SAPIUM. 



SAPIUM. 



Flowers monoacious. $ . Calyx 2-fid. Stamens 2. $ . 

 Calyx 3-toothed. Style 3-fid. Capsule 3-coccous. A. de J. 



387. S. aucuparium Willd. sp. pi. iv. 572. Jacq. amer. 249. 

 t. 158. — Hippomane biglandulosa Linn. sp. pi. 1431. (Pluk. 

 t. 229. f. 8.) — Woods of Carthagena. 



A tree 30 feet high. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, serrate, with 

 an intermixture of larger and rounder teeth, coriaceous, shining, about 

 6 inches long. Spikes terminal, lax, thick, green, about 6 inches long, 

 male above, female below. Males about 14, clustered, sessile, with 2 

 oblong, obtuse, large, flattish, greenish-yellow glands at their base. 

 Females solitary, with 2 similar glands at their base. Calyx of both 

 sexes dark purple. — The inspissated juice furnishes a kind of bird-lime, 

 which is venomous. The vapours from this juice highly dangerous, 

 producing erysipelatous inflammation. 



388. S. indicum Willd. iv. 572. Roxb. fi. ind. iii. 692. — 

 (Rheede iv. t. 61.) — Delta of the Ganges. 



Leaves alternate, stalked, somewhat pendulous, broad-lanceolate, 

 serrate, smooth, of a deep shining green, 2-4 inches long, and broad in 

 proportion ; stipules small, deciduous. Male flowers on terminal, 

 cylindrical catkins. Scales glandular, 3-4-flowered. Calyx 3-parted ; 

 divisions somewhat cordate, expanding. Corolla 0. Filaments longer 

 than the calyx ; anthers ovate. Female flowers at the base of the 

 catkins often solitary. Calyx from 3 to 4-parted. Corolla 0. Styles 

 3-cleft, divisions entire, and recurved ; stigma enlarged. Capsule, or nut 

 globular, of the size of a nutmeg, 3-celled, 6-valved, thick and exceed- 

 ingly hard. Seed solitary, affixed by the apex, oval, smooth. — Juice 

 highly poisonous. Seeds used for intoxicating fish. 



HIPPOMANE. 



Flowers monoecious. $ . Calyx turbinate, 2-fid. Stamens 2. 

 ? . Calyx 3-parted. Style 1. Stigmas 7. Fruit fleshy, con- 

 taining a 7-celled nut. A. de J. 



389. H. Mancinella Linn, sp.pl. 1431. Jacq. amer. 250. t. 159. 

 — (Sloane ii. 1. 159. Comm. hort. i. t. 68.) — Sea coast of the 

 West India islands, and neighbouring continent. 



A very large tree. Leaves ovate, serrate, acute, shining ; their stalk 

 with a roundish, depressed, brownish gland. Spikes terminal, lax, 

 green, erect. Male flowers about 30, collected in a concave scale-like 

 deciduous bract, having 2 lateral, orbicular, depressed, large glands at 

 the base. Females solitary, sessile, with similar glands at the base. 

 Fruit very like a little apple, with a white milky flesh. — The whole 

 tree abounds in a white, caustic, venomous juice. A drop of it on the 

 back of the hand, produces instantaneously like a fire, a blister. All 

 the other parts are acrid in a similar manner. It is uncertain whether 

 sleeping in its shade is so dangerous as popular rumour represents. 

 Jacquin doubts if the stories of land-crabs fed on the fruit becoming 

 poisonous can be true. 

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