The Cassia Fistula Tree.
Cassia fistula.
THIS is a large tree, native of the East, and a very beautiful one when in flower. It grows twenty or thirty feet high, and is very much branched. The leaves are large, and of a deep green, and each is composed of three or four pairs of smaller, with an odd one at the end. The flowers are of a greenish yellow, but they are very bright, and very numerous, so that they make a fine appearance, when the tree is full of them: the pods follow these, they are two feet long, black, and woody, having within a black, soft, pulpy matter and the seeds.
This pulpy matter is the only part used in medicine. It is a gentle aid excellent purge, the lenitive electuary owes its virtues to it. It never binds afterward, and therefore is an excellent medicine for those who are of costive habits; a small dose of it being taken frequently.
