HI HORTUS- JAMAICENS1S. santa 



Gfk. char. Calyx a two-leaved perianth, leaflets ovate, concave, 'coloured, deci- 

 duous; corolla four (two) oblwng, concave, spreading, petals ; stamens many fiii- 

 - "form short filaments, with erect oblong anthers; the pistil has a roundish germ, a 

 filiform style, the length of the stamens ; stigma headed, obtuse ; pericarp a glo- 

 bular drupe; the seed globular, sub-acuminate, very large. Oue species is a 

 rv.'Uve of Jamaica. 



CALABA. 



Mdlipersica mameyte dicta-, folio lovgiore, arbor mszima, cortice^ 

 sulcata, cinereo, awaro. Sloane, v. 2, p. 124. slltissimct, /oliis. 

 oblongis, riitidis$imis } he-rvosis. Browne, p. 372. 



Leaves ovate, obtuse. 



This is a lofty and beautiful tree, growing frequently to the height of ninety or one 

 "nihdied feet. The stem is then about two feet in diameter, very straight, and without 

 any foliage, until near the summit, where it throws forth a beautiful and regular pyra- 

 midal foliage. The branches are blunt,, emarginate, firm, on short petioles. The 

 leaves ovate-oblong. Flowers on axillary simple racemes, whitish, and smelling sweet. 

 Fruit greenish, pulpy, involving a hard smooth ash-coloured nut. Many of the corollas 

 have only two petals, and the calyxes two leaves, crossing each other, and having the 

 appearance of a four-leaved corolla. Some of the corollas have four and even five 

 "petals. 



The wood of the santa maria makes good boards for inside work, but they shrink and 

 swell much with the variations of the weather; it has also been found to make good 

 shingles and staves for ruin puncheons, as it splits freely and works easily. From many 

 experiments lately made, the stives made from this tree, and formed into puncheons,, 

 have been found to contain rum for a length of time ; but it is recommended to char 

 the^puncheons well inside. Sloane notices that this wood was used for the purpose of 

 making staves, in his time, and Dampier relates that the trees were used for masts to 

 ships. It has been observed that near the sea-beech the wood is very apt to be des- 

 troyed by wood-ants or worms, which is not the case in the mountains in the interior. 

 There are thought to be two sorts of it, the one with a whiter bark than the other, but 

 this may be owing tc a difference in age or scil. In the Jamaica Gazette of August 23, 

 J 766, is inserted an account of the Musquito Shore, dated from Great Blue lliver- 

 June 2-3, 1766, from which the following is extracted 



" The santa maria trees grow here, they are very high, straight, and large. The 

 wood is remarkably hard, and for a considerable time impenetrable to the worm, and. I 

 am told by a gentleman of veracity, who had planked a vessel's bottom with .this wood, 

 that the vessel had afterwards, off the west-end of Bonaco, some severe blows on a 

 rock, but was soon got off: that this timber was ot so good a quality as not to split or 

 crack, bfut the plank seemed much bruised, and to have deep impressions on it by the 

 blows received. It is said, when drv, to be rather lighter than the mahogany manu- 

 factured here. Another good quality ascribed to the santa maria is, that an iron nail 

 will never rust in the wood, of which there grows a sufficient quantity to supplv the 

 British navy with, mere durable plank than oak, or that of any other hitherto in use with 

 Europeans." 



Bastard mamee or santa maria trees are very tall, and very straight, growing to fifty 

 cr sixty^ some to oigtitv, feet high j they are very tough, and therefore made use of 



for 



