Paris, and it is only in the Mediterranean region that it is 
really at home out-of-doors. In this country it thrives 
perfectly in an ordinary orchard-house or greenhouse, and 
it is both ornamental and useful. Whether it would pay 
to grow it for market depends upon the public taste. The 
variety figured has a delicious fruit when quite ripe—that 
is when the pulp has become so soft that a spoon is 
needed to take it up. Fruit that commences to colour in 
September or October is not ready for use before February, 
but it is good to look at. 
The plant from which the drawing was made was pur- 
chased in 1890 from C. Sahut, nurseryman at Montpellier, 
and it first bore fruit in 1893. Since then it has fruited 
annually, and this season it bore eighteen fruits. It is a 
standard now only about 7 ft. high, with a stem 2 in. 
in diameter, and a spread of branches of about 4 ft. 
There is no male plant at Kew, so that the fruit is developed 
without fertilization having taken place, but it is quite 
seedless, or only imperfect seeds are formed. We believe 
it to be the same as Carriére’s D. Lycopersicon, but some 
of the varieties so closely resemble each other that it 
would be rash to decide from a figure. It is also near the 
same author’s D. Mazeli, which may or may not be the 
same as D. Mazelii, Thib. et Ketel. ex E. Morr. in the 
“ Belgique Horticole,” 1874, vol. xxiv. p. 111. 
Descr.—A small dioecious tree resembling an apple-tree, 
and bearing fruit while quite young. Leaves alternate, 
deciduous, very variable in shape, sometimes as much as 
8 or 10 in. long. Male flowers pubescent, smaller than 
the female, axillary, usually in clusters of three, tetrame- 
rous. Stamens usually 16. Female flowers axillary, soli- 
tary, green and yellow, 14-2 in. across, almost leathery, 
hairy, tetramerous. Calyzx-lobes broadly ovate, or semi- 
orbicular, enlarging in. fruit, persistent. Corolla-lobes 
oblong, rounded, strongly recurved. Staminodes 8, hairy, 
4 large, resembling fertile stamens, 4 smaller, opposite 
the petals. Ovary 8-celled, with a ring of hairs around 
the base; style included ; stigmas 4, bifid. Fruit often 
large and globose, but very variable in size and shape in 
the numerous cultivated varieties —W. Borrinc Hemsnny. 
Fig. 1, a corolla laid open, showing the staminodes; 2, one of the larger 
staminodes ; 3, pistil :—all enlarged. 
