& 
fatigable Curator of the Botanic Gardens at Bath (Jamaica), he 
kindly procured seeds and young plants a few months later, and 
has been the means of introducing this rarity to our stoves. 
Our plants are now eight to ten feet high, and one of them 
produced, for the first time, flowers and fruit copiously in the 
summer and autumn of 1849. 
It is well known that the liber or inner bark of this tree con- 
sists of layers of reticulated fibre, exactly resembling well- 
prepared lace; and its nature is best exhibited by taking a 
truncheon from a branch, tearing down the bark, and sepa- 
rating it by the hand into as many layers as that portion of the 
tree is years old. ‘The ladies of Jamaica,’ Dr. Lunan observes, 
“are extremely dexterous in making caps, ruffles, and complete 
suits of lace with it. In order to. bleach it, after being drawn 
out as much as it will bear, they expose it (stretched) to the 
sunshine, and sprinkle it frequently with water. It bears wash- 
ing extremely well with common soap, or the “curatoe”’ soap, 
and acquires a degree of whiteness equal to the best artificial 
lace. The wild negroes have made apparel with it of a very 
durable nature ; but the common use to which it is applied is 
rope-making. ‘The Spaniards are said to have worked it into 
cables, and the Indians employ it in a variety of different 
fabrics.” —Sloane relates that Charles II. had a cravat made of the 
bark of this tree, which was presented to him by Sir Thomas Lynch. 
In the days of slavery the negro-whips were commonly made of 
the branches of this tree, thus :—of a portion of the branch the 
wood was removed, and the bark twisted into the lash. The 
lower part of the branch formed the handle, and if it was desired 
to ornament the latter, it was done by unravelling the bark at 
the lower end, which thus formed a kind of tassel consisting 
of spreading layers of lace. On the plate above quoted in the 
Kew Garden Miscellany, a specimen of the lace itself, a whip, 
&c., are represented, from the objects in the Museum of Kew. 
Dzscr. A éree from twenty to thirty feet high, with branches 
too straggling and foliage (though of a good size and glossy) too 
sparse to form a striking object, though really handsome when 
in flower. Leaves alternate, on rather short petioles, which are 
jointed on the branch ; hence the leaves readily fall off in drying; 
they are cordato-ovate, acute, glossy, reticulated, palish-green. 
Flowers pure white, or, in bud, greenish-white, arranged m 
spikes which are solitary and terminal on a main branch, or on 
short side-branches. Perianth urceolate, fleshy, four-toothed. 
Stamens included : longer filaments arising from a scale : anthers 
subglobose. Pisti/ included. Ovary ovate, densely silky. Sty/e 
shorter than the ovary. Stigma obtuse. The fruit is a smooth, 
oval drupe. W. J. H. 3 
