fragility or easy breaking on small pressure between the finger and thumb. The fruit, taken out of the pod, and cleared from the shelly fragments, is placed in layers in a cask; and boiling syrup, just before it begins to granulate, is poured in, till the cask is filled: the syrup pervades every part quite down to the bottom, and when cool the cask is headed for sale." He observes, that the better mode of preserving this fruit is with sugar, well clarified with eggs, till a transparent syrup is formed, which gives the fruit a much pleasanter flavour: but as a principal medicinal purpose of the pulp depends upon its acidity, which is thus counteracted by the admixture of sugar, it would therefore be of more utility if always imported here in the pods. The fruit produced in the East Indies is more esteemed than that of the West, and easily to be distinguished by the greater length of the pods, and the pulp being dryer and of a darker colour.

Uses. This fruit, the use of which was first learned of the Arabians, contains a larger proportion of acid, with the saccharine matter, than is usually found in the fructus acidus dulcis, and is therefore not only employed as a laxative, but also for abating thirst and heat in various inflammatory complaints, and for correcting putrid disorders, especially those of a bilious kind; in which the cathartic, antiseptic, and refrigerant qualities of the fruit have been found equally useful. When intended merely as a laxative, it may be of advantage to join it with manna, or purgatives of a sweet kind, by which its use is rendered fatter and more effectual. Three drachms of the pulp are usually sufficient to open the body; but to prove moderately cathartic, one or two ounces are required. It is an ingredient in electuarium e senna, and electuarium e senna or lenitive electuary (A).

We are informed by Dr Wright, that preserved tamarinds are kept in most houses in Jamaica either as a sweetmeat, or for occasional use as a medicine. See PHARMACY, n° 394 and 395.