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LXXVI. CHRYSOBALANE^. The Cocoa-Plum Tribe. 



ChrysobalanE/F,, R. Brown, in Tuckey^s Voyage to the Congo, App. (1818) ; Dec. 

 Prodr. 2.525. a sect, o/ Rosacese (1825); Reichenb. Conspectus, 17 1. « sect, of 

 Onagraria;, (1828.) 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with a superior solitary ova- 

 rium, having a style proceeding from its base, irregular perigynous petals 

 and stamens, a drupaceous fruit adhering obliquely to the calyx, exalbu- 

 minous definite erect seeds, and alternate stipulate simple leaves. 



Anomalies. Hirtella has fleshy albumen and leafy cotyledons, accord- 

 ing to Gsertner ; and one species of the same genus is described as apetalous. 

 Cycnia has a semipetaloid irregular calyx and no petals. 



Essential Character Calyx 5-lobed, sometimes bracteolate at the base. Petals 



more or less irregular, either 5 or none. Stamens either definite or indefinite, usually 

 irregular either in size or position. Ovarhim superior, solitary, 1- or 2-celled, cohering 

 more or less on one side with the calyx ; ovula twin, erect ; style single, arising from the 

 base ; stigma simple. Fruit a drupe of 1 or 2 cells. Seed usually solitary, erect. Emt/ryo 

 •with fleshy cotyledons, and no albumen. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, 

 stipulate, with no glands, and veins that run parallel with each other from the midrib to 

 the margin. Flowers in racemes, or panicles, or corymbs. 



Affinities. The obvious affinity of this order is with Amygdaleae, 

 from which it differs in having irregular stamens and petals, and a style 

 proceeding from the base of the ovarium. With Rosacese, to which Chry- 

 sobalanese have a strict relation, they agree in the same manner as Amyg- 

 dalese, excepting the characters just pointed out. To Leguminosse, with 

 drupaceous fruit, they approach closely in the irregularity of their stamens 

 and corolla, and especially in the cohesion which takes place between the 

 stalk of the ovarium and the sides of the calyx; a character found, as M. 

 DecandoUe well remarks, in Jonesia and Bauhinia, undoubted leguminous 

 plants : they are distinguished from this latter order by the position of their 

 style and ovula, and by the relation which is borne to the axis of inflores- 

 cence by the odd lobe of the calyx being the same as is found in Rosaceas. 

 Brown remarks {Congo, 434), that the greater part of the order has the 

 flowers more or less irregular, and that the simple ovarium of Parinarium 

 has a dissepiment in some degree analogous to the movable dissepiment of 

 Banksia and Dryandra; but we now know, from the more recent observa- 

 tions of this learned botanist upon the ovuluni, that this dissepiment arises 

 differently. The analogy of structure, as to the dissepiment of Parinarium, 

 is to be sought in Amelanchier. 



Geography. These plants are principally found in the tropical regions 

 of Africa and America : none are recorded as natives of Asia ; but there is 

 reason to believe, from specimens of large trees seen in the forests of India, 

 without flowers or fruit, by Dr. Wallich, that one or two species of Parina- 

 rium are indigenous in equinoctial Asia; and my genus Cycnia, founded 

 upon a spiny plant from Nipal {Wall. Cat. Herb, hid.), is apparently 

 referable to this order. One species of Chrysobalanus is found as far to the 

 north as the pine-barrens of Georgia in North America; a climate, however, 

 as in all the regions bounding the Gulf of Mexico on the north, much more 

 heated than that of most other countries in the same parallel of latitude. 

 Properties. No medicinal properties have been ascril)ed to Chryso- 

 balanea:. The fruit of Chrysobalanus Icaco is eaten in the West Indies, 

 under the name of the cocoa-plum; another is brought to market in Sierra 

 Leone (C. luteus) ; and the Rough-skinned, or Gray, plum of the same colony 



