36 
They make cakes of it, and many of the poor get their liveli- 
hood by selling these sweet oil cakes. The cake, left after the 
oil is expressed, is used for washing the head, and is carried as 
a small article of trade to those countries where these trees are 
not to be found. The flowers, which fall in May, are gathered 
by the common people, dried in the sun, roasted, and eaten 
as food. They are also bruised and boiled to a jelly, and made 
into small balls, which they sell, or exchange for fish, rice, &c. 
The leaves are boiled with water, and given as a medicine in 
several diseases. The milk of the green fruit, and of the tender 
bark is given also as a medicine. The bark is a cure for the 
itch. The wood is as hard and as durable as teak, but not 
so easily worked, nor is it procurable of such a length. Squir- 
rels, lizards, country dogs, and jackals eat the flowers, and the 
report is that the latter are apt to grow mad by too much feed- 
ing on them. 
Long-leaved Bassia. Clt. 1811. Tree 40 feet. 
2 B. sericea (Blum. bijdr. 674.) leaves oblong-lanceolate, 
acuminated, clothed with silky down beneath; peduncles axil- 
lary, crowded, 1-flowered, shorter than the petioles. h. S. 
Native of Java, in woods, in the province of Tjanjor, on the 
mountains of Parang. Perhaps sufficiently distinct from B. 
longif olia. 
Silky Bassia. Fl. July. Tree 40 to 50. 
3 B. ramIFOLIA (Roxb. cor. 1. p. 20. t. 19.) leaves oblong 
or elliptic; pedicels drooping, terminal; stamens 20-30, within 
the gibbous tube of the corolla, on short filaments. h. S. 
Native of the East Indies, on the mountains of Bengal and the 
Circars. Madhaca is the Sanscrit name, see asiat. res. 
vol. 2. p. 301. and 4. p. 280. Jpie is the Telinga name; 
Mahva, Muhooa, and Muhoola of the Bengalese. Corolla thick 
and fleshy, with a more than 8-lobed limb; lobes cordate. 
Leaves smooth above and whitish beneath, 4-8 inches long and 
2-4 broad. Limb of corolla 7-14-parted. Berry 1-4-seeded. 
The wood is hard, very strong, and proper for naves of wheel 
carriages. The flowers are eaten raw by the natives of the 
mountainous parts of the Circars, and by jackals. An ardent 
spirit is distilled from them by the hill people, which is strong 
and intoxicating. The seeds yield a large quantity of oil by 
expression, which is used only by the poorer people to burn. 
On the apices of the flowers, before they open, there is fre- 
quently a drop of whitish, soft, tasteless resin to be found. 
Broad-leaved Bassia. Cit. 1799. Tree 40 feet. 
4 B.onova'ra (Forst. prod. no. 200.) leaves obovate ; pedi- 
cels aggregate, terminal. b. S. Native of the Isle of Tanna. 
Obovate-leaved Bassia. Tree. 
5 B. cunza‘ta (Blum. bijdr. 675.) leaves cuneate-oblong, 
bluntish, glabrous; peduncles subumbellate, axillary, 1-flowered, 
about equal in length to the petioles. h. S. Native of Java, 
on mounts Salak and Gede. Very nearly allied to B. obo- 
vata. 
Cuneated-leaved Bassia, Fl. Aug. Tree 60 to 80 feet. 
6 B. Pa4'nkn; leaves obovate, coriaceous. b. S. Native 
of Africa, in the kingdom of Bambara. This is the Shea tree 
mentioned by Mungo Park in his travels; of which he says, “ the 
people were every where employed in collecting the fruit of the 
Shea trees, from which they prepare a vegetable butter. These 
trees," he says, ** grow in abundance all over this part of Bambara. 
It is not cultivated by the natives, but grows wild in the woods, 
and in clearing woodlands for cultivation every tree is cut 
down but the Shea. The butter is obtained from the kernel 
of the fruit, first dried in the sun; and is prepared by boiling 
the kernel in water, which has somewhat the appearance of a 
Spanish olive. The kernel is enveloped in a sweet pulp, under 
a thin green rind, and the butter produced from it, besides the 
advantage of its keeping the whole year round without salt, 
SAPOTACEZ. XIII. Bassta. 
XIV. Lasatia. 
is whiter, firmer, and, to my palate, of a better flavour than the 
best butter I ever tasted, made of cows’ milk. The growth and 
preparation of this commodity appears to me to be one of the 
first objects of the natives in this and the neighbouring states, 
as it constitutes the main article of inland commerce. The 
butter serves also for every domestic purpose in which oil would 
otherwise be used; the demand for it is therefore great. Shea 
Toulon literally means, in the language of the Africans, tree- 
butter."— Park, trav. p. 26. pp. 202, 203. 
Park's Bassia. African Butter Tree, or Shea Tree. 
30 to 40 feet. 
7 B. suryra‘cea (Roxb. asiat. res. 8. p. 477. fl. ind. p. 527. 
D. Don, prod. fl. nep. p. 146.) leaves obovate, tomentose be- 
neath; pedicels aggregate, and are as well as the calyxes 
woolly ; anthers glabrous, subulate at the apex. h. S. Na- 
tive of Nipaul, at Narainhetty ; and on the Almora hills. Leaves 
a span long and 4-5 inches broad, coriaceous, obovate, or 
obovate-oblong. Drupe oval. Corolla thin, 8-cleft. Stamens 
30-40, on longish filaments. B. butyrdcea is called Fulwah 
or Phulwarah in Almorah. It produces a pure vegetable 
butter. The kernels of the fruit are bruised into the consis- 
tence of cream, which is then put into a cloth bag, with a 
moderate weight laid upon it, and left to stand till the oil or 
fat is expressed, which becomes immediately of the consistence 
of hogs'-lard, and is of a delicate white colour. Its uses in 
medicine are much esteemed in rheumatism and contractions 
of the limbs. It is also used by the natives of rank per- 
fumed as an unction. The pulp of the fruit is eaten by some. 
Buttery Bassia. Clt. 1823. Tree 30 to 40 feet. 
8 B.? pu‘sia (Gertn. fruct. 2. t.105.). h. S. Native of 
the East Indies.—Rumph. amb. 3. t. 184.? Seeds large, half- 
moon shaped, shiny, bony, of a dark chestnut colour, except 
the rugged, pale, almost white, umbilical area. It is not said 
whether the seeds are albuminous or exalbuminous, in which 
case the genus to which this tree belongs is very doubtful. 
Doubtful Bassia. Tree. 
9 B. virLósa (Wall. cat. no. 4165.) leaves broad-oblong- 
obovate, obtuse, villous beneath, glabrous and green above; 
pedicels aggregate, and are, as well as the flowers, villous. 
Native on the Taong Dong mountains, near Ava. 
Villous Bassia. Tree. 
10 B.? rorva'sTrHa (Wall. cat. no. 4166.) glabrous ; leaves 
coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, or oblong-obovate, acutish, rusty 
beneath ; pedicels aggregate, rusty, and are, as well as the 
calyxes downy; petals entire. 5. S. Native of Silhet. 
Many-flowered Bassia, Tree. 
Cult. For culture and propagation see Chrysophijllum, p. 33. 
Tree 
XIV. LABA‘TIA (so named after J. Baptiste Labat, a Do- 
minican friar, a great writer and traveller; author of Voyage 
aux Antilles, Paris. 1721 and 1743. 12mo.; Haye, 1724. 4to. ; 
Voyages en Espagne et en Italie, Paris, 1730. &c.). Swartz, 
prod. p. 32. (exclusive of Poutéria, Aubl.) fl. ind. occ. 1. p. 264. 
Mart. nov. gen. bras. 2. p. 70. 
Lin. syst. Tetrdndria, Monogynia. Calyx 4-parted, the 2 
outer segments the largest. Corolla tubularly urceolate, 4- 
cleft, furnished with as many scales (abortive stamens), in the 
incisures between the lobes. Stamens 4, inserted in the bottom 
of the corolla. Anthers ovate. Berry hard, roughish, 4-celled, 
rarely 2-celled. Seeds with a thick crustaceous testa, attached 
to parietal placentas.— Evergreen trees. Leaves sub-alternate, 
crowded towards the tops of the branches, quite entire, firm, 
exstipulate, furnished with shining pili, which are attached by 
their middle. Flowers small, axillary, aggregate, on short pedi- 
cels. Fruit brownish. 
1 L. Macroca’rron (Mart. nov. gen. bras. 1. p. 71. t. 160.) 
