184 EDIBLE FRUITS OF THE RIO NEGRO. 
Drupe ovoid, as large as a small hen's egg; pelliele very thin, yellow 
(deep purple in var.); mesocarp not more than 4 inch thick, firm, fleshy ; 
endocarp bony. 
This fruit requires to be kept a few days, in order to soften. The 
little of it that is eatable is very agreeable, and I cannot liken it to 
anything I have tasted in Europe. 
I have not seen flowers of this species, but another very similar one, 
called Umarí de Uruá*, is now (April) in flower, and is said to produce 
fruit of inferior quality. This latter has considerably smaller leaves, 
not abruptly apiculate, and still more lustrous beneath. There are dis- 
tinct stipules present. ‘The inflorescence seems exactly that of Parina- 
rium. 
The “ Umarí” of Pernambuco, the seeds of which are a powerful 
vermifuge, is the Geoffrea spinosa, L. : 
3. Fmurá-ce£n, Ling. Ger.—Chrysophyllum sp.?—(Nat. Ord. Sapo- 
tacee.) 
Has. Barra; sandy exposed campos, more rarely in the virgin 
forest. Fruit ripe in February. 
Tree 20 feet by 4 inches, in dry open situations, and fruiting abun- 
dantly; in the moist forest growing to twice the size, but fruiting 
very sparingly ; branched almost from base. Leaves opposite, exstipu- 
late, coriaceous, oblong, 43 by 2% inches, subobtuse or retuse, rounded 
at the base, margins reflected, midrib stout, veins numerous, slender, 
parallel. Flowers on the short stalks, in clusters of about six on the 
naked branches. Calyx minute, 4-sepaloust. Fruit an oval, orange- 
coloured drupe, as large as a sloe; mesocarp thick, juicy, sweet. Seeds 
one or two; embryo antitropal, amygdaloid. 
Every part of this tree is sweet to the taste; hence its Indian name 
* Ymurá-ceém," or “sweet tree.” The milk which exudes from the 
wounded trunk is white, thin, not copious, and scarcely viscid. The 
fruit is one of the most agreeable I have tasted in Brazil, and may be 
eaten in any quantity without cloying or producing any ill effects. It 
is in season for two or three weeks, and such is its abundance on a 
small campo above the Barra, that large parties go by water to the 
spot in order to gather it. The bark is accounted a sovereign remedy 
for diarrhoea; its taste is much like that of liquorice-root, but after’ 
* Couepia subcordata, Spruce. 
+ In the specimens sent the calyx is pentamerous. 
