Genus MACLURA, JVutt 



Urticaceae. Dioccia Tetrandna. 



Syst. Nat. Syst. Lin 



Synonymes. 

 Madura, Toxylon, Of Author? 



Derivation. This was named by Nuttall, in honour o: '.he late Mr. William Maclure, of Phila-ielphia, a celebrated natural- 

 iat, and patron of science. 



Generic Characters. Flowers dioecious. Male flowers with the calyx 4-cleft. Stamens 4, exserted. 

 Female llowers in globular aments ; the calyx fleshy, 4-parted, with the bases ingrafted together. Co- 

 rolla none. Style 1, filiform, villous. Germs numerous, each 1-seeded, coalescing into a compound 

 globular berry of many cells, the cells 1-seeded. Seed obovate. Nuttall, Sylva. 



iHE genus Madura embraces but one species, indigenous to North 

 America, a lactescent tree, intermediate between the fustic, (Morus 

 tinctoria,) and the bread-fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa.) The 

 latter is a native of the South Sea Islands, growing to the height 

 of thirty feet, and abounding throughout, in a very tenacious milicy 

 juice. Its fruit, when fully ripe, is nearly round^ from twelve to 

 twenty inches in girth, with a rough, reticulated surface, and is covered with a 

 thin skin. The eatable part, which is of a snowy whiteness, lies between the 

 skin and a core, and has somewhat the consistency of newly-made bread ; hence 

 the name. 



-Closely allied to the maclura, is the celebrated Arbol de la Vaca, or cow-tree, 

 (^Galactodendrum utile,) of South America, sometimes growing to the height of 

 one hundred feet, with a trunk six feet in diameter, and having leaves resembling 

 those of the laurel. It yields a profuse supply of nutritious milk, by making an 

 incision in the bark, which tastes somewhat like that of a cow, but slightly bit- 

 terish to the taste, and producing a disagreeable clamminess on the lips. 



To the same natural order belongs the Jamaica bread-nut, (Brosium alicas- 

 trum,) a native of 'the woods of Cuba and Jamaica, the leaves and younger 

 branches of which are full of gum, and afford an excellent fodder for cattle. The 

 nuts or fruit, when roasted, are sometimes used instead of bread, and have a taste 

 not unUke the European chesnut. Boiled with fish or flesh, they are also eaten 

 as food in times of scarcity, by the poor, and prove nutritious and pleasant to the 

 taste. 



