KRCrt HOnrUS JAMAICENSTS. 93 



or tJjrce pair?. besHes the odd one ; they are ovate vvitij a short point, entirp, veined, 

 and sDjuoU! ; rattjues axillary and terminating, shorter than the jjctioies, irpright, 

 man} tiowered, pubescont ; pedicels ahern;itt?, -short, oue-ilovvered ; flowers siiiairaml 

 white ; capsule red, resL'iiibhiig a drupe ; on the male trees the flowers are more copi- 

 us, uiio crowded io the racemes, but are scarcely larger. Sw. 



This tree has a great many roots rnnning superfjrJally on >he Cfirth on eves-j' liand for 

 some yards round, I'roiu lue iBiikiie of winch rises a trunk as thick as a hogshead or 

 pi])e, cuvered \vith a brown red smooth, menjbranaceous outward bark, failing oif in 

 Ibund pieces hkc to that of the English birth, whence it= nane. It hath several crooked 

 branches, mounting to thirty feet high, covered witii a brown smooth bark, near tlie 

 top of vvhitii come out several two or three inches long stalks, sustauiing on half inch 

 long footstalks, several flowers one above another,, each made up of five thick yellowish 

 fiiort petaia, with stannnain the middle, and after these follow three-sided or triangu- 

 lar berrie.s, of a sv^iail peas bigness, witii a reddish brown coloured skin, very gummv, 

 jind sn;elling hke arebmthine, under which lies a white, very hard, triangular stone, 

 eontaming a kernel. The tree iiaving stood naked sometime has first its flowers come 

 out, and its leaves begin to bud a little while after, which are winged, smooth, of a 

 very fresh green colour, standing round the ends of the branches at ijalf an inch's dis- 

 tance ; the middle rib is five inches long, hoary, and set at an inch and a hall's dis- 

 tance from the beginning, with pairs of pinnse one against another, on an half inch 

 footstalk, the pinna are an inch and a half long, and half as broad near the round base,, 

 wiicre broadest, and sinning ; there is a small odd one at die end, and usually four or 

 eiglit j)airs, which, with the odd one, make up the leaf. The gum the treeyields is 

 Jiiought to be vci} vulnerary and healing. Sloane. 



It is very common in Jamaica, although I do not take it to be the same with what 

 grows in England ; but it having the very same sort of bark, makes the English here 

 tan tliem birch-trees. They are much larger here than any I ever saw in Emj^land ; 

 besides, of these, after the bark i.* oil", the wood is very white, light, and brittle ; none 

 of the twigs are so tough as to make rods or brooms of ; and tlie gum that flows from 

 the tree is very odoriferous, white like mastic, and hath an aromatic absorbent taste. 

 I nave otten given and advised this gum to be taken^n the liis venerea with good suc- 

 cess, after uue purging. It is so well known, that it needs no particular desciiptioo* 

 liarhain, p. '20. 



Tliis tree is very common in all the sugar islands. The hark is very tliick and exudes 

 a clear and tran.-.paient rcsin, which hardens soon in the air, and looks nmcn like the 

 mastic of the shops ; but it yields a cousideral)le quantity of a more fluid substance, by 

 incision; which has mucli tae smell and ap[)eai-ance of turpeatme, and n>ay he used 

 lor the same purposes with success. Dioune. 



This tree grows readily from pieces of the lim's, and posts made of them and put irj 

 tlie giounJ, veiy spcedoy vtgeiatc and shoot out branches. Dr. Lio\>i>e Uiistook the 

 ta.k Oi the roots oi this tree lor the snnaiouba ot the shops, which is piocureu from a 

 species of quassia. The gum has been employed su:cessluUy as a traiiSj are. it vaini-^i ; 

 SOU it la soUbic ia spiriio of wiae. Tuo uecoction of t^ie roots i^ bmu.iig aiiJ iist. nj- 



gent. 



