*ETBi UORTUS JAMAICENSTS. -85 



No English Name. BESLERlA. 



'Cl. 14, oif. 2. Didynamia Angiospermia. Nat. or. P<:rsnnat^, 



This was so named after Basil Besler, an apothecary at Nuremberg, editor of a 

 sumptuous botanical work. 



Gen. char. Calyx a one-leafed perianthiiitn, five-parted, acnminnte, erect, loose, 

 with rerit-ctedtops : corolla monopetalous, riiigent, tube tlie lengtii of tkecalvx, 

 border five-cleft ; filaments within the moiith of the corolla, with oblong anthers 

 hcinging down on each side ; the pistil has a g'lobniar germen, a subulate erect 

 style, and a l.nfid oi)tuse stigma ; the pericarpium is a sub-globular one-ceileti 

 'berry; seeds numei'o us, round, very small. One species is a native of Jamaica : 



LUTEA. YELLOW, 



Foliis watts serralis opposJis, venis oblique arcuatis, Jloribus confertis 

 ad a'as. Browne, p. 370. 



Peduncles simple crowned, leaves lanceo}at:e. 



Browne cads this plant ej-//j^/(/, and says he met with it in Sixteen Mile Walk. It 

 rises viitn a ligneous stem, six or seven feet high, dividing toward the top into many 

 irreguiir branciies, witii spear-shaped serrate leaves, which have many transverse 

 veins ; the tfnvers come out at the wings of the leaves, in large clusters, <?ach having 

 a sepoiate tootstaik ; they are smali, tubuions, and of a pale yellow colour. 



BETEL NUT. ARECA. 



Cl. 2.5, OR. 1. Monoecia enncandria. Nat. or. Palmee. 



Gen. char. The male calyx is a bivalved spathe ; spadix branched ; pToper peri- 

 anth three-leaved ; the corolla has three acuminate, rigid petals stamina are nine 

 filaments, the three outer longer than the rest. The female flowers, in the same 

 spa lix, has the calyx a spathe common with the males : proper perianth three- 

 leaved ; the corolla three-petalled, acuminate, rigid; the pericarp a sub-ovate 

 berry, fibrose surrounded at the base with the iudjricate calyx : the seed o\ate. 



CATECHU. 



Fronds pinnate ; leaflets folded back, opposite end bitten. 

 This tree is a native of Providence and the East Indies, and was brought here in liis 

 "Majesty's ship Providence in 1793. It has no branches, but its leaves are very beauti- 

 ful ; they form a round tuft at the top of the trunk, which is as straight as an arrow. 

 It grows to the height of twenty -five or thirty feet, marked with parallel rings, and is 

 veVy oroaiiicntal. The fronds spring forth in pairs, decussated, encircling tne top of 

 the trunk at tiieir base, and thus forming an oblong head larger than the trunk itself : 

 they are few in number (six or seven), unarmed, reclining, six feet lonir, on a stipe 

 ;four feet in length. These fronds break and fall off iu succession; from their axils 

 -issue the sheatiis which inclose the flowers and fruits. The shell which cont;uns tiie 

 friiit is smooth without, but rough and hairy within ; in which it pretty much resembles 

 the shell of the cocoa nut Its size is equal to that of a pretty large walnut. Its kcniel 

 4sas bij>' as a uuLineg, to which it bears a great resemblance without, and has also thtj 

 .-- ' sain* 



