418 TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Futjnru. 



sembled to settle disputes, &c. and maun, means irons of tbe 

 largest size. Under the shade of this tree the I Jill people as- 

 semble to examine, agitate, and determine their matters of 

 public concern, deliver discourses, &c. 



It is a very large tree, n native o< the mountainous parts 

 of the coast. I. cures deciduoos during the cold season ; they 

 come put again, with the flowers about the beginning of the 

 hot season. 



Trunk straight. Bark corky, deeply cracked, slight gray. 

 Brunches numerous, spreading to a great extent Prickles 

 very numerous, scattered over every part of the tree, small, 

 very sharp, incurved ; on the old wood they acquire a coni- 

 cal solid base. Leaves about the extremities of the branch- 

 It K abruptly pinnate, from twelve to twenty inches long 1 . 

 Leaflets opposite, from eight to sixteen pairs, short petioled, 

 oblong or lanceolate, waved, attenuated to a narrow point, 

 entire, smooth, about five or six inches long - , and two broad, 

 all nearly equal in size, with nerves which divide them un- 

 eoually, the exterior division being- twice as broad as the in- 

 terior. Petioles round, smooth, a little channelled. Stipules 

 none. Panicles terminal, and from the exterior arils, fre- 

 quently cross armed, particularly the extreme ramifications. 

 Peduncles and jtedicels smooth, sometimes compressed. 

 Brachs minute, falling. Flowers very minute, yellow. Ca- 

 lyx four- leaved. Filaments shorter than the petals. Style 

 thick, length of the filaments. Stigma tapering. Capsule 

 round, size of a pea, dry, one-celled, two-valved; seed one, 

 round, glossy black. 



Obs. The nnripe capsules are like small berries, they are 

 gratefully aromatic, and taste like the skin of a fresh orange* 

 The ripe seeds taste exactly like black pepper, but weaker; 

 from this circumstance 1 conceive this may be F. Piperita, 

 yet I have always found the leaflets entire. The bark. I 

 mean the inner lamina, is also acrid, with a mixture of 

 bitter. 



