Guarea JSIELIACEiE 215 



DC. Prodr. l 624 (1824); Mac/. Jam. L 172; Griseh. Fl. Br. 

 W. Ind. 131. G. Vahliana A. Juss. in Mem. Mm. Hist. Nat. 282 

 (1830-1). Lauro affinis arbor foliis latioribus *tc. Shane Gat. 

 137, & Hint. ii. 24, t. \10, f. 1. Eleutheria arborea &c. Browne 

 Hist. Jam. 369. (Fig. 71.) 



Musk Wood, Alligator Wood, Wild Akee. 



FIs. Aug.-Nov. ; Wright ! " Common in Port Royal Mts. ; near Catherine's 

 Peak; St. Thomas in the East"; Macfadyenl Priori Latimer, near 

 Cinchona, J.P. 1216, Hart ! Chester Vale Road ; near Woodcutter's Gap, 

 3800 ft. ; Schwallenburg, 2000 ft. ; Grandvale, Westmoreland, 500 ft, ; 

 Mabess River ; Tyre, near Troy, 2000 ft. ; Dolphin Head ; Tom's Cave 

 Wood, Clarendon, 25()0 ft. ; Peckham Woods, Clarendon, 2500 ft. ; Harris 1 

 south end, John Crow (Blake) Mts. Harris d Britton ! Fl. Jam. 5384, 6071, 

 6288, 7039, 7040, 7065, 7700, 9484, 10,284, 10,754, 10,853, 10,960, 11,025.— 

 St. Cruz, Montserrat, Guadeloupe. 



Tree 15-40 ft. high. Leaves, petiole and rachis 3-22 cm. 1. Leaflets in 

 2-5 pairs, opposite (sometimes alternate), elliptical or lanceolate-elliptical, 

 apex often shortly acuminate, glabrous but more or less puberulous on 

 nerves beneath, bearded in axils of nerves beneath, 4-20 cm. 1. Inflorescence 

 racemose, lax-flowered, with occasional very short 2-5-flowered branches, 

 2-25 cm. 1. ; pedicels 2-4 mm. 1. Flowers white, fragrant. Calyx minutely 

 and sparsely puberulous or glabrescent, 1-3 mm. 1., subentire or 4-lobed, 

 teeth 4, minute, distant. Petals 4 or 5, more or less minutely puberulous, 

 especially towards the apex, valvate, free or adhering near base, 6-7 mm. 1., 

 oblong, apex subobtuse. Staminal tube glabrous. Ovary glabrous, sessile 

 on the short disk. Style glabrous, about as long as the ovary. Capsule 

 globular, about 2 cm. in diam., 2-4-celled with 1 seed in each cell. Seed 

 1*5 cm. 1. ; aril scarlet. 



All parts of this tree, especially the bark, have a strong smell of musk. 

 The powdered bark is said to be a good emetic. The wood is red, soft, and 

 splits easily. 



[MELIA L. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves simply pinnate or 2-3-plnnate, with 

 an odd leaflet, 2-pinnate in M. Azederach. Panicles axillary, 

 with numerous flowers. Calyx 5-6-cleft, imbricate in bud. 

 Petals 5-6, linear-spathulate, convolute, spreading. Staminal 

 tube long, slender, cut at the apex into numerous linear strips. 

 Anthers 10, sessile within the tube at apex. Disk ring-like. 

 Ovary 5-6-celled ; ovules 2, superposed, in each cell ; style long, 

 slender ; stigma capitate, 5-6-lobed. Fruit a somewhat fleshy 

 drupe ; stone 1-5-celled, with 1 seed in each cell. Seeds 

 pendulous, with foliaceous cotyledons ; endosperm scanty or 

 wanting. 



Species about 12, natives of tropical Asia and Australia, one 

 species (M. Azederach) widely subspontaneous or cultivated 

 throughout the tropics. 



M. Azederach L. Sp. PI. 384 (1753) ; CI DO. in Fl. Bras, xi' 

 pt. 1, 167, t. 50 & DC. Monog. Phan. i. 451 ; Descourt. Fl. Ant. v 

 210, t. 26 ; Bot. Mag. t. 1066 ; Cook dc Coll. in Contrih. U.S. Nat- 



