514 



BOMBACE^E. XIV. OCHROMA. XV. CHEIROSTEMON. STERCULIACE^E. 



size of a man's head. 

 It is said to be the most 

 delicious of all the fruits 

 of India. The eatable 

 part of it is that aril-like 

 substance which contains 

 the kernels, and which 

 most resembles cream or 

 the blanc-manger of our 

 tables ; but a consider- 

 able drawback from the 

 extreme gratification it 

 procures to the palate of the epicurean, is its intolerable stench ! 

 even the rinds emit such an offensive effluvia, that at Amboyna, 

 as Rumphius and Valentine state, it is forbidden by the law to 

 throw them out near any public path. Some compare this smell 

 to that of putrid animal substances, others to that of rotten 

 onions ; but all agree that if the first repugnance is once over- 

 come no fruit is more enticing than the durion. These qualities 

 are so very well known, that it is surprising to find it mentioned 

 in the Histoire des Voyages, and copied from thence by Lamarck 

 in his Encyclopedic, that the fruit of the durion diffuses an 

 excellent odour, but that its taste is rather unpleasant, it being 

 that of fried onions. The fruit is used as a bait to entrap the 

 civet-cat, which is very fond of it ; hence the specific name. 



Civet-cat Durion. Clt. 1825. Tree 80 feet. 



Cult. This tree will thrive well in a rich loamy soil, and 

 cuttings not too ripe, taken off at a joint, not deprived of their 

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



XIV. OCHRO'MA (from <>>xpof> ochros, yellow ; in allusion 

 to the wool in the pods being yellow, as well as to the colour of 

 the flowers). Swartz, act. holm. 1798. p. 148. t. 6. D. C. 

 prod. 1. p. 480. 



LIN. SYST. Monadelphia, Pentandria. Calyx tubular at the 

 base, somewhat funnel-shaped, hardly 5-cleft, with 3 rounded 

 flat lobes and 2 acutish ones. Petals 5, larger than the calyx. 

 Anthers anfractuous. Stigmas 5. Capsules 5-celled, clothed 

 on the inside with silky brownish wool. Seeds numerous, ob- 

 long. Trees with soft spongy wood, and long leaves, and soli- 

 tary, terminal, 1 -flowered peduncles. 



1 O. LAGO'PUS (Swartz, fl. ind. occ. 2. p. 1144. t. 23.) leaves 

 cordate, 5-7-angled, rather lobed, toothletted, downy beneath,with 

 rusty nerves. Jj . S. Native of Jamaica, Hispaniola, Porto- 

 Rico and the hotter parts of Mexico on the mountains. Bombax 

 pyramidale, Cav. diss. 5. p. 294. t. 155. Flowers large, erect, 

 pale-brown or yellowish. Capsule more than a foot long. The 

 wood of this tree is white, tender, and so light, that it is used 

 instead of corks to fishing nets. The capsules contain a very fine, 

 soft, rufous down, in which the seeds are involved, and which 

 down is said to be used in the manufacture of English beavers. 



Hare's-foot Ochroma. Clt. 1802. Tree 40 feet. 



2 O. TOMENTOSA (Willd. enum. 693.) leaves cordate, some- 

 what 3-lobed, repand, rather tomentose beneath. Tj . S. Native 

 of South America. 



Tomentose-leaved Ochroma. Clt. 1816. Tree 20 feet. 

 Cult. These trees grow freely in a mixture of loam and 

 peat, and cuttings will root freely under a hand-glass, in heat. 



XV. CHEIROSTE'MON (from x p, cheir, the hand, and 

 rrri]jiov, stemon, a stamen ; the stamens are 5 in number; the 

 filaments are united at the base, and are recurved at their top, 

 which gives them the appearance of a hand). H.B. pi. sequin. 1. 

 t. 44. nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 302. D. C. prod. 1. p. 480. Chi- 

 ranthodendron, Larr. diss. with a figure. 



LIN. SYST. Monadelphia, Decdndria. Calyx somewhat cam- 

 panulate, 5-parted, furnished with 3 bracteas on the outside at 

 the base; sepals deciduous, thick, coloured on the inside, 

 foveolate at the base, 5 inches long in the bud. Petals none. 

 Stamens ? Filaments connate into a tube which is 5-cleft at the 

 top, with the lobes leaning to one side, exserted at the apex, 

 mucronate, bearing on the back of each lobe two linear anthers 

 which open lengthwise. Style 1. Stigma acute. Capsule 

 oblong, 5-angled, 5-celled, 5-valved, with a villous dissepiment 

 in the middle of each valve. Seeds 15-18 in each cell, egg- 

 shaped, corunculate. Albumen fleshy. Embryo slender. Co- 

 tyledons flat. A tall tree 15 feet in diameter, with 5 or 6 lobed, 

 palmate-nerved leaves, and solitary hoary-tomentose flowers 

 on the branches nearly opposite the leaves, bi-bracteolate at 

 the base. 



1 C. PLATANOI'DES (H. B. 1. c.). ^ . S. Native of New 

 Spain near Toluco. Tiles, act. Petrop. 5. p. 321. t. 9. Fisch. 

 p. 581. Hern. mex. 383. f. 1. and 459. f. 2. 



Plane-like Cheirostemon. Clt. 1820. Tree 100 feet. 



Cult. This fine tree succeeds well in a mixture of turfy 

 loam and peat, or any rich light soil ; and half-ripened cuttings, 

 planted in pots of mould, without shortening their leaves, placed 

 under a hand-glass in heat, will soon strike root. 



ORDER XXXII. STERCULIA V CE,E (plants agreeing with 

 Sterculia in important characters). Vent. R. Brown, cong. 

 Kunth, diss. malv. p. C. nov. gen. amer. 5". p. 309. Byttne- 

 riacae, Tribe 1. Sterculeae, D. C. prod. 1. p. 1. p. 481. 



Flowers unisexual from abortion. Calyx naked, 4-5 -lobed, 

 deciduous, constantly valvate in aestivation. Petals wanting. 

 Stamens 4-5-20, monadelphous around the rudiment of the 

 pistil, always quinary or quaternary in number. Anthers 

 bilocular. Styles equal in number to the cells of the ovary, 

 joined into one, crowned by as many stigmas or lobes. Car- 

 pels 4-5, distinct, sometimes fewer from abortion, usually 

 pedicellate, each crowned by a style, 1, or many-seeded, 

 dehiscent above or indehiscent. Albumen fleshy or want- 

 ing. Embryo erect, in the seeds with albumen the coty- 

 ledons are flat and leafy, in those without albumen they are 

 very thick and unequal, with an ovate, short radicle, pointing 

 towards the hilum. This order is distinguished from Malvaceae 

 and Bombacece in the anthers being 2-celled, not 1 -celled, from 

 Bytlneriacece in the carpels being distinct and stellately disposed, 

 not joined together into 1 fruit. It is distinguished from Tiliaccce 

 in the filaments being monadelphous at the base, not free. The 

 order is composed of large umbrageous tropical trees, with sim- 

 ple or compound leaves, and axillary panicles or racemes of 

 small, white, greenish, or brownish flowers. The seeds of many 

 of the Sterculias are eatable, especially those of the famous 

 Kola or Cola of Africa, which possess the property, being chewed, 

 of rendering bad water pleasant to the palate. The seeds of 

 the Chica, another noble species of the same genus, are highly 

 esteemed in Brazil for the dessert. The seeds retain their vege- 

 tative properties a considerable length of time, therefore they 

 are easily introduced in a living state from their places of natural 

 growth, but the most secure mode would be to plant them in a 

 box of mould, and either send them off directly, or allow them 

 to vegetate before they are shipped. 



