11* HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. rea 



cutting must have an eye or joint to germinate from ; they shouM he at least the size 

 of a man's finger, and divided into pieces five or six inches in length, and Liid just be- 

 low the surface of the soil in a shadj' place, and watered every evening until they strike 

 root and send up shoots. On cutting the plants the ends should he covered with clay, 

 tar, or any other suhstance tliat will preveoi the sap from oozing, which greatly facilitates 

 the growth. They will bear fruit in four years, or even loss time, in a favourable situa- 

 tion, from the time of planting. From the first appearance of the fruit tiicv arcfitfor 

 the table in little more thai] a month. 



See Jaack Tree. 



BREAD-NUT-TREE. BUOSIMUM. 



Cl. 22, OR. I. Dioecia monuTKb'ia. 



This name is derived from a Greek word signifying eatable. 



Gen. char. Male calyx a common globular amentum, cftvered on all sides with irR~ 

 bricate, orbicular, peltate, membranaceous, deciduous scales, three larger, sur- 

 rounding the base of the ament, and others smaller, of an irregular shape, be- 

 tween each of which the stamens break out. There is no corolla; the stamens are 

 solitiiry fiiaraents, very short, cylindrif, with bilamellate anthers ; lamellas orbi- 

 cular peltate ; lower gaping from the upper; dispersing a globular pollen ; the 

 pistil has the germ at top, included in a spongy anient, very small, ovate, abor- 

 tive ; style single, upright, bifid at the tip ; stigmas reflex, simple. The female 

 blossoms are on a different tree, having an amentum like the male; no corolla; 

 the pistilLum has a globular germen (the scaly body of the anient itself) ; the styl 

 springing from the middle of the gerrpen at top, long, bifid ; stigmas simple, 

 sharp, a little reflex : the pericarpium is a berry pedicelled, corticose, spherical, 

 one-celled ; the seeds solitary, with a two-lobed kernel, surrounded by a tiiin 

 membrane, and bipartite. Two species grow in this island, the spuriiim, or miii- 

 Kxod, and the 



ALICASTRirat. 

 A)'boreum, foliis ovatis altemis, fructibtis solifariis. Browne, p. 372. 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate, perennial; aments globul&r, pedicelled, solitary, ax- 

 illary ; fruit corticose. 

 This tree is frequent in the parishes of St. Elizabeth and St. James, and in both has 

 been computed to make up athird part of the woods. The timber is not despicable, 

 but the leaves and younger branches are more useful, and a hearty fattening fodder for 

 all sorts of cattle. The fruit, boiled with salt fish, pork, beef, or pickle, has been fre- 

 quently the support of the negroes and poorer sort of white people, in times of scar- 

 city ; and provetl a wholesome and no unpleasant food. When roasted it eats some- 

 thmg like our European chesnuts, and \s CAhcA bread -nut. The leaves and younger 

 shoots are full of gum, which renders them disagreeable to most cattle at first, but they 

 soon grow very fond of them. Browne. 



They are propagated by the birds and rats from the seed ; and sometimes they ha'.-e 



faeea 



