r E f.r.ow- HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. 3ll 



This tree wag mode a species of Huclsonia bv mr. Anthony Robinson, although it ap- 

 pearsfrom the following description, in his manuscript, to belong to the class decartdria; 

 he calls it Yelloio-Saunders or Mountain IV Id Olive. " Calyx a rampanuiated perianth, 

 obscurely quinquedentated, inferior, deciduous; there is no corolla; the stamens are 

 ken filaments, subulated, alternately shorter, inserted'into the base of the calyx and 

 scarcely longer than it ; anthers didymous, obiohg, erect the pistil has an inferior ob- 

 long germ, subulate style, as long as me stamens, and acute stigma ; the pericarp is a 

 sub'- ovate smooth drupe, six-angled, unilocular; the seed an ovate-oblong nut, furrowed 

 kexaniiiilar. The negroes of Liguaneacall this tree Negressee, and use the decoction of 

 its bark to cure venereal taints. It is a beautiful arborescent, an 1 grows to the height of 

 sixty or seventy feet, covered with an ash-coloured bark, somewhat rugged. The 

 branches spread horizontally and terminate in slender twigs, which are divided into a di- 

 chotomous or trichotomous manner. At their extremities are placed divers leaves, close 

 together, of an oblong ob-ovate form, upon short pedicels, of a shining yellowish green 

 above, little or nothing glossy beneath. In July, the buds in the centre of the leaves, 

 which are of an elegant russett, covered with a down of the s me, begin to germinate, 

 and, as these increase, the old leaves and fruit drop gradually off, and le tve a tuberculated 



1>art in the twig, on which remains the vestige of the leaves. Immediately above this, 

 >elow the new leaves, are produced from two to four simple peduncles bending down- 

 ward, placed vertically from half an inch to three-quarters of an inch in length, covered 

 with the same kind of down. At the extremities of these grow main very small flowers, 

 which, before the tups are open, look not unlike a small green black berry. The cups 

 which form the cluster being round, smooth, um\ placed close together, yet each is set 

 on a very short peduncle, tit whose base is a tril'nl bractea or stipule, covered with down 

 externally, but concave and smooth in the inside, where it embraces the peduncle. The 

 fruit is a drupe, the pulp has a bitter astringent taste ; the bark is also bitter, astringent, 

 with something balsamic intermixed. The blossoms appear the latter end of August, 

 and the fruit continues all the year, till thrown off by the young buds, it is of a dull yellow 

 colour, marked with six angles, the shell very thick, hard to break, and marked with the 

 same numbers of ridges and furrows as the fruit. It appears by its make and taste to 

 approach nearly to the Fellow Myrobalanus-oi the shops. It nearly approaches the 

 Buceras of Browne, which Linneus calls Bucida. It agrees nearly with the characters of. 

 Bucida." 



The wood of this tree is of a vellow colour, is durable, and has a close smooth grain, 

 which takes a go:; J polish ; it is frequently used to make bedsteads and other furniture, 



See Ouve-Bakk. 



YELLOW- THISTLE. ARGEMONE. 



Cl. 13, OR. X.Polyandria monogyma. NaT. or. Rhceade<v. 

 Gen. char. Calyx a three-leaved roundish perianth, leaflets roundish with a point, 

 concave, caducous; corolla six roundish petals from erect spreading, larger than 

 the calyx ; stamens numerous filiform filaments, the length of the calyx, with ob- 

 long, erect, anthers: the pistil has an ovate, five-angled germ ; no style; stigma 

 thickish, obtuse, reflex, quinquefid, permanent; the pericarp an ovate capsule, five- 

 angled, one-celled, half-valved ; seeds numerous, yery small j receptacles linear, 



fasteaed 



