



Tiyi*El.\Tj HORTUS J A M A I CEN SI S, 387 



d. SVLVATICUM. 



AssvA:gcns rmnosmn et verticillalum,' Browne, p. 108, 

 Stem spiked ; fronds conipoiind. 



'Ko English Xame. HYP K LATE, 



o 



Ci.. 23, or^. ] .P()li/ga)iiia )iwnoccia, Nat. f):!. 

 This was so named by Brounc tVoiii two Greek words signilVing lir-tree. 

 Gen. char. Cal3"x of the iierniapiirodite flower a five-ieaved pej-iantli, leaflets 

 ovate, concave, spreading, decidnous, two less than the others ; the coroila has 

 five petals, ovate, a little less than the caU'x, decidnous, with a nectariferous urn- 

 bi'icus abont the germ ; the stamens are eight spreading filaments, round the base 

 of ihe germ, the length of the coroila, with ovate-cordate anthers ; the pistil iias 

 a globular sujierior germ ; a short upright style ; stigma ijcnt down, tiiree-sideJ, 

 three-grooved, acute ; the pericarp a puljiy roimdisli drupe ; seed an oval nut, 

 very smooth, uith a single kernel. The nude flu svcrs, on the -same tree but on u 

 distinct panicle, have the calyx and corolla as in the hermajihrodite ; the nectary 

 also as in that, from the middle of this ; the st-amens are eightfdame;:ts, converg- 

 ing at the base, from erect reflex and ascending, broader at the base, with ovate- 

 cordate anthers ; the pistil a three-cornered rudiment of a germ ; Style awl-slniped, 

 very saiail. There is only one species, a native of .lamaic-a. 



TRIFOLIAT.l. THREE- LEAVED. 



"fi/fisux arborcus, Joliis ohtusis glabris, folionim prcdiculis alafis. 

 Sloane, V. 2, p. S.'i, t. 176, f. 1. Fruticosa follis ob-ovatis, pinnaio 

 ternatis, peticlo marginaio ajjixis. Browne, p. 208. 



This shrubby tree has several trunks as big as the hmiian leg, which seldom ri?e 

 above eight or nine feet, and is common in tlie lowlands. The bark is naturally of a 

 brown colour, but a])|icars of ditr'erent colours, from its Leing covered with ligneous 

 Crustacea, ^l'he trunk is divided a Httle abov-c the ground into many slender branches, 

 and these again into slender twigs, all round beset with lea^-es of the same texture and 

 grain as those of lignumvitcc, but rcroarkablv ddlerent in form and disposition, being" 

 in an alternate order; the pedicels an inch and a quarter in length, decorated on eacli 

 side by a foliaceous margin, supporting one ])air of ob-ovate lobes, with an odd-one at 

 the end, sessile and ternale, close to each other, having no proper petlicel ; they are 

 of a li\"ely green, and elegantly marked with slender di)lique veins, rising from the 

 mid-rib, shining, smooth, and of a firxn texture. The corolla and calyx are not easily 

 distinguished from each other, the two interior leaves of the cah'x appearing like two 

 jx;tals, 1^0 great is their similitude. The fruit is^i small drupe of an ovate form, and 

 splendid black colour, about three-eighths of an inch long. The pulp is sweet, re- 

 sembling a mixture of sugar and water; the kernel greenish, in which the seminal 

 leaves are obvious, and inclosed in an ovate, smooth, hard, ligneous, niouoeapsulaij 

 shell. The fruit ripens in September. 



Ddd3 - JAAK 



