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Of fuch as have their Flower 



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very thick, on oblong fupporters 



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and covered with their membranous Cafes that jail 



grow more perfect. 



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OILOTAPALUS i. Ramis excavatis, foliis amplis felt at is at que iobatis. 

 Yarruma Oviedo, &c. Slo. Cat. 45. & H. t. 88, & 89. 

 Ficus Surinamenfis multifido Jolio, &c. Pk. Phy. t. 243, f. 5. 

 Amboiba Plumeri 3 '& Gacirma Mart. 562. 



The Trumpet- tree, and Snake- wood. 



This tree grows in moil of the woody parts of the Ifland, where the foil is Ioofe 

 and free j and rifes commonly to a confiderable height, being feldom under thirty-five 

 or forty feet in the moll: perfect flate: The trunk and branches are hollow everywhere, 

 and flopped fromfpace to ipacewith membranous Septa?, which anfwer fo many light 

 annular marks in the furface. It fhootsboth its leaves and fruit in the fame manner ; 

 and each, while young, is covered with a membranous conick cap, which falls off from 

 the bafe without fplitting, as they acquire a certain degree of perfection. The 

 leaves are large, round, and lobedj and furnifhed with a white down underneath : the 

 fruits rife four, five, or more, from the very top of a common foot flalk j and fhoot 

 into fo many oblong cylindric berries, compofed of a numberlefsferies of little aflini, 

 fomething like our ilrawberry or rafpberry, which they alfo refemble very much in 

 flavor, when ripe, and are very agreeable to mofl European palates on that account. 



The Botanic characters of this plant, as nearly as I could make them out, are as 



follow, vi 



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Periantium Commune. Spatha conicce baft defidua. 



Receptaculum. Spadix quadri vel pluri brachiatus, brachiis fimplicibus ob- 



longis, cylandraceiS) acini s 'minor i bus numerofis refertis, quce 



etate crefcu?it~& abeunt in tot idem baccas acinofas dulces- 



Partes propria getter at io?iis fie videntur, 



Periantium. Singulo brachio fpadicis incidunt caliculi numerof, carno/i, mi- 

 nimi germina tot idem invohentes. 



Corolla. Corollula minima infundibidiformis y limbo ampliato antheris numerofis 



minutijjimis referto. 

 Piflillum. Germenovatum calicula inchifum, &c. 

 Recept. commune. Br achium fibrojum fpadicis, acini s b ace at is refertijfimum. 



The wood of this tree, when dry, is very apt to take fire, which it frequently does 

 y attrition} and lias been, for this reafon,much in ufe among the native Indians t who 

 always ufed to kindle their fires in the woods by thefe means. The bark is flrong and 

 fibrous, and frequently ufed for all forts of cordage : the fruit is very delicate, and 

 much fed upon by the pigeons and other birds, who by this means fpread and pro- 

 pagate the tree in all parts of the ifland: and the fmaller branches, when cleared of 



the Septa, ferve for wind inftruments, and are frequently heard many miles among 

 thofe echoing mountains -, they yield an agreeable hollow found: I have feen fome cut 

 and holed in the form of a German flute, and have not been difpleafed with their 

 notes. The trunks are very light, and the moft appropriated timber for bark-logs, 

 where fuch conyeniencies are ufed ; which is often the cafe among the poorer fort of 



people. 



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