leaf and flower, which flower, however, Swartz refers to P. tilia- 
ceum (a species figured on the same plate), but I scarcely see 
why. It is true the two are not only nearly allied to each other, 
but are often confounded in herbaria. he ¢iliaceum is of uni- 
versal distribution in all tropical parts of the world, and is every- 
where spoken of as yielding a valuable and very strong fibre ; 
while the Paritivm elatum, though certainly not yielding to P. 
tiliaceum in the quality of its fibre, is, as far as I know, wholly 
confined to Jamaica and to Cuba, and does not appear to be 
very common. M‘Fadyen tells us that it inhabits the lower hills 
and plains of the interior; but in Cuba only one locality is men- 
tioned by Don Ramon de Sagra, “crescit in Insula Cuba, loco 
dicto ‘ Vuelto de Abajo ;’” and he makes no mention of its eco- 
nomical properties; and, what is remarkable, the Flora of Cuba 
does not include at all the allied species P. tiliaceum, which in 
Jamaica is “common by the sea-shore.” ; 
Dr. M‘Fadyen (whose notices of the properties of plants are 
deserving of imitation by all authors of local Floras) tells us that 
our P. elatum “affords a very valuable timber, much prized, es- 
pecially by cabinet-makers, having, when worked up and polished, 
the appearance of dark-green variegated ” (often called “ green 
ebony,’ WV. 7. March, Lisq.); “that the bark is the material 
employed by the Negroes in making the better description of 
ropes ; and that young shoots and leaves yield abundantly a fine 
mucilage, which has been employed with advantage, infused in 
boiling water, as a substitute for the vanglo, or zezegary, in dy- 
sentery.” 
Till recently no one has hinted at any connection between the 
substance of Cuba Bast,—so well known in commerce for the 
beauty of its network-like fibre of the inner bark, resembling 
lace-bark of Lagetta lintearia, extensively used as a substitute 
for the bast of the Lime-tree during our war with Russia,—and 
this plant. At length my valued friend, Henry Christy, Esq., 
enabled us to settle the question by sending specimens and seeds 
from Cuba, which proved to be the tree now under considera- 
tion, and from which our figure is taken (see also a notice on 
this subject in the ‘Kew Garden Miscellany,’ vol. viii. p. 347). 
Thus a tree till lately supposed to be peculiar to Jamaica, is 
proved in Cuba to be the Bast of the latter island; and this is 
confirmed also by seeds since sent thence by Mr. Scharfenberg. 
Mr. N. Wilson, of the Jamaica Botanic Garden, has extracted 
exactly the same fibre from the Paritium elatum of Jamaica. 
Whether the P. elatum (mountain Mahoe) and P. tiliaceum 
(sea-side Mahoe) are distinct or not, may perhaps still be consi- 
dered sub judice. It is true that Patrick Browne, Sloane, 
M‘Fadyen, De Candolle, and Grisebach maintain the two species, 
