ifAMMEB BOHTUS JAMAICEN'ftISi KU 



euoufli to eat of the fruit of themy bein^ forty or fifty vears, as thev say, before they 

 bia.' : ! have seen .iwe, that a person tolil rue he had planici above twenty years a;>x>j,. 

 aiiu Uifi'e was no sigu of its bearing then. Barham, p. )8. 



M\MMEE-TREE. MAMMEA. 



Cl 23, OR. 1. Palijgamiavionoecia for dia'cia). Nat. ou. Guttiferie., 



EN. CHAR. Hermaphrochte calyx a one-leafed perianth, two irregular parts, oir- 

 casioned by the,s\velling of the petals, concave, coriaceous; corolla four roundish 

 concave petals, spreading very much, sub- coriaceous, longer than the calyx ; 

 stamens numerous fiia.tients, bristle-shaped, erect, very short, inserted mto tiie 

 receptacle, ending in oblong, blunt, erect, . anthers ; the pistil has a roundish 

 depressed germ , a oylmdric, erect, st3le, longer than the stamer>s, permanent; 

 stigma capitate, convex, (the germ and st\ le have the figure of a common bottle) ; 

 the pericarp is a roundish, fleshy, berry, very large, acuminate with part of the 

 style, with a coriaceous rind, one-celled ; seeds four, siil^-ovate, rugged, dis- 

 tinct from the flesh. Male on the same or a different tree calyx, corolla, and 

 stamens, as in the hermaphrodite. There is only one species, a native ot 

 Jamaica. 



AMERICANA. AMERICAN. 



Mains pcrsica maxima, foliis rotundiorihus sphndi'ntibus gTabrts^ 



Jructu maximo, scubro, rugoso, subrotuiido, pulpa dura sublu'ea, 



unumvelpturaossiculafilamentosaciyigente. Sloane, v. 2, p. 123, 



t. 217, f. 3. Maxima JoL. is longioribu^,cortice sulcata cinereo : and 



Foliis ovalibus nitidis, Jructu subrctimdo scabro, Browne, p. 249. 



This is a tall upright handsome tree, with a thick spreading elegant head. It haa 

 a lonfr downright tap root, which renders it very difficult to transplant. Young branch- 

 lets (juadrangular. Leaves oval or ob-ovate, quite entire, biuret, shinrng, leather}-, 

 firm, with pai'allel transverse streaks, on short petioles, opposite, from five to eight 

 inches in U^ngth. Peduncles one-flowered, short, scatter-ed over the stouter bi-anches ;- 

 fk)wers sweet, white, an inch and a lialf in diameter; the calyx often trifid, with a five 

 or six- petaled corolla, which arises from one of the segirients or petals benig cut. - 

 Fruit roundish or obsoletely thr-ee or four-cornei-ed, according to the nunrber of seeds, 

 one or two of which are frecjuently abortive, varying in size from three to seven inches 

 in diameter. It is cov red with a double rind, the outer leiithery, aline in thickness, 

 tough, brownish-yellow, dividetl by incisures longitudinally tlecussated ; the innet 

 thin, yellow, adhering strongly to the flesh, which is firm, bright yellow, has a plea- 

 sant singular taste, and a sweet ai'omatic smell; but the skin and seeds are very bitter 

 and resinous. It is eaten raw alone, or cut in slices with wine and sugar, or preserved 

 in sugai-. In Martinico they distil the flowers with spirit, an' make a liquor, which 

 they call eau Creole. The Englrsh and Spaniards call the fntit niammce, and the French- 

 abricot-saiivage, from the yellowness of the pulp, like tnat of abricot. Jacquin. 

 Swartz remarks that the tree which hears hernraphrouite flowers is very lofty, but that 

 the male trees are smaller. Browne has given the hennaphr-odite and male trees as dif- 

 ferent species ; both of them abound ^ith a strong resinous gum, and are good timber/ 



Q q <i trc'is.- 



