KORTUS JAMAICENSIS. ' 1?^ 



*Gfk. char. Calyx five-cleft, deciduous, gaping ; the corolla five oblonc^ petals, 

 waved and expanding, with claws, the upper one more distant, lower ones larger, 

 all inserted into the calyx ; the stamens are ten filaments, declining, shorter than 

 the corolla, the tenth the longest ; anthers ovate, always on the tenth, seldom on 

 the rest; the pistil has, an oblong germ, sitting on a pedicel; style filitbrni, de- 

 clining; stigma obtuse, rising; the pericarp is a long legume, sub-columnar, 

 one-celled; the seeds are many, roundish, compressed, placed according to the 

 length of the legume. One species of this genus is a native of Jamaica. 



PORRECTA, STRETCIIEB. 



Stnie spnriiP ant aspalatlw affitis arbor siliqiiosafoliis hifidis, flore pen^ 

 tapetalo varic. Sloane, v. 2, p. 51. Fuliis bilobis, spicis laria 

 terminalihiis. Browne, p. 286. 



Leaves cordate ; lobes porrected, acute, three-nerved ; petcls lanceolate. 



This tree rises about fifteen feet high, having several straight trunks, about the 

 thickness of a man's leg, covered with a whitish bark, dividing into many branches and 

 twigs, making a pleasimt top. The leaves stand without any order, on inch long foot- 

 5talks, they are three inches long and two broad, where broadest, of an odd shape, 

 s liiiethiiig like thatof shears wherewith sheep are shorn, having points, as if a piece 

 ^^'ere cut out, or hanng a deep incisure or notch, they are round at the base, of a yel- 

 lowish green colour, smooth, thin, having seven or more ribs v/ith some transverse 

 ones, Biaking tiie whole very nervous. The flov/ers come out at the ends of tlie twigs, 

 several together, on pedicels half an inch in length ; the petals are long, red aaid white 

 variegated or striated ; stamens long and white ; legumes brown, five or si"x inches in 

 length. It grows every where on the hills in Jamaica. The wood is very hard, and 

 veined with black, wlience the name of ebony. The decoction is a good lotion for ul- 

 cers ; the root boiled in wine cures pustules in the ear, being rubbed with it. ^ The' 

 flowers beaten with pepper and applied to the forehead cures the head-ach. Sloane. 



Three East India species or this genus have been introduced, and are in the Hortus 

 Eastensiis, viz. tliii purpurea^ scandens, &ndvariegata. 



'ECASTAPHYLLUM ^CC PTEROCAKPUS. 



-Eddoes See Cocoes. 



. EGG-PLANT. SOLANUM. 



Cl. 5, OR. 1. Pentandria7nonogynia. Nat. OR. Liiridce, 



'Gew. char. See Calalue, branched, p. 141. Some of these plants have from six to 

 ^even stamens, and the calyx and corolla the same number of segments. 



MELONGF.NA. 



Solayium poni^ferum qicartum, sive fructuohlongo. Sloane, v. (, p, 

 237. Hirsutum ct spinosum, friictn maximo, calice majori spinoso. 

 Srowne, p. 173. 



Steal* 



