254 ocTANDRJA MONOGYNIA. Pieravdia. 



axillary, short, downy, many flowered. Flowers small, 

 greenish-white, pedicelled. Calyx inferior, five-leaved; 

 leaflets oval, downy, spreading. Petals five, very like the 

 calyx. Nectary a large, fleshy green, ten-notched, ten- 

 grooved ring, surrounding the lower half of the germ. Fila- 

 ments ten, rather shorter than the petals, inserted between 

 the nectary and petals. Anthers cordate. Germ superior, 

 woolly, five-grooved, five-celled, with one ovula in each, 

 attached to the upper end of the axis. Style erect, short. 

 Stigma slightly five-lobed. Drupe size of a pullet's eg^, 

 five-grooved, covered with a smooth, light grey, dry cor- 

 tex. Pulp very like soft soap, exceedingly bitter, hav- 

 ing an offensive greasy smell. Nut exceedingly hard, one- 

 celled, one-seeded. 



The nut is employed in fire works. A small hole is 

 drilled in it, at which the kernel is extracted, and being 

 filled with powder, and fired, bursts with a very loud re- 

 port, so exceedingly hard is the nut ; I know no other 

 use to which any part of this shrub is put. 



PIERARDIA. R. 



Calyx feur-leaved. Corol none. Germ superior, four- 

 celled ; cells two-seeded, attachment superior. Style 

 scarcely any. Stigma tetragonal. Berry with three or 

 four arilled seeds. Embryo inverse, and furnished with a 

 perisperm. 



P. sapida. R. 



Lutco of the Hindoos, about Tippera, &c. to the east- 

 ward of Calcutta, where the tree is indigenous. 



A few small trees are now in the Company's Botanic 

 garden at Calcutta ; they were originally from Tippera. 

 Our Chinese gardeners say it is also a native of their 

 country, where it is called Lutqua, and is cultivated for 

 its agreeable fruit, our trees are as yet small, from six 



