— 
Lhe Natural Fiiftory of Jamaica. 221 
It has in the juice of the Root great vertues in the Fmpyema, and Sto- 
mach Difeafes. The Root applied outwardly in Meafles, Whitlows, and 
other fuch like Difeafes, is very good. HY. @. 
_ XVIL Alcea Arborea althee folio, florum petalis luteis, deorfum reflexis. Cat. 
p. 97. Tab. 140. Fig. 1, 2, 3. 
This Shrub or Tree rifes to feven or eight Foot high, the Stalks being co- 
vered with a whitifh Bark, having Leaves alternatively, {tanding on two Inches 
long white Foot-Stalks. They are an Inch and an half long, and an Inch 
broad near the Foot-Stalks end, or at Bafe, where broadeft and round. The 
Nerves run through the Leaf from the Center of the Foot-Stalk. They are 
foft, and of a whitifh brown colour, much whiter underneath than above, 
and like the Leaves of Marfh-mallows. The tops of the Branches are di- 
vided into feveral Stalks, fuftaining cach a yellow pentapetalous Flower, 
the Petala being bow’d back, {eemingly not divided, having under them five 
green whitifh, foft, capfular Leaves. After thefe follow Seeds lying in {e- 
veral flat, broad, comprefs'd Follicles, ending fharp, joined to one another, 
making up the fame round Head, having many Cells, in every thing ex- 
actly like the others of this Kind, there lying in each of the Cells fome 
large, woolly, gray Seeds. 
It grows about Colonel Fuller's Houfe, on a fmall rocky Hill near Black- 
River-Bride in St. Dorothy's. : 
The Flowers of this are very yellow, and not at all purple, fo that it 
cannot be (as Dr. Plukenct doubts in his Mantiffa p.10.) Althea betonice folio 
Villofo floribus ex luteo purpurafcentibus deorfum reflexis ad oras Coromandel, 
XVIII. Alcea fruticofa aquatica, folio cordato, {cabro, flore pallide lutco. Cat. 
p. 97. Lab.139. Fiz.r. 
This Shrub has Roots made up of feveral long, and very white fibrils like 
Thread, hanging down into the Water or Earth. The Stalks or Stems are 
many, about the bignefS of ones Finger, ftraight, five Foot high, covered 
with a white fmooth Bark. The Twigsare feveral, and fer abour, towards 
their ends, with cordated Leaves, ftanding on an Inch and an half long 
Foot-Stalks. They are two Inches long, and one and an half broad, near 
the round Bafe, where broadeft, ending in a point, are indented here and 
there about the edges, of a yellowifh green colour, harfh, and having Veins 
going from the Center of the Foot-Stalk through the Leaf. The Flowers 
ftand {pike-fafhion, fet round onthe tops of the Branches, for four Inches of 
their length, each being half an Inch diftantfrom another, and {tanding 
on three quarters of an Inch long Foor-Stalk, having five pale yellow, half an 
Inch long Petala, with purple Veins, a large Peftle like Stylus, with Stamina 
on it, all within five green capfular Leaves, under which are twice as many 
more, very narrow Leaves, of the fame make. The Seeds follow, being 
five, contained each in his Cell. The Capfula is large, five cornered, 
roundifh, having at every corner an obtufe Apex, as in fome others of this 
Kind. 
It grows on each fide of the Sale River, in Cabbage-Tree-Bottom very 
plentifully, and in {ome places on the Frefh River going up to the Laguna. 
Any perfon who compares the Defcription and Figure of this, with chat 
of Althea Indica latiori folio cordiformi ad [ummum finuato Pluken. Alm, p.26. 
Phyt. Tab. 9. Fig. 2+ will find them very different, though the Doctor, p. ro. 
of his Mantif[a, thinks they may be the fame. 
> ak | XIX. Alcea 
