264 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [Myrsinec. 
A resemblance between the floras of parts of Africa and India has frequently 
been pointed out (v. p. 157); it is interesting to find there a product analogous to that of 
the Fulwa, in the Shea or Butter tree of Bambarra. This is described by Mungo Park 
as procured, by means of boiling water, from the kernels of that tree: and as being of 
the consistence but of a richer flavour than the best butter. According to Mr. Park, 
“« the appearance of the fruit evidently places the Shea tree in the natural order of 
Sapotee, and it has resemblance to the Madhuca tree, Bassia latifolia, described by 
Lieut.-Col. Hamilton, As. Res. 1. p. 300.”* It is probably this substance which is 
mentioned in Persian works, under the names kawind and sheerbung, being described as 
a concrete oil like fat, produced by the fruit of a tree of Yemen and Abyssinia. 
Mr. Park describes the Shea butter as forming an important article in the food of the 
natives, supplying every purpose of oil and butter; and states that the growth and pré- 
paration of this commodity seem to be among the first objects of African industry, as’ 
it forms one of the main articles of their internal commerce. 
It might also become so in India, where its congeners thrive so well: or the culti- 
vation of the Fulwa might be extended, or acclimated in the plains; as a tree 
introduced by the late Colonel Pleydell into his garden at Saharunpore lived for several 
years, and only died when six or eight feet high, on being transplanted, in consequence 
of the site of the garden being changed by Colonel Bird. But the Mahwa appears as 
worthy as any for extended and profitable culture in dry and barren parts of the 
country, as long ago recommended by Lieut. Hamilton (As. Res. 1. c.), especially as its 
produce, being independent of rain or irrigation, would yield a crop even in times of 
famine; for the same reason the Carob tree has been recommended for cultivation 
at p. 165. The dried flowers, the oil, and the spirit of the MJahwa, all form articles 
of commerce, and the timber is of excellent quality for some parts of ship-building; but 
in India, as formerly in England, according to the editor of Evelyn’s writings, ‘‘ men 
are not planters but destroyers of wood, without thought of the future.” 
109. MYRSINEZ. 
The Myrsinee, called also Ardisiacee by some botanists, have been shown by 
Mr. Brown to be related on one hand to Sapotee through Jacquinia, and on the other to 
Primulace@, though they differ much from the latter in habit.. M. A. De Candolle in 
his late review of the order (Lin. Trans. xvii. p. 95), has suggested an analogy with the 
distant order of Rhamnee, and has stated the difficulty which arises from the genus 
Masa (Beobotrys) having.a great number of seeds, as in many Primulacee, and an 
inferior ovarium, as in the well-known and anomalous genus Samolus, but thinks it 
best 
iki 
* Mr. Brown, in the App. to Denham and Clapperton’s Travels, p. 239, states, that the only plant of this 
family in the Herbarium is the Micadania, or Butter-tree of Soudan. The specimen, though very imperfect, 
he has identified with the specimens of M. Park’s Shea-tree in the Banksian Herbarium. “ Whether this plant,” 
Mr B. adds, “ is really a Bassia is not equally certain ; and the seed at least agrees better with Vitellaria 
paradoxa of the younger Gartner (Carpol. tab. 205,) than with that of Bassia figured by his father.” (De Fruct. 
et Sem. Pl. t. 104). 
