510 



BOMBACE^E. IX. CAROLINEA. 



and light, and is of no use as timber. In Abyssinia the wild 

 bees perforate it for the purpose of lodging their honey in the 

 holes, which honey is reckoned the best in the country. On the 

 eastern coast of Africa the tree is liable to the attack of a 

 species of fungus, which vegetates in the woody part, and which, 

 without changing its colour or appearance, destroys life, and 

 renders the part so attacked very soft. Such trunks as have been 

 so attacked are hollowed out into chambers, and within them are 

 suspended the dead bodies of those who are refused the honour 

 of burial. There they become mummies perfectly dry and 

 well preserved, without any farther preparation or embalmment, 

 and are known by the name of guiriots. The farinaceous pulp 

 enveloping the seeds tastes somewhat like gingerbread, and is 

 eaten with or without sugar by the natives. At Bangole it 

 forms the principal part of the food of the natives, who 

 season many of their dishes with it, especially a kind of gruel 

 made of corn called rooy. It was the chief support of Major 

 Pedley's expedition for 10 or 12 days. The juice, expressed and 

 mixed with sugar or a syrup made of it, is used in putrid 

 and pestilential fevers. At Cairo they reduce the pulp to a 

 powder, and use it in these disorders, in the lientery, dysentery, 

 and all sorts of fluxes. Owing to these circumstances, the fruit 

 forms an article of commerce. The Mandingos carry it to the 

 eastern and more southern parts of Africa, and through the 

 medium of the Arabs it reaches Morocco and even Egypt. If 

 the fruit is decayed or injured it is burned ; the leys are boiled 

 with rancid palm-oil, and the negroes use it instead of soap. 



Digitate-leaved Adansonia, Monkey-bread-tree, or Ethiopian 

 Sour-gourd. Fl Nov. Clt. 1724. Tree 30 feet. 



Cult. A rich loamy soil suits this tree well ; and large, 

 ripened cuttings will root in a pot of sand under a hand-glass, in 

 a moist heat. 



IX. CAROLI'NEA (in honour of Sophia Caroline, Mar- 

 chioness of Baden, a name which will be always dear to bota- 

 nists). Lin. fil. suppl. p. 51 and 314. D. C. prod. 1. p. 478. 

 Pachira, Aubl. guian. 2. p. 725. 



LIN. SYST. Monadttphia, Polydndria Calyx naked, cup- 

 shaped, truncate, permanent. Petals 5, ligulate, and very long. 

 Stamens monadelphous at the base, divided at the top into 5 or 

 more many-anthered bundles ; filaments forked, each fork bear- 

 ing two anthers, one on each filament. Style very long. Stigmas 

 5, spreading. Capsules woody, 5-valved, 5-celled, with a disse- 

 piment in the middle of each valve, but it is sometimes so narrow 

 as to make the fruit appear 1-celled, many-seeded. Seeds cover- 

 ed with a kind of fleshy aril, and sometimes with silky wool. 

 Cotyledons according to the younger Lin. are plaited. Trees 

 with palmate compound leaves and large showy flowers, which 

 are solitary in the axillae of the upper leaves. 



1 C. PRI'NCEPS (Lin. fil. suppl. FIG. 86. 



314.) leaflets 5-8, ovate-lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, smooth ; pedun- 

 cles equal with the membranous 

 campanulate calyx, which has 5 

 glands at the base ; petals recurv- 

 ed at the apex ; tube of stamens 

 much longer than the calyx. Tj . 

 S. Native of Guiana, Trinidad, 

 and Brazil, in places saturated 

 with sea water. Pachira aquatica, 

 Aubl. guian. 2. p. 725. t. 291 and 

 292. Cav. diss. 3. p. 176. t. 72. 

 f. 1. Lam. ill. t. 589. Flowers 

 large and very shewy. Petals yel- 

 low at the top, and greenish at the 

 base. Filaments red. Anthers 



purple. Perhaps Pachira nitida of H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. 

 amer. 5. p. 302 ? The fruit is eaten, but very flatulent when 

 taken raw in any quantity (f. 86.). 



Princely Carolinea. Fl. Sep. Clt. 1787. Shrub 10 feet. 



2 C. AFFI'NIS (Mart. fl. bras. 1. p. 85.) peduncles 3-times 

 longer than the cylindrical, coriaceous, thick calyx, which has 5 

 glands at the base ; petals erect ; tube of stamens much longer 

 than the calyx ; anthers linear, fixed above the base ; style to- 

 mentose at the base. Tj . S. Native of Para on the margins 

 of canals and banks of rivers. Leaves not known. Flowers 

 brownish-green on the outside, but whitish within. 



Allied Carolinea. Shrub 6 to 1 feet. 



3 C. FASTUO'SA (Moc. et Sesse, fl. mex. icon. ined. D. C. 

 prod. 1. p. 478.) leaflets 5, obovate, obtuse; calyx truncate, 

 quite entire ; petals turned back on the calyx. Tj . S. Native 

 of New Spain in moderately warm places. Xiloxochitl flore 

 capillaceo, Hern. mex. 68. icon. Flowers blood-coloured. 

 Stamens monadelphous, not polyadelphous as in the figure. 

 Leaflets emarginate at the apex, sometimes purplish. 



Disdainful Carolinea. Shrub 12 feet. 



4 C. INSI'GNIS (Swartz, fl. ind. occ. 2. p. 1202.) leaflets 5-7, 

 obovate-oblong ; calyx sinuated, smooth ; petals erect, spreading 

 at the top ; anthers oblong, incumbent ; ovary tomentose. Tj . S. 

 Native of Martinique, Tobago, and other West India islands ; 

 also on the main land of South America, especially in Guiana, 

 Cayenne, Brazil, and Vera Cruz. Lodd. hot. cab. 1 004. B6m- 

 bax grandiflorum, Cav. diss. 5. p. 295. t. 154. Flowers long, 

 of a pale-red colour, downy without and smooth within. An- 

 thers white. Style red. 



Shewy-Qovtered. Carolinea. Fl. July, Aug. Clt. 1796. Tree 

 60 feet. 



5 C. ARENA' KIA ; leaves ? flowers 4 inches long ; tube of 

 stamens near an inch and a half, smooth ; anthers trochleately- 

 arcuate or spiral. Tj . S. Native of Brazil in the province of 

 Minas Novas. PachJra arenaria, St. Hil. fl. bras. 1. p. 261. 

 Calyx long, cup-shaped, truncately 5-toothed, smooth, with a 

 whorl of glands at the base. Petals narrow, ligulate, velvety- 

 tomentose on both sides, brownish-green without, and white 

 within. Filaments twin, smooth, red ; anthers adhering by their 

 middle, as in C. marginata. 



Sand Carolinea. Fl. May. Shrub 7 to 8 feet. 



6 C. TOMENTOSA (Mart. fl. bras. 1. p. 85. t. 56.) leaflets 8-9, 

 obovate, obtuse, coriaceous, tomentosely hairy ; peduncles to- 

 mentose, equal in length to the coriaceous, urceolate calyx, 

 which has many glands at the base ; petals erect ; tube of stamens 

 length of calyx ; anthers oblong ; style smooth. ^ . S. Native 

 of Brazil in the province of Minas Geraes. A small tree, with 

 axillary, terminal, solitary flowers. Petals reflexed at the apex, 

 covered with brownish tomentum on the outside, but white 

 within. Filaments 5, forked or simple ; anthers rose-coloured. 



Tomentose Carolinea. Fl. Feb. Tree 10 to 15 feet. 



7 C. LONGIFLORA (Mart. fl. bras. 1. p. 86.) peduncles twice 

 the length of the campanulate, coriaceous calyx ; petals spread- 

 ingly reflexed ; tube of stamens 3-times longer than the calyx ; 

 anthers kidney-shaped, fixed by the middle ; style smooth. Tj . 

 S. Native of Brazil in the province of Minas Geraes at the 

 height of 1 600 feet above the level of the sea. Flowers of a 

 greenish-olive colour on the outside, but white within, wholly 

 tomentose. 



Long-florvered Carolinea. Shrub 10 to 15 feet. 



8 C. MACRA'NTHA ; leaves ? flowers a foot and a half long ; 

 tube of stamens 2 inches, smooth ; anthers circinnately-troch- 

 leate. fj . S. Native of Brazil in the province of Minas Geraes 

 about Retiro. Pachira macrantha, St. Hil. fl. bras. 1. p. 261. 

 Calyx long, cup-shaped, truncately entire. Petals long, narrow, 

 ligulate, velvety-tomentose on the outside, or greenish-brown, 



