78 [August, 1844. 



Dr. Zantzinger called the attention of the Society to the specimen 

 of milky fluid or juice derived from the Cow tree of S. America, 

 which had been presented at the last stated meeting by a lady of this 

 city. As this was a substance of peculiar interest, and the opportunity 

 of obtaining or of seeing it here very rarely occurred, he stated that he 

 had, on these accounts, been induced to collect from various sources 

 some information relating to it, which he would now present to the 

 Society. Most of the facts had been obtained from Curtis' Botanical 

 Magazine, Vol. 13, new series. 



The tree affording this milk is a native of Venezuela, and was 

 first discovered by Humboldt in the year 1802, and was believed 

 by him to be peculiar to the Corderilla of the shore, between a plan- 

 tation called Barbula and the Lake of Maracay bo, a district of country 

 extending from the 65th to the 71st degree W. Longitude, and from 

 the 9th to the 11th degree N. Latitude. It grows in situations elevated 

 probably from 3000 to 4000 feet above the level of the sea, and in 

 a temperature of which the annual mean is from 65° to 70°. It is 

 called by the natives Palo de Vaca, and is highly prized by them. 



The true botanical character of this plant is not yet accurately 

 determined. Its flowers having never been seen by botanists, 

 the class and order to which it belongs cannot therefore be ascer- 

 tained. The fruit is known, and has been figured and described. 

 By some it has been considered as a species of Brosimum, by others 

 as belonging to the natural family Sapotese ; but it is now generally 

 regarded as a new genus, to which the name Galactodendron, ori- 

 ginally suggested by Humboldt, has been applied. Its generic cha- 

 racters are given by Kunth, in his ' Synopsis Plant: iEquinoc:' 

 He places it among the Urticece, and has called it Galactodendron 

 utile. The fruit is a monosperm, contained in a green covering or 

 rind, and as represented in Curtis' Botanical Magazine, is not unlike 

 in size and shape the fruit of the Hickory or Walnut. 



Humboldt's description of this tree is to be found in his c Relation 

 Historique,' Vol. 2. He states that, while on his route, for some 

 weeks he had heard much of a tree called the Cow tree, whose 

 juice is a nourishing milk, and that the natives regarding it as such, 

 consumed large quantities of it. This was to him an extraordinary 

 fact, as almost all lactescent vegetable fluids are unpalatable, and 

 more or less poisonous. 



He found, however, that the statements he had received were not 



