BOMBACEZ. V. Pourretta. 
and the warmer parts of Peru. A tall tree with stalked, cor- 
date, 7-nerved, entire, smooth leaves; and drooping, aggregate 
bundles of flowers, which are rose-coloured on the inside and 
silky on the outside, rising from the sides of the branches. 
Cordate-leaved Matisia. Tree 30 to 40 feet. 
Cult. A light rich soil will suit this tree well, and half-ripened 
cuttings taken off at a joint and planted in sand under a hand- 
glass will root freely, if placed in heat. 
V. POURRE‘TIA (in honour of Abbe Pourret, a French 
botanist who travelled in Spain; author of several botanical 
papers in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Toulouse). 
Willd. spec. 3. p. 844. D.C. prod. 1. p. 477. Cavanillésia, 
Ruiz, et Pav. fl. per. p. 26. 
Lin. syst. Monadélphia, Polydndria. Calyx naked, 5- 
parted, campanulate, permanent. Petals 5. Stamens joined in 
a cylinder at the base but divided into 5 bundles at the top. 
Stigma capitate. Capsules 1-celled, indehiscent, somewhat 
coriaceous, with 5 large, leafy wings; cells 1-seeded, many, 
usually abortive. Cotyledons twisted, chrysalus-like. Corr. 
ann. mus. 9. p. 293. t. 26. Trees with 5-7-lobed deciduous 
leaves, and umbels of flowers rising before the leaves. 
1 P. arworea (Willd. spec. 3. p. 844.) leaves cordate. h.S. 
Native of Peru on the Andes. Cavanillésia umbellata, Ruiz. 
et Pav. prod. p. 97. t. 20. A tree with a thick trunk bulging 
out in the middle; wood spongy. Flowers umbellate, red, very 
fugacious. 
Tree Pourretia. Tree 40 feet. - 
2 P. praranirouia (H. B. pl. aquin. 2. p. 162. t. 133.) 
leaves somewhat peltate, 5-7-lobed. h. S. Native in the 
province of Carthagena. Cavanillésia platanifdlia, H. B. et 
Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 306. Petals flesh-coloured, clothed 
with rusty down on the outside. Flowers in umbels. 
Plane-tree-leaved Pourretia. Tree 60 feet. 
Cult. The species of this genus will thrive well in a mixture 
of loam and peat; the cuttings should not be too ripe and they 
should be taken off at a joint; they will then root freely in 
sand under a hand-glass, in a moist heat. 
VI. MONTEZU'MA (in honour of Montezuma, once sove- 
reign of Mexico). Moc. et Sesse, fl. mex. icon. ined. D.C. 
prod. 1. p. 477. 
Lin. syst. Monadélphia, Polyándria. Calyx naked, he- 
mispherical, truncate, sinuately-toothed. Petals 5, somewhat 
sinuated, large. Stamens indefinite, spirally twisted about the 
style, in a long column which has 5 somewhat distinct furrows, 
Style ending in a club-shaped ligulate stigma. Berry globose, 
4-5-celled; cells many-seeded. A large spreading tree. 
1 M. svecrosissima (Moe. et Sesse, fl. mex. icon. ined. D. C. 
prod. 1. p. 477.) hk. S. Native of Mexico. Leaves smooth, 
heart-shaped, acute, entire, stalked. Pedicels 1-flowered, rising 
from the branches beneath the leaves. Flowers large, of a 
purplish-scarlet colour. 
Very-shewy Montezuma. Clt. 1827. Tree 40 feet. 
Cult. This very shewy tree will thrive well in a mixture of 
loam and peat, and cuttings, not too ripe, taken off at a joint, will 
root freely in sand under a hand-glass, in a moist heat. 
VII. OPHE‘LUS (from ogedoc, ophelos, use ; in allusion 
to the economical use of the fruit in Cochin-china). Lour. coch. 
p. 412. D. C. prod. 1. p. 478. 
Lin. syst. Monadélphia, Polydndria. Calyx naked, 5- 
cleft; lobes acute, spreading, reflexed. Petals 5, thick. Sta- 
mens indefinite, joined at the base into a tube, somewhat reflexed 
at the top. Stigma multifid. Berry woody, oblong-ovate, 12- 
celled, many-seeded. This tree is nearly allied to Adansonia. 
VI. Montezuma. 
VII. Opnerus. VIII. Apansonta. 509 
1 O. srtura rius (Lour. 1. c.). h. G. Native of the eastern 
coast of Africa by the sea-shore. Adansonia situla, Spreng. 
syst. 3. p. 124. Leaves scattered, oblong, quite entire, smooth, 
stalked. Flowers white, solitary, terminal, 3 inches in diameter. 
The fruit is large and woody; it has a lid which is easily 
separated, and when cleared from the pulp and seed is used in 
Cochin-china for holding water or any liquor. 
Bucket Ophelus. Tree 40 feet. 
Cult. Require the same treatment as Adansdnia, both in 
cultivation and propagation. 
VIII. ADANSO'NTA (in honour of Michael Adanson, a 
French botanist and traveller at Senegal, author of Voyage de 
Senegal and Famille des Plantes, died 1727). Lin. gen. no. 836. 
D. C. prod. 1. p. 478. 
Lin. syst. Monadélphia, Polydndria. Calyx naked, deci- 
duous, 5-parted. Petals 5, joined almost to the middle. Ur- 
ceolus of stamens expanded at the top. Style very long. 
Stigmas many, stellate. Capsules indehiscent, woody, 10-celled ; 
cells many-seeded, filled with farinaceous pulp about the seeds. 
A spreading tree with a thick spongy trunk, palmate leaves, 
with 3 leaflets in the young plants, but 5-7 on the adult ones, 
and large, white flowers with purplish anthers, on long axillary 
solitary pedicels. 
] A. picira'ra (Lin. spec. 960.). h.S. Native of the western 
coast of Africa. Cav. diss. 5. p. 298. t. 15. Lam. ill. t. 588. 
Hook, bot. mag. t. 2791 and 2792. A. Baobab, Geert. fr. 2. 
p. 253. t. 135. —Baobab. Alp. egyp. 66. t. 67. 
This tree is called in many parts on the western coast of 
Africa Monkey-bread, Sour-gourd, and Bahobab in Egypt. It 
is considered the largest or rather the broadest tree in the 
world. Several trees measured by M. Adanson were from 65 
to 78 feet in circumference, but very low in proportion. The 
trunks were from 12 to 15 feet high before they divided into 
many horizontal branches, which touched the ground at their 
extremities; these were from 45 to 55 feet long, and were so 
large, that each branch was equal to a monstrous tree ; and where 
the water of a neighbouring river had washed away the earth, 
so as to leave the roots of one of these trees bare and open to 
the sight, they measured 110 feet long, without including those 
parts of the roots which remained covered. Adanson calcu- 
lates as follows. ‘That a tree of 
1 year old is 14 inch in diameter and 5 inches in height. 
20 do. foot do. 15 do. 
30 do. 2 do. do. 22 do. 
100 do. 4 do. do. 29 do. 
1000 do. 14 do. do. 58 do. 
2400 do. 18 do. do. 64 do. 
5150 do. 30 do. do. 73 do. 
The tree arrives at a great age, whence it has been called arbre 
de mille ans,and whence too Humboldt has been led to speak 
of it as the “ oldest organic monument of our planet.” The tree 
yields a fruit which resembles a gourd, and which serves for 
vessels of various uses; the bark furnishes a coarse thread 
which they form into ropes, and into a cloth, with which the 
natives cover their middle from the girdle to the knees ; the 
small leaves supply them with food ina time of scarcity, while 
the large ones are used for covering their houses. The dried 
leaves, reduced to a powder, constitute halo, a favourite article 
with the natives of the eastern coast of Africa, and which they 
mix daily with their food, for the purpose of diminishing the 
excess of perspiration occasioned by the heat of those climates ; 
even Europeans find it serviceable in cases of diarrhoea, fevers, 
and other diseases. At Sierra Leone this tree does not grow 
larger than a common apple-tree. The wood is spongy, soft, 
