17. Diosma (Barosma) crenata. D. C. A glabrous branchy shrub. Branches round, purplish, the upper and smaller ones angular. Leaves stalked, smooth, oblongo-ovate, blunt, dotted beneath, and notched with transparent, resinous glands on their margin. Flowers peduncled, solitary, axillary; petals white, oblong, subsessile.
The Bucchu leaves have, as is well known, become an article of export lately. Their principal medical effects are owing to their possessing a considerable quantity of an aromatic volatile oil, and to a particular very tenacious principle, called Diosmin, as also to a semi-resinous substance. They have a peculiar smell, and a slightly astringent, bitter, taste. When used in the form of infusion, they promote perspiration. Hence their utility in chronic rheumatism, gout, and other diseases, caused by the sudden suppression of cutaneous action. They have been prescribed also in cholera morbus, and are very beneficial in diseases of the bladder, especially in chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of that organ (catarrh of the bladder); also in hæmaturia, calculus, and in suppuration of the vesica, urethra, and prostrate gland. By increasing the secretion of urine, they impart to it their peculiar smell. They have also been given in dropsy;—in fine, in all those cachectic and hydropical complaints, arising from suppression of the perspiration or urine. As a stimulant to the stomach, some practitioners have used the bucchu leaves in indigestion; a sensation of warmth has accordingly been produced in that organ, and the appetite increased.
A bath of the bucchu leaves is of service in rheumatism, and the Bucchu vinegar, as also the Bucchu brandy, are excellent embrocations in rheumatic pains, luxations, sugillations, sprains, and contusions.
In trade, this valuable drug is often adulterated by the substitution of less powerful sorts of the same family of plants, which, although of a similar smell, are by no means equal to it in their therapeutical effects. One of these plants is the Diosma (Barosma) serratifolia. Lodd., a species common in the district of Swellendam, and another, the Empleurum serrulatum. Sol., easily distinguished by its linear-lanceolate, serrated leaves.
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The last sentence, naming the mountain ranges where the plant grows, is omitted: its first place name is built on a colonial slur for the Khoikhoi. A footnote on p. 7 about a different plant (Melianthus) is not transcribed.