tKDiAN HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. ^ 409 



stamens, and a headed nniltifid stigma; the pericarp is a rather ohlong berry, 

 one-celled, nmbiiiciite, rough-eared as the calyx is ; t.i'e.'is miiaerous, roundish, 

 smull, nestling. Eleven species are indigenous to Jamaicj. 



I. OPliNTIA. 



Opuntia major, folio ohioiigo, rahtndo, spinis lougissimis ct valulisat- 

 7nis confcrtim nascent ibiis,ob.iito, Jiore lutco. Sloane, v. _', p. 14!', 

 t. 224, f. 1. Brachiatus et articulatus, ar/iculis hvalis couipnssis, 

 aculeis longissimis confertis. Browne, p. 237. 



Proliferous-jointed, loose; joints ovate; spines setaceotis. 



The roots are two or three feet long, tapering, and white. Above ground there ir? 

 no stalks, but leaves growing out of the sides or tops of one another, six or seven feet 

 high. Each leaf is about a foot in length, nine inches broad, an inch thick, of a lively 

 sea-green colour, very full of a mucilaginous or viscid juice, of an oblong nnindish 

 shape, and beset very thick on both sides with tufts of inch-long, white, crooked, and 

 slender, prickles, four of them usually in the same tuft. With these prickles come 

 out small leaves in knots, which fall off in a short time. At the bottom there is also 

 much prickly down, which, on being handled, enters the skin, and is very difficult to 

 be got rid oil'. The leaves frequently trail upon the ground, shooting out fresh roots, 

 and extendmg to a considerable distance. As the tree rises in height the under leaves 

 become more round, lose their prickles, become of an ash colour, and put on the ap- 

 pearance of a trunk. The leaves when fallen off, and cleared of their outward mem- 

 brane, and pulp, shew a delicate reticulated texture, made by the nerves and fila- 

 ments, variously branched, like the racquette used by tennis players, whence the 

 plant received the name of ra(]uette from the Frendi. The flowers come out at the 

 upper edges, and sometimes the sides, of the leaves, which are broad, consisting of 

 jnany leaves, like those of the rose, of a yellow colour; the fruit augments till it attains 

 the size of an ordinary fig, when it turns from green to purple, heart-shaped, and 

 prickly, the prickles scarce perceptiijle; at its top there is a cavity where the flower 

 -stood. The small prickles are also thickly set round that part of the leaf on which the 

 flower stands, like a cup.- Under the skin of the cavity at top is a round substance, ' 

 like the rowel of,a spur, which must be taken out before it be eaten. Und'.T succulent 

 jnembranes lie the seed and pulp. The Seeds are very many, roundish, .flat, sinuated, 

 -v'lth several impn-Ksions on them irregularly figured, and white, lying in a purjile, in- 

 .odorous, sv.'eet, pulp, which dyes whatever it touches of the same colour ; and, when 

 eaten, communicates a bloody colour to the forces and urine. This plant sometimes 

 /Sweats out a mucilaginous gum, recommended by the Spaniards as good for the s-tone. 

 It may be propagated from the seed or leaf, and grows plentifully in almost 

 .every part of Jamaica; growing on the barrenest soils, and on the tops of decaying 

 walls. It is sometmies used for making fences, which, from the nature of its prickles, 

 it is well adapted for, as no animal will attempt to break through them. The leaf 

 ofthisphmt, cleared of its prickles, and baked under embers, in wet paper or a thin 

 leaf, is reckoned better tiian any other maturative cataplasm in cleaning ulcers, or in 

 .aposihu.nes, swellings, or fresh wounds ; or they may be ap]ilietl pounded ami boiled 

 with hogs. lard. The clear juice of the rtT-asted leaf is also very detersive and cle.msing 

 for sores. When siplit, beaten soft, and applied, the leaves are said to cure the crab 

 yavKS. The young leaves art sometimes used by tlie negroes instead of ochras, for 

 ^whicii they are 110 bad substitute. The fruit i.s of an astringent nature, and not nn- 



G g g pleasant 



