23 



fcthiopicum of the shops. Xylopia sericea, a large tree found in forests 

 near Rio Janeiro, where it is called Pinda'iba, bears a highly aromatic fruit, 

 with the flavour of pepper, for which it may be advantageously substituted. 

 Its bark is tough, and readily separated into fibres, from which excellent 

 cordage is manufactured. Plantes Usuelles, no. 33. Of other species the 

 fruit is succulent and eatable, containing a sugary mucilage, which predo- 

 minates over the slight aromatic flavour that they produce. Of this kind are 

 the Custard Apples of the East and West Indies, the Cherimoyer of Peru, 

 and others. In Asimina triloba an acid is present of a very active nature, 

 according to Duhamel ; but this is not certain. The Anona sylvatica, called 

 Araticu do mato, in Brazil, has a light white wood, very fit for the use of 

 turners, and for the same purposes as the lime-tree of Europe. Its fruit is 

 described as good for the dessert. Plantes Usuelles, 29. The wood of the 

 root of A. palustris is employed in Brazil for corks. lb. 30. The Indians 

 on the Orinoco, particularly in Atures and Maypura, have an excellent 

 febrifuge, called Frntta de Burro, which is the fruit of Uvaria febrifuga. 

 Humboldt, Cinch. Forests, p. 22. Eng. ed. 

 Examples. Anona, Unona, Guatteria. 



XIV. MYRISTICEiE. The Nutmeg Tribe. 



Myristice^, R. Broivn, Prodr. 399. (1810.) 



Diagnosis. Apetalous dicotyledons, with dioecious flowers, a 3-lobed 

 calyx, ruminated albumen, and columnar stamens. 

 Anomalies. 



Esst:ntial Character. — Flowers dioecious, with no trace of a second sex. Caly.v 

 trifid, with valvular aestivation. Males. Filame^its completely united in a cylinder. An- 

 thers 3-12, definite, 2-celled, turned outwards, and bursting longitudinally; either connate 

 or distinct. FEsrALES. Calyx deciduous. Ovary superior, sessile, with a single erect 

 ovulum ; style very short ; stigma somewhat lobed. Fruit baccate, dehiscent, 2-valved. 

 Seed nut-like, enveloped in a many-parted arillus ; albumen ruminate, between fatty and 

 fleshy ; embryo small ; cotyledons foliaceous ; radicle inferior ; plumula conspicuous Tropi- 

 cal trees, often yielding a red juice. Leaves alternate, without stipulae, not dotted, quite 

 entire, stalked, coriaceous ; usually, when full grown, covered beneath with a close down. 

 Inflorescence axillary or terminal, in racemes, glomerules, or panicles ; the flowers each with 

 one short cucullate bractea. Calyx coriaceous, mostly downy outside, with the hairs some- 

 times stellate, smooth in the inside R. Br. chiefly. 



Affinities. Usually placed, on account of their apetalous flowers, in 

 the vicinity of Laurinese, from which they are distinguished by the structure 

 of their calyx, anthers, and fruit ; perhaps more nearly allied to Anonaceae, 

 on account of their 3-lobed calyx, — a remarkable peculiarity in Dicotyledons, 

 — their ruminated albumen, minute embryo, and sensible properties. Mr. 

 Brown places them between Proteacece and Laurinese, remarking, that they 

 are not closely akin to any other order. 



GEOGRAniY. Natives exclusively of the tropics of India and America. 



Properties. The bark abounds in an acrid juice, which is viscid and 

 stains red ; the rind of their fruit is caustic ; the arillus and albumen, the 

 former known under the name of Mace, and the latter of Nutmeg, are im- 

 portant aromatics, abounding in a fixed oil of a consistence analogous to fat, 

 which, in a species called Virola sebifera, is so copious as to be extracted 

 (>asily by immersing the seeds in hot water. The conunon Nutmeg is the 



