` 401. f. 1. 
BYTTNERIACEÆ. III. Guazuma. 
It grows in the lowlands of Jamaica and other West India Islands, 
forming a very agreeable shade for the cattle, and supplying 
them with food in dry weather, when all the herbage is burned 
up or exhausted. The pods- are filled with mucilage, which is 
very agreeable to the palate; it can be sweetened at pleasure, 
It has the taste of green figs. The`wood is light, and so easily 
wrought, that it is generally used by coach-makers in all the side 
pieces. (Browne.) It is also frequently cut into staves for - 
casks. A decoction of the inner bark is very glutinous, and 
very like that of elm. It is said to be excellent in elephantiasis, 
a disorder to which the negroes are much subject. The old 
bark passes for a sudorific, and is said to be excellent in,dis- 
eases of the chest, for this purpose boil three or four ounces 
in three pints of water, and let it be reduced to two. 
Elm-leaved Bastard-cedar or Orme d’Amerique. 
Sep. Clt. 1739. Tree 40 to 60 feet. 
2 G. tomentosa (H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 320.) 
leaves rather hairy above, but clothed with fine white tomentum 
beneath. .S. Bubréma tomentdsum, Spreng. Perhaps suf- 
ficiently distinct from both the other species. Flowers yellow ; 
petals ciliated. Leaves serrated. 
Var. a, Mompoxénsis (H. B. et Kunth, 1. c.) corymbs twice as 
long as the leaves; calyx 2-parted. h.S. Native of South 
America about Mompox, at the river Magdalena, and in New 
Andalusia. 
Var. ? B, Cumanénsis (H. B. et Kunth, 1. c.) panicles one- 
half shorter than the leaves; calyx 3-parted. h.S. Native of 
South America near Cumana. Perhaps a proper species. . 
Tomentose-leaved American Elm. Clt. 1816. Tree 12 feet. 
3 G. potyBo’trya (Cav. icon. 3. p. 51. t. 299.) leaves vel- 
vety-tomentose from starry down beneath, younger ones pubes- 
cent above, adult ones smooth. h.S. Native of New Spain 
and St. Domingo, and perhaps of Brazil, if Bubroma polybo- 
tryum, Willd. enum. 806. is the same.—Guacimo, Hern. mex. 
Leaves equal at the base and toothed. 
Many-racemed Bastard-cedar. Clt. 1816. Tree 20 feet. 
4 G. Brumi; leaves ovate-oblong, acuminated, cordate at 
the base, unequal-sided and unequally toothed, stellately-puberu- 
lous above, white beneath from stellate down. h.S. Native 
of Java. G. tomentdsa, Blum. bijdr. ex Schlecht. Linnea. 1. 
p- 655. but not of Kunth. 
Blume’s Bastard-cedar. Tree 30 feet. 
5 G. GRANDIFIÒRA; leaves large, oblong, abruptly acumi- 
nated, quite entire, 3-nerved, pale beneath; peduncles subrace- 
mose, and are as well as the calyxes densely tomentose. R.S. 
Native of Brazil. Bubrodma grandiflorum, Willd. herb. ex Spreng. 
Fl. Aug. 
` syst. 3. p. 332. 
Great-flowered American Elm, Tree 40 feet. 
6 G. Invr'ra; leaves subcordate, lanceolate, unequally ser- 
rated, smoothish. h. S. Native of Brazil, where it is called 
Inira. Bubròma Invira, Willd. enum. 806. 
Invira American Elm. Tree 40 feet. 
Cult. The species thrive well in a mixture of loam and 
peat, or any rich light soil; and cuttings root freely in any 
kind of soil if placed under a hand-glass in heat. The seeds 
retain their power of vegetation a considerable time. 
IV. GLOSSOSTE'MON (from yAwooa, glossa, tongue, and 
oTnuwy, stemon, a stamen ; in allusion to the shape of the sterile 
filaments,) Desf. mem. mus. 3. p- 238. t. 2. H. B. et Kunth, 
nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 311. in a note. D. C. prod. 1. p. 485. 
Lin. syst. Monadélphia, Polyándria. Calyx 5-parted. Pe- 
tals 5, each terminated by a filiform point. Stamens 25-35, 
monadelphous at the base, divided at the top into 5 distinct bun- 
dles, with a sterile tongue-shaped filament in the middle of each 
IV. GrossosteMon. V. Commersonta. 523 
bundle. Ovary 1, 5-celled ; cells many-seeded. Style 1. Stigmas 
5. Capsule globose, covered with bristles. This genus is allied 
on the one hand to Sparmdnnia and on the other to Byttnéria. 
1 G. Brucvuir ri (D. C. prod. 1. p. 486.) h.F. Native of 
Persia near Bagdad. Leaves stalked, ovate, roundish, some- 
what lobed, toothed, hispid from starry hairs. Flowers corym- 
bous, rose-coloured. 
Bruguiere’s Glossostemon. Shrub 10 feet ? 
Cult. This shrub only requires to be sheltered from the frost. 
Cuttings will root freely in sand under a hand-glass. 
V. COMMERSO'NIA (in honour of Philibert Commerson, 
M.D. a French botanist from Bourg in Brest. He accompanied 
M. de Bougainville in his voyage round the world ; on this voyage 
he stopped at the Isle of France, where he died in 1774, after 
having explored that island, and collected a great number of new 
plants). Forst, gen. 43. t. 22. H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 
5. p. 311. in a note. D.C. prod. 1. p. 486. 
Lin. syst. Monadélphia, Decandria, Calyx 5-cleft, petal- 
like, permanent. Petals 5, dilated and saccate at the base, with 
inflexed margins tapering gradually into a long ligula at the top, 
adhering to the fertile filaments at the base. Stamens 10, with 
the filaments connate at the base, with 5 sterile petal-like fila- 
ments, which spread stellately at the apex, alternating with 5 
fertile 1-2-anthered ones ; these are opposite the petals. Anthers 
2-lobed, opening by a chink on both sides. Styles 5. Ovary 5- 
celled, 5-valved, each cell containing 3 or 5 ovulz. Capsules 3- 
5-valved, echinated with villous bristles. Albumen fleshy. 
Cotyledons flat. Inflorescence cymose. Perhaps sufficiently 
distinct from Byttnéria. 
1 C. ecutna‘ta (Forst. l. c.) stem arboreous ; leaves ovate- 
lanceolate, smoothish above, hoary beneath. h.S. Native of 
the Moluccas, New Caledonia, as well as the Friendly and Society 
Islands.—Rumph. amb. 3. p.119. There is a variety with cor- 
date, ovate, or unequal Jeaves. Flowers panicled, hoary. 
Echinate-fruited Commersonia. Fl. June, July. Cit. 1806. 
Tree 20 feet. 
2 C. a’spera (Colebr. mss. in Roxb, fl. ind. 2. p. 383. under 
Buttnéria,) leaves broad, cordate, entire, obtuse, with a short 
acumen, pubescent beneath, twice as long as the petioles ; umbels 
of flowers axillary, corymbose ; capsules very large, with stout 
short, remote thorns. Shrubby, unarmed. kh. S. Native of 
Chittagong in the East Indies. B. grandifolia, D. C. prod. 1. 
p- 486. Stems 2 or 3 feet in circumference. Flowers small, 
yellowish, and villous without; pink-coloured within. This is 
probably the largest species known. The fruit resembles Da- 
tira, whence its Bengalee name, Climbing Dhootura. It is a 
large, rambling, or climbing shrub. 
Rough Commersonia. Shrub cl. 
3 C. Jave’nsis; stem arboreous; leaves ovate-oblong, acu- 
minated, unequally cordate, scabrous from stellate down above, 
and white beneath from tomentum. kh. S. Native of Java. 
C, echinata, Blum. bijdr. ex Schlecht. Linnea. 1. p. 655. 
Java Commersonia. Tree. 
4 C. HERBA'cEA; leaves cordate, acuminated, toothed; calyx 
reflexed ; mucrones of petals hairy ; peduncles axillary, few- 
flowered. 2%.S. Native on the coast of Coromandel on the 
Circar mountains. Buttnéria herbacea, Roxb. cor, 1. t. 29. 
Flowers small, purple. 
Herbaceous Commersonia. PI. 1 foot. 
5 C. Jacxta‘na (Wall. in Roxb. fl. ind. 2. p. 386. under Butt- 
néria,) leaves oblong, acuminated, entire, on very short petioles ; 
flowers axillary, corymbose, on long peduncles ; capsules echi- 
nated, with softish thorns. h.. S. Native of the East Indies on 
the hillsof Penang. A large, climbing, unarmed shrub, roug 
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