688 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



Order. — Trees or shrubs, often having a milky juice. Leaves 

 alternate, simple, entire, coriaceous, exstipulate. Flowers 

 hermaphrodite. Calyx 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 ana- 

 tropous ovule in each cell; style 1. Fruit fleshy. Seeds large, 

 with a shining bony testa; embryo large, usually in albumen, 

 and with a short radicle. 



Distribution, ^c. — Natives chiefly of the tropical parts of 

 Asia, Africa, and America. Examples : — Chrysophyllum, 

 Achras, Isonandra, Bassia. There are 21 genera, and 212 

 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Many species yield edible fruits. 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 characters to caoutchouc. 



Chrysophyllum. — The fruit of C. Cainito is known under the name of the 

 Star-apple. It is much esteemed. Other species of Chrysophyllum also 

 yield edible fruits. C. Buranheim yields an astringent bark called Monesia 

 bark, which has been much employed in France and Germany. It contains 

 an acrid principle called monesine, which is analogous to saponine. Monesine 

 has been also employed as a medicinal agent. 



Lucuma — Several species yield edible fruits. The kernels of L. mam- 

 niosa are said to yield an abundance of hydrocyanic acid. 



Achras. — Several species of this genus yield dessert fruits. That of A. 

 Sapota is the Sapodilla Plum ; that of A. mamviusa, the Marmalade. 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, &c. The bark of 

 several other species has been also employed as a substitute for Cinchona. 

 Achras or Sapota Mullen', a native of Guiana and (Jentral America, yields a 

 kind of Gutta Percha. called Balalas. Some has been recently brought to this 

 country for investigation of its merits. It is said to be of good quality. 



Isonandra Gutta, the Gutta Percha or Taban-tree.— This is a native of 

 Singapore, Borneo, and other Malay Islands. From this and other species of 

 Isonandra, the valuable substance called Gutta Percha is obtained. Dr. 

 Seemann st.ites, that the I. Gutta has become almost extinct. 



Bassia.--The ripe kernels of B. tatifolia and those of B. longifolia, the El- 

 loopa-tree, yield fatty oils whicn are much employed in India, tor lamps, for 

 culmary purposes, in soap making, and externally in cutaneous affections. 

 The flowers and fruits serve as food to man and other animals ; and the flowers 

 by distillation yield an f.lcoholic spirit, which is in much ret)ute in some dis- 

 tricts. The flowers of B. longifolia, under the name of Elloopa have been 

 recently imported into London. The wood of B. longi/olia and others is hard 

 and durable, and the bark and leaves are used in medicine. The Shea or 

 Galam butter of African travellers is said to be yielded by another species of 

 Bassia. 



Mi?nusops.— The fruit of several species is employed as a dessert; that of M. 

 Elengi is the Surinam Medlar. The fruit of M. Kaki is much eaten in India. 

 It has an astringent bark. The seeds of some species yield useful oils. 



Natural Order 143. Styracace^. — The Storax Order. 

 — Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate. 

 Flowers axillary. Calyx inferior, or sujicrior, 4 — 5-partcd, 

 or almost entire, persistent. Corolla of 5 — 10 petals, cither 



