BOMBACE^:. V. POURRETIA. VI. MONTEZUMA. VII. OPHELUS. VIII. ADANSONIA. 



509 



and the warmer parts of Peru. A tall tree with stalked, cor- 

 date, 7-nerved, entire, smooth leaves ; and drooping, aggregate 

 bundles of flowers, which are rose-coloured on the inside and 

 silky on the outside, rising from the sides of the branches. 



Cordate-leaved. Matisia. Tree 30 to 40 feet. 



Cult. A light rich soil will suit this tree well, and half-ripened 

 cuttings taken off at a joint and planted in sand under a hand- 

 glass will root freely, if placed in heat. 



V. POURRETIA (in honour of Abbe Pourret, a French 

 botanist who travelled in Spain; author of several botanical 

 papers in the Memoirs of the -Royal Academy of Toulouse). 

 \Villd. spec. 3. p. 844. D. C. prod. 1. p. 477. Cavanillesia, 

 Ruiz, et Pav. fl. per. p. 26. 



LIN. SYST. Monadelphia, Polyandria. Calyx naked, 5- 

 parted, campanulate, permanent. Petals 5. Stamens joined in 

 a cylinder at the base but divided into 5 bundles at the top. 

 Stigma capitate. Capsules 1 -celled, indehiscent, somewhat 

 coriaceous, with 5 large, leafy wings ; cells 1 -seeded, many, 

 usually aborthe. Cotyledons twisted, chrysalus-like. Corr. 

 ann. mus. 9. p. 293. t. 26. Trees with 5-7-lobed deciduous 

 leaves, and umbels of flowers rising before the leaves. 



1 P. ARBOREA (Willd. spec. 3. p. 844.) leaves cordate. Tj . S. 

 Native of Peru on the Andes. Cavanillesia umbellata, Ruiz, 

 et Pav. prod. p. 97. t. 20. A tree with a thick trunk bulging 

 out in the middle ; wood spongy. Flowers umbellate, red, very 

 fugacious. 



Tree Pourretia. Tree 40 feet. 



2 P. PLATANIFOLIA (H. B. pi. aequin. 2. p. 162. t. 133.) 

 leaves somewhat peltate, 5-7-lobed. fj. S. Native in the 

 province of Carthagena. Cavanillesia platanifolia, H. B. et 

 Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 306. Petals flesh-coloured, clothed 

 with rusty down on the outside. Flowers in umbels. 



Plane-tree-leaved Pourretia. Tree 60 feet. 



Cult. The species of this genus will thrive well in a mixture 

 of loam and peat ; the cuttings should not be too ripe and they 

 should be taken off at a joint ; they will then root freely in 

 sand under a hand-glass, in a moist heat. 



VI. MONTEZtTMA (in honour of Montezuma, once sove- 

 reign of Mexico). Moc. et Sesse, fl. mex. icon. ined. D. C. 

 prod. 1. p. 477. 



LIN. SYST. Monadelphia, Polyandria. Calyx naked, he- 

 mispherical, truncate, sinuately-toothed. Petals 5, somewhat 

 sinuated, large. Stamens indefinite, spirally twisted about the 

 style, in a long column which has 5 somewhat distinct furrows. 

 Style ending in a club-shaped ligulate stigma. Berry globose, 

 4-5-celled ; cells many-seeded. A large spreading tree. 



1 M. sFECiosissiMA (Moc. et Sesse, fl. mex. icon. ined. D. C. 

 prod. 1. p. 477.). Tj . S. Native of Mexico. Leaves smooth, 

 heart-shaped, acute, entire, stalked. Pedicels 1 -flowered, rising 

 from the branches beneath the leaves. Flowers large, of a 

 purplish-scarlet colour. 



Very-shemy Montezuma. Clt. 1827. Tree 40 feet. 



Cult. This very shewy tree will thrive well in a mixture of 

 loam and peat, and cuttings, not too ripe, taken off at a joint, will 

 root freely in sand under a hand-glass, in a moist heat. 



VII. OPHE V LUS (from o^tXoc, ophelos, use ; in allusion 

 to the economical use of the fruit in Cochin-china). Lour. coch. 

 p. 412. D. C. prod. 1. p. 478. 



LIN. SYST. Monadelphia, Polyandria. Calyx naked, 5- 

 cleft ; lobes acute, spreading, reflexed. Petals 5, thick. Sta- 

 mens indefinite, joined at the base into a tube, somewhat reflexed 

 at the top. Stigma multifid. Berry woody, oblong-ovate, 12- 

 celled, many-seeded. This tree is nearly allied to Adansbnia. 



1 O. SITULA' RIDS (Lour. 1. c.). ~fy . G. Native of the eastern 

 coast of Africa by the sea-shore. Adansonia situla, Spreng. 

 syst. S. p. 124. Leaves scattered, oblong, quite entire, smooth, 

 stalked. Flowers white, solitary, terminal, 3 inches in diameter. 

 The fruit is large and woody ; it has a lid which is easily 

 separated, and when cleared from the pulp and seed is used in 

 Cochin-china for holding water or any liquor. 



Bucket Ophelus. Tree 40 feet. 



Cult. Require the same treatment as Adansonia, both in 

 cultivation and propagation. 



VIII. ADANSO'NIA (in honour of Michael Adanson, a 

 French botanist and traveller at Senegal, author of Voyage de 

 Senegal and Famille des Plantes, died 1727). Lin. gen. no. 836. 

 D. C. prod. 1. p. 478. 



LIN. SYST. Monadelphia, Polydndria. Calyx naked, deci- 

 duous, 5-parted. Petals 5, joined almost to the middle. Ur- 

 ceolus of stamens expanded at the top. Style very long. 

 Stigmas many, stellate. Capsules indehiscent, woody, 10-celled; 

 cells many-seeded, filled with farinaceous pulp about the seeds. 

 A spreading tree with a thick spongy trunk, palmate leaves, 

 with 3 leaflets in the young plants, but 5-7 on the adult ones, 

 and large, white flowers with purplish anthers, on long axillary 

 solitary pedicels. 



1 A. DIGITA'TA (Lin. spec. 960.). Tj . S. Native of the western 

 coast of Africa. Cav. diss. 5. p. 298. t. 15. Lam. ill. t. 588. 

 Hook, hot. mag. t. 2791 and 2792. A. Baobab, Gam. fr. 2. 

 p. 253. 1. 135 Baobab. Alp. segyp. 66. t. 67. 



This tree is called in many parts on the western coast of 

 Africa Monkey-bread, Sour-gourd, and Bahobab in Egypt. It 

 is considered the largest or rather the broadest, tree in the 

 world. Several trees measured by M. Adanson were from 65 

 to 78 feet in circumference, but very low in proportion. The 

 trunks were from 12 to 15 feet high before they divided into 

 many horizontal branches, which touched the ground at their 

 extremities ; these were from 45 to 55 feet long, and were so 

 large, that each branch was equal to a monstrous tree ; and where 

 the water of a neighbouring river had washed away the earth, 

 so as to leave the roots of one of these trees bare and open to 

 the sight, they measured 110 feet long, without including those 

 parts of the roots which remained covered. Adanson calcu- 

 lates as follows. That a tree of 



1 year old is 1^ inch in diameter and 5 inches in height. 



20 do. 1 foot do. 15 do. 



30 do. 2 do. do. 22 do. 



100 do. 4 do. do. 29 do. 



1000 do. 14 do. do. 58 do. 



2400 do. 18 do. do. 64 do. 



5150 do. 30 do. do. 73 do. 



The tree arrives at a great age, whence it has been called arbre 

 de mille ans, and whence too Humboldt has been led to speak 

 of it as the " oldest organic monument of our planet." The tree 

 yields a fruit which resembles a gourd, and which serves for 

 vessels of various uses ; the bark furnishes a coarse thread 

 which they form into ropes, and into a cloth, with which the 

 natives cover their middle from the girdle to the knees ; the 

 small leaves supply them with food in a time of scarcity, while 

 the large ones are used for covering their houses. The dried 

 leaves, reduced to a powder, constitute halo, a favourite article 

 with the natives of the eastern coast of Africa, and which they 

 mix daily with their food, for the purpose of diminishing the 

 excess of perspiration occasioned by the heat of those climates ; 

 even Europeans find it serviceable in cases of diarrhoea, fevers, 

 and other diseases. At Sierra Leone this tree does not grow 

 larger than a comir.on apple-tree. The wood is spongy, soft, 



