KOVNJJ HCRTUS JAMAICENSIS, 3j9 



Stem herbaceous, procumbent. 

 Stern round, hkiiry, sub-erect, with diffused procumbent branches. Leaves scat- 

 tered, petioleii, abriiptly pinniite ; leaflets two pau-s, ovate^ hairy, quite entire, oa 

 Tery siiort petioles ; stipules long, sharp-pointed, bifid, opposite, h;:!f-steni-clas])ing; 

 flowers gold coloured, axillary, growing singly, on very long slender peduncles. - 

 Many of them male, mixed with tiie iiennaphrodites. Tlie !egu:nes contain two, three, 

 or tour seeds. The manner of its perfecting is very singular, for, as tiie lioivers fall 

 ofl", the young pods are forced into the ground by a natural motion of the stalks, wliere 

 they are entirely buried, and the pods are not to be discovered without digging for 

 thein, whence the name of ground-nutSi This plant thrives well in Jamaica in a freci 

 soil and warm situation, and propagates itself very fast, by creeping along the ground, 

 and sliooting roots from every joint. They are very agreeable nuts, and deserve to be 

 more generally cultivated than ihey are ; when roasted, ground, and boiled, they make 

 a good substitute for chocolate. 



Pindalls. The first F ever saw of these growing was in a negro's plantation, who 

 affirmed, that they grew in great plenty in their country' ; and they now grow verv well 

 in Jamaica.- Some call them p;ub-a-oubs ; and others ground-nuts, because the nut ot 

 them, or fruit that is to be eaten, grows in the ground : These arc of the bigness, co- 

 lour, and shape, of a filbert; they are covered over in the ground with a thin cistus or 

 skin, which contains two or thr^e of them, and many of the cistuses, with their nuts or 

 kernels, are to be found growing to the roots of one plant. When they ore ripe and 

 lit to dig up, the cistus that contiiins thetnis dry, like a withered leaf, which you take 

 off, and then have a kernel, reddish witliout-side and very white within, tasting like an 

 alniond, and accounted by some as good as a pistachio ; tliey are very nourisliing, and 

 accounted provocatives; Some say, if eaten much, they cause the head-ache; but I 

 never knew any such effect, even l)y those who chiefly lived upon them ; for masters 

 of ships often feed negroes with them all their voyage ; and I have very oftep eat of 

 tliem plentifully, and with pleasure, and never found that effect. Tliey may be eaten 

 nvw, roasted, or boiled. The oil drawn from them by expression is as gootl as oil of 

 almonds ; and the nut, beaten and applied as a poultice, takes away the sting of scor- 

 pions, wasps, or bees. Barham, p. 145. 



The plant, which produces these nuts, wasfii-st brought from Africa. In sonthern 

 climes vast crops of these nuts are said to be produced from light, sandy, and indilferent 

 soils. Dr. Brownrigg, of North Carolina, transmitted some account of the value of 

 these nuts to the Royal Society. From a quantity of them, first bruised, and put into 

 canvas bags, he expressed a pure, clear, well tasted od, useful for the same ^nirposes 

 as the oiis of olive or almonds; 



From specimens both of the seeds and oil, produced before the society, it appeared, 

 that neither of them were subject to turn rancid by keeping. The oil in particular, 

 which had been sent from Carolina eight months before, without any extraordinary 

 care, and had undergone the heats of the summer, remained perfectly sweet and gootl. 

 A bushel of them yielded (in Carolina), without heat, one gallon of oil ; and, with 

 heat, a much larger quantity, but of inferior quaiit)'. It has been justly supposed, 

 tbat, from a successful prosecution yf this manufacture, the colonies may not only be 



able 



