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Pericarpium. Bacca fucculenta globofa hi /ocularis. 

 Semina Orbiculato-reniformia, leniter comprejfa, folitaria. 



and feldom above eight or ten inches in diameter 5 tho' you may fometimes 



'i he tops of the trees are generally pretty much 







This tree grows naturally almoft every where in Jamaica ; and is now cultivated, 

 with grc.it care, in many parts of the ifland, where it is planted in regular walks. The 

 trees begin to bear in three years after they are firft planted, but are not perfect under 

 feven; and then they begin to pay the labour beftowed upon them very abundantly. 

 They thrive bed in thofe rocky lands, that can be hardly put to any other ufe; 

 but they alio grow very luxuriantly, and bear very plentifully, in every rich mould 

 that (lands upon a gravelly bottom j and feldom fail the expectation, be they planted 

 where they will. The root is branched, and fpreading; the trunk fmooth and 

 fhort, 



meet with fome above fourteen. 



divided, and rife in clofe tufts: the leaves and bark are very warm, and full of 

 aromatic particles, which makes them extremely cautious of fire, in all Pimento- 

 walks, where, if it mould once catch, it runs with great fury. 



When the berries arrive to a full growth, they are picked: (but this muft be 

 done before they begin to ripen) they are then dried in the fun, upon barbicues or 

 boarded floors, raifed a little from the ground, and edged, and divided into four 

 or more lodges ; that each may contain a day's picking. During the firft and fecond 

 day, they are turned very often, to expofe them the more to the fun 3 but 

 when they begin to dry, they are frequently winnowed, and put into meets, that 

 they may be the more eafily preferved from the dew or rain j ft ill expofing them to 

 the fun every day, until they are fufficiently dried, which is known by the colour, 

 and the rattling of the feeds in the berries; and then they are put up in bags, or 

 hogfheads, for the market. Such of the berries as come to full maturity, do t 

 like many other feeds, lofe that aromatic warmth for which they are efteemed, 

 and acquire a tafte perfectly like that of Juniper-berries ; which renders them a very- 

 agreeable food for the birds, the mod induftrious planters of thele trees. 



Some of thefe trees are frequently obferved to be barren, which has introduced 

 a notion among the people of Jamaica, of their being male and female trees, in 

 general ; and that fome of the male, or barren trees, were requifite in every walk; 

 which, as they are commonly many, is a vaft detriment. It is, however, certain 

 that all thofe I have obferved, were hermaphrodites: and I am credibly informed 

 that thofe they call males, when lopped and broke like the reft, for one or two years, 

 do bear very well : which I am the more apt to believe, as I have never obferved a 

 diftinct male or a female flower on any of them. 



The berries of this tree have an agreeable aromatic and fubaftringent tafte, which 

 recommends them beyond any other fpice, both in the kitchen and the (hop. We 

 now have a delicate aromatic oil diftilled from them, which anfwers all the purpo- 

 fes, for which the oils of cinnamon and cloves have been generally ufed ; and is 

 thought to be rather better than either, as it joins an aftringency to its warmth. All 

 the parts of the tree are more or lefs aromatic and fubaftringent -, but the leaves feem 

 to abound moft in volatile warm particles. 





CARYOPHYLLUS 3. Fruticofus y foliis lanceolatis oppofitis, jloribus geminatis 



atari bus. Tab. 25. f. 3. 



The narrow-leafed Caryophyllus. 



This is a very beautiful little fhrub, and rifes commonly to the height of three or 



anfwers the characters of the genus in every part of 



four feet, fometimes more 



he flower and fr 



but does not (hew the leaft warmth in the tafte. I had it from 



Mr. Robert/on, a furgeon, in Clarendon^ who found it growing in that parifti 



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MAMMEA 



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