32 
The Natural Hiftory off JAMAICA. 
or grey Bark, with many Sulci in its Length. The upper fometimes 
ee it felf from ia under Barks, being wreathd, looking 
like Hemp uncomb’d, and is fo tough as to be fit to tye any thing withall, 
the inner Part of the Wood is very hard, dark brownifh green of Colour, 
brittle but lafting; the outward white, foft and more apt to decay, the 
Branches go out towards the Top, and are befet with many very {mall 
Prickles; are grey colour’d and quite naked in dry Times. After Rains 
come out the Flowers, they are thick fet on the Branches, yellow, 
Papylionaceous, very Open, {mall with a crooked green Stylus in their 
Middle, {melling very fweet , alittle while after come the Leaves, they 
are {mall, roundifh at the Top and largeft there, half an Inch long and 
a quarter of one broad, having no Footftalk, they are of a dark green 
Colour, fmooth, fhining and like the Leaves of Lycium, afterwards 
come the Pods, they are broad, fhort, thin like Paper, brown, contain- 
ing a brown Pea, fhap’d like a Kidney. 
It grows every where in the Savannas or Low-land Woods. 
The Wood for its fine greenifh brown Colour capable of Polifh, is 
very much coveted in Exrope, wherefore ’tis a Commodity exported 
from Jamaica ; tho’ ’tis quite different from the true black Ebony from 
the Eaft-Indies, whence, and particularly from Madagafcar, as Cauche tells 
us it comes; yet this paffes under that Name in the Iflands. 
The Wood, becaufe of its Hardnefs is ufed very much for Wedges. 
This with other Woods for Workmen, us’d to be brought from Cua 
and the Ifles to Spain. Fof- Acofta. 
The Wood gives a green Dye. Tertre. Rochef. 
The true Ebony has a Laurel Leaf, is like Oak in its Bark, ec. and 
hasa Fruit like an Acorn, Cauche. 
The Eben or black Wood is in Oggy in Ethiopia, Bermudez ap. Purchase 
lib, 7. cap. 7.§. 5. Dendr. p. 1167. 
Ebony grows in Madagafcar, and is Part of the Trade between that 
Ifland and the Portuguefe in Mozambique, as well as Dragons-Blood and 
Aloes. Mandelfo. p. 207- | 
This is not the Ebexus Letainnie arbufcula buxi folijs [pinofa flore luteo 
Papylionaceo Siliquifera of Dr. Plukenet. Phyt. Tab. 89. Fig. 1. Alm. p.132- 
Ltold him incommon Difcourfe that this Tree of Jamaica had a Papy- 
lionaceous Flower, and was Siliquiferous, but never affirm’d that of the 
Shrub growing in Chelfea Garden, concerning which, I with Reafon 
doubted if it were the fame with the Jamaica Ebony, for they are two 
different Trees, 
Ill. Genifte affinis Anonyma arbor, flre colutee, buxi folio. Cat. Fam, p. 
141. Tab. 170. Fig. 2. Ratj. Hift. Vol. 3. p. 107: 
This Tree had a very hard, folid) white, Wood, the Bark fmooth and 
grey, having on itsT wigs, Leaves placed alternatively, cach having aFoot- 
ftalk one Eighth of an Inch long. The Leaf it felf is about an Inch anda 
half long, and three quarters of an Inch broad in the middle, where 
broadeft, and whence it decreafes to both Extremes, being even on 
the Edges, on the Surface, fhining and having few Veins, being of a yel- 
lowifh green Colour, Ex alis Foliorum come {mall yellowifh green Flowers, 
two or three on a little Petiolus, each being made of a Galea and 
Bifid Lip, or rather Papylionaceous. The Seeds are two, ftanding after the 
Manner of the precedent, being like a Heart as painted, or haivng 
a Defect on the upper fide at their JunCtion, and a very. fmall Ledge or 
extant Ala, round them. ) 3 ) 
I do 
