WDW'oob IIORTUS JAMAICEXSIS. MS 



nutc ; g^rm roundish, style subulate-filiform ; capsule oblong, four-cornered, four- 

 wfnged, one-celled; seed four-cornered, the corners membranaceous and rod, one- 

 celled. It varies with narrower, ovate-lanceolate, leaves. iV. 



The following description of this plant is taken from Mr. A. Robinson's manuscript, 

 who also gives its characters, which correspond, in every respect, with those given 

 above from Dr. Martyn's Dictionary : 



Scaridensfoliis ovatis, nervosis maxhnis nppns-itis ; floribus axiUaribus 

 spicatis, petalis longioribus unguibus linearibus bracteis triangulatis, 

 Capsulis guadralatis monoxptrmis ; racemis alaribus terminalibus. 

 A. Robinson. 



This is a very large scandent shrubby plant, the stem is roundish, ligneous, brittle, 

 -about two inches in diameter, covered with a smooth ash -coloured bark towards the 

 root, sending forth many branches, growing to the height of thirty, forty, or fifty, 

 feet, diffusing themselves round the trees they happen to grow upon, and hiding them 

 from sight. The branches arc covered with a reddish brown bark, hence it derives its 

 name. The leaves are large and nervose, from five to ten inches in length and six in 

 breadth, of a pale green, with plain or indented margins, their middle ribs bending 

 back for the most part, the mid-ribs of a yellowish green, whence proceed alternate 

 veins, running obliquely forward to the margin, where these veins run ; the leaf is 

 deeply furrowed on Us upper part, and consequently very prominent on the opposite 

 side, supported by crooked swelling pedicels. The fruit grows on branched pedicels, 

 rising from the bosoms of the leaves and the ends of the branches ; they have quadra- 

 gonal capsules turbinated at each end, from each angle rises a foliaceous wing, between 

 each wing a deep furrow : these capsules are an inch and a half long and three- fourths 

 broad from the edge of one wing to another ; they consist of four valves, are monolo- 

 cular, and contain one quadragonal turbinated naked seed, marked with deep furrows, 

 dividing it into four equal parts; this seed is of a pale yellowish green, and nothing 

 else but the two seminal leaves folded together into this form, and further remarkable 

 in having no proper cover, which,, if I mistake not, is somewhat singular: however, 

 nature, always provident, has taken care not only to endue these seeds with an exces- 

 sive intolerable bitter taste, but also that the seed should germinate in the capsule, 

 whose valves are so weil glued together that nothing but the swelling of the seeds, or a 

 violence equal thereto, can force them asunder. The leaves are of an astringent taste, 

 and used by the negro doctors in astringent decoctions or baths for their dropsical 

 patients. 



This plant is common in the woods and morasses near Paul Island, in Westmorland, 

 it has no tendrils, the ends of some of the branches twisting round the trees supply 

 their places, while others bear the fruit and blossoms. 



Dr. Marty n remarks, that this genus of plants is but imperfectly known, and being a 

 very fine one deserves the attention of botanists. There are only four known species, 

 all natives of warm climates, and it is doubtful whether all may not be found in Jamaica. 



REDWOOD or IRONWOOD. ERYTHROXYLON1 



Cl. 10, or. 3. Decandria trigynia. 'Nat. OR. Malpighia. 



p a Thij 



