476 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART II. 
high; at Scéaux, 10 years planted, and 20 ft, high ; inthe Toulon Botanic Garden, 20 years planted, 
and 12 ft. high; at Nerriéres, near Nantes, 20 years planted, and 15 ft. high, In Austria, in the 
University Botanic Garden at Vienna, 25 years planted, and 25 ft. high. 
Commercial Statistics. Plants, in London, cost from ls. to 2s. 6d. each; at 
Bollwyller, 1 franc each ; at New York, ?. 
App. I. Half-hardy ligneous Species of Sapindacee. 
Dopone*a, a genus of plants named in honour of ‘Rambrot Dodoens, author of Historia Planta- 
rum, who died in 1585, consists of nearly 30 species of green-house plants, which are chiefly natives 
of new Holland, though some of them are from the East and West Indies and South America. 
They are all shrubs, with exstipulate, simple, or pinnate leaves, and small greenish yellow flowers. 
They are not showy, but they are interesting to the botanist, as illustrating this order, and also on 
account of the ramified venation of their leaves. 
 D. viscosa L.is a native of the Caribbee Islands, where it is a shrub growing to the height of 6 ft. 
It has been in the country since 1690, and is occasionally to be met with in green-houses. It is 
highly probable that it would stand our winters against a wall, with sufficient protection. 
a D. alterndta Cunning. is anative of New Holland, and has been in cultivation since 1824. 
% D. jamaicénsis Dec., D. angustifdlia Swz., D. viscdsa Cav., is a native of the colder parts of 
Jamaica, where it grows to the height of 6 ft. ; and, being very sour and bitterish in all its parts, it 
is known there by the name of switch sorrel. It has been in our green-houses since 1810. ; 
% 2D. salicifilia Dec., D. angustifdlia Lam., is in cultivation in French gardens under the name 
of bois de reinette, and has been in our green-houses since 1820. The leaves are very narrow, 
and they are sweet-scented. It is supposed to be a native of New Holland, 
 D. latrina Sieb., D. triquetra Bot. Rep. t. 231., D. cunedta Smith, and D. aspleniifdlia Rudge, 
are all natives of New Holland, occasionally to be met with in green-houses. ‘They are generally 
cultivated in loam and peat, or in any light soil; and, when they are tried against a conservative wall, 
care should be taken that they are not overpowered at the root, or at the top, by other plants. 
CHAP. XXV. 
OF THE HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER 
MELIA‘CEA. 
1. Mélia Azedarach L., the bead tree, or Indian lilac, 
4 fig. 138.) is an old inhabitant of British green-houses, 
-and well known to all those who have travelled in Italy. 
The word Mélia is derived from mélia, the Greek name 
for the manna ash (from mé/z, honey); from a fancied 
resemblance between the leaves and those of the ash: and 
Azedartich from an Arabic word signifying a poisonous 
plant; the berries of the melia being formerly supposed 
to be poisonous. Its foliage and its spikes of flowers are 
large, the plant being remarkably showy when fully de- 
veloped ;-and it is by no means tender. It grows in its 
native country, Syria, to the height of 40 ft.; and there 
are trees of nearly that height in the neighbourhood of 
Naples. It is planted as an ornamental tree in Spain, 
Portugal, Italy, and the south of France. There are 
trees of it in the public walks at Montpelier, at Toulon, 
and in various cities in Italy. Inthe southern states of 
North America, more particularly in Carolina, it is planted 
near houses, and known there by the name of the pride 
of India; a name also given to the Lagerstrce’mia indica. 
In Greece, and along the shores of the Grecian Archipelago 
and the Mediterranean, the Mélia Azedardch is always 
planted in the area of monasteries for the sake of the nuts, 
contained in its fruits, which are made into rosaries by the j 
monks ; and hence its name of the bead tree. The fruit, which is of the size of a cherry, but more 
cylindrical, and of a pale yellow colour when ripe, was said by the Arabian physician Avicenna to be 
poisonous; and the pulp was mixed with grease, for the purpose of killing rats and dogs. According 
to Royle, however, the fruit can only be considered poisonous when used in large doses. Itis used in 
Java asa vermifuge. The nuts, which are of a brown colour, are bored, and, as already stated, strung 
as beads in Catholic countries. In Britain, the tree frequently flowers in green-houses, and sometimes 
ripens seeds : it has been tried in the open air, both as a standard and against a wall. It has stood 
through several winters, in the open air, at Biel, in East Lothian ; andat Bungay, in Suffolk, aplant, 
which had been 9 years planted against a wall, was, in 1834, 92 ft. high, the trunk 9 in. in diameter, 
and had branches extending 18 ft. on each side of the trunk. One, raised from seed in 1828, which 
has stood ever since against a wall in our garden at Bayswater, protected by a glass case during 
winter, flowered in 1835. In the warmest parts of Devonshire and Cornwall, it might be treated as 
a standard tree. Plants are generally raised from seeds; and they may be procured in the London 
nurseries at 2s. each; at Bollwyller, for 1 franc and 50 cents; and at New York, for 25 cents a 
plant, and 1 dollar a quart of seeds. 4 
~ *¢ 2. M. sempervirens Swz., the crareyeee Melia, or Bead Tree, known in the West Indies by 
the name of the Indian lilac, is said to be a tree growing to the height of about 25 ft. It has been 
in our green-houses since 1656; and is by some considered as only a variety of M. Azedardch. . 
