SAPOTACEA. 609 
some writers to form a distinct order, the AZEGICERACE&. These inhabit 
sea-shores in tropical regions, and their seeds germinate while the fruits are 
still attached to the plant, and send their roots down into the mud, like 
Mangroves. The genus giceras. Girtn., differs from Myrsinacee in its 
anthers dehiscing transversely ; in having follicular fruit ; and in the seeds 
being without albumen. Bentham and Hooker combine it with Myrsinaceer ; 
and hence it is so placed here. 
.Cohort 3. EHbenales.—Stamens epipetalous, equal in number to, 
and opposite, the lobes of the corolla or separate petals ; or 
more numerous. Ovary more than 1-celled; placentation 
axile. Fruit fleshy. Seeds 1 or few, large. “Trees or shrubs ; 
leaves alternate. 
Order 1. SaporacEs, the Sapota Order.—Character.— 
Trees or shrubs, often having a milky juice. Leaves alternate, 
simple, entire, coriaceous, exstipulate. Flowers small, herma- 
phrodite. Calyx inferior, usually with 5, or sometimes with 
4—8 divisions, persistent. Corolla with as many divisions as 
the calyx, or twice or thrice as many. Stamens definite, in a 
single row, half of them sterile and alternating with the fertile 
ones, the latter being opposite to the segments of the corolla; 
anthers commonly extrorse. Ovary 4—12-celled, with a solitary 
anatropous ovule in each cell; style 1. Frwt fleshy. Seeds 
large, with a shining bony testa; embryo large, usually in albu- 
men, and with a short radicle. 
Distribution and Numbers.—Natives chiefly of the tropical 
parts of Asia, Africa, and America. Illustrative Genera :— 
Chrysophyllum, Linn.; Isonandra, Wight; Bassia, Kdénig. 
There are about 220 species. 
Properties and Uses.—Many species yield edible fruits ; others 
are valuable timber trees. The seeds of several contain a fatty 
oil. Some have bitter astringent febrifugal barks, and the milky 
juices of others yield a substance analogous in its general cha- 
racters to caoutchouc or india-rubber. 
Achras.—Several species of this genus yield dessert fruits; thus the 
fruit of A. Sapota is the Sapodilla Plum; that of A. mammosa, the Marma- 
lade.—Achras Sapota has also a febrifugal bark, and diuretic and aperient 
seeds. Its wood is called Bully-tree Wood or Black Bully. This has a 
greenish colour, and is very hard. It is imported, and used for ship- 
building, and other purposes. (See Mimusops.) The bark of several other 
species has been also employed as a substitute for Cinchona. 
Argania Sideroxylon.—From the seeds of this species a valuable oil may 
be obtained. 
Bassia.—The ripe kernels of B. latifolia and those of B. longifolia, the 
Elloopa-tree, yield fatty oils which are much employed in India, for lamps, 
culinary purposes, and for soap-making; and externally in cutaneous affec- 
tions. The flowers of B, longifolia, under the name of Elloopa, have been 
imported into London. These flowers are used as food, and also yield an 
alcoholic spirit which is in much repute in some parts of India. The 
wood of B. longifolia and others is hard and durable, and the bark and 
leaves are used in medicine. From the seeds of B. butyracea a concrete oil 
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