600 BOWMAN— ECOLOGY AND 



in the forehead, it is really a splendid remedy first discovered by 

 the fishermen and given to us by them." 



This old chronicler cannot forbear mentioning the honor bestowed 

 on him by Bauhin in naming a fig tree for him and says, "J. Bauhin, 

 who otherwise is not accustomed to be sparing in the subdividing 

 of species, classifies this tree as similar to that famous Indian fig 

 called the Tree of Ray." Among other observations, Ray mentions 

 the yellow tetramerous blossoms as having a honey-like odor and he 

 also is the first to mention the efflorescence of salt on the foliage, for 

 he says : " When the sun shines the leaves of this tree contain a 

 very white salt on their upper surfaces, but when the sky is cloudy, 

 or at night the salt is dissolved and clings like dew, but in the day 

 time being dry and very white it can be collected with the fingers, 

 and from two or three leaves enough can be secured to salt one's 

 broth." As food for animals, Ray says : " Doves and other flying 

 creatures feed on it when there is a lack of better food and from 

 them (the fruits) the flesh of the doves gets so bitter as scarcely 

 to be edible." And in addition to its tanning abilities, the writer 

 says — " it is used daily by the fishermen for dying their nets." 



Plukenet, 1669,^^ described Rhiso phora hrlefiy: "Mangle arbor 

 Pyrifoliis salsis and uliginosis locis in America proveniens ; fructu 

 oblongo tereti, summis ramis radicola." He named it the swamp 

 mangrove tree and it is in his writings that it is first called the oyster 

 tree. He quotes Lobez and says also it is called mangu in the 

 Moluccas. 



Dampier, 1697,-^ and Gomara-'"* both have noted it in their travels 

 and given short descriptions, which are copied by other writers. 



Plumier, 1703,-* mentions it as one of the new genera recently 

 found in America and quotes Piso as the author of the genus. In 

 his description Plumier says the pistil ripens into a turbinate fruit, 

 which sends out a long fusiform seed with its head buried in the 

 fruit. This is the closest observance of the true viviparous nature 

 of the seedling in any of the literature noted thus far. Plumier's 



21 Plukenet, L., " Almagesta Bot.," p. 241, 1769. 



22 Dampier, W., " A New Voyage Around the World," 1697. 



23 Gomara, B. A., cf. Sloan. 



2* Plumier, C., " Nov. Plant. Amer. Gen. Mangles," p. 13, tab. 15, 1703. 



