Chewstick, Gouania lupuloides is a plant of the family Rhamnaceae. The name in Jamaica for a vine with a woody stem which grows in hedgerows in the hills. In Jamaican patois a vine is called a wis (wythie). To clean one's teeth with this plant one cuts off a portion of the vine, peels off the bark and chews the tip. The tip becomes fibrous and frothy. Chewstick tastes slightly bitter but not unpleasant. The plant is used to make a commercial toothpaste. Chewstick may also used as an ingredient in Jamaican ginger beer. Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta—liverworts Anthocerotophyta—hornworts Bryophyta—mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta—rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta—zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta—clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta—trimerophytes Pteridophyta—ferns and horsetails Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta—seed ferns Pinophyta—conifers Cycadophyta—cycads Ginkgophyta—ginkgo Gnetophyta—gnetae Magnoliophyta—flowering plants... It has been suggested that Angiospermae, and Anthophyta be merged into this article or section. ... Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class: this name is formed by replacing the termination -aceae in the name Magnoliaceae by the termination -opsida (Art 16 of the ICBN). ... Families Barbeyaceae Cannabaceae (hemp family) Dirachmaceae Elaeagnaceae Moraceae (mulberry family) Rosaceae (rose family) Rhamnaceae (buckthorn family) Ulmaceae (elm family) Urticaceae (nettle family) For the Philippine municipality, see Rosales, Pangasinan. ... Genera See text Rhamnaceae, the Buckthorn family, is a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs and some vines. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta—liverworts Anthocerotophyta—hornworts Bryophyta—mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta—rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta—zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta—clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta—trimerophytes Pteridophyta—ferns and horsetails Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta—seed ferns Pinophyta—conifers Cycadophyta—cycads Ginkgophyta—ginkgo Gnetophyta—gnetae Magnoliophyta—flowering plants... In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is 1) a rank or 2) a taxon in that rank. ... Genera See text Rhamnaceae, the Buckthorn family, is a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs and some vines. ...

References

Reference: MEDlCINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. PARTS 1 & 11. By G. F. Asprey, M.Sc., Ph.D. (B'ham.), Professor of Botany, U.C.W.l. and Phyllis Thornton, B.Sc. (Liverpool), Botanist Vomiting Sickness Survey. Attached to Botany Department, U.C.W.l.