TEREBINTHACEJE. II. RHINOCARPUS. III. SEMECARPUS. IV. HOLIGARNA. 



63 



to be applied with caution. The kernel, when fresh, has a most 

 delicious taste, and abounds with a sweet milky juice. The 

 broken kernels are sometimes imported for mixing with old 

 Madeira wines, the flavour of which they improve. It is an in- 

 gredient in puddings, &c. &c. When older it is usually roasted, 

 and in this state is not so proper for costive habits. Ground 

 with cacao it makes an excellent chocolate. When kept too 

 long it becomes shrivelled, and loses its flavour and best quali- 

 ties. The thick oil of the shell tinges linen of a rusty iron 

 colour, which can hardly be got out ; and if any wood be 

 smeared with the oil it prevents it from decaying. It would 

 therefore be an excellent preserver to house timbers. From the 

 body of the tree is procured by tapping or incision a milky juice, 

 which will stain linen of a deep black that cannot be washed out 

 again. The tree also annually exudes from 5 to 10 or 12 pounds 

 weight of a fine semitransparent gum, similar to gum Arabic, 

 and not inferior to it in virtue or quality, which perhaps renders 

 it in some respects more valuable. 



Cashew-nut or Western Anacardium. Fl. year. Clt. 1699. 

 Tree 16 feet. 



Cult. A light loamy soil answers the species of Cashew-nut, 

 and ripened cuttings, with their leaves on, root freely in sand 

 under a hand-glass, in heat. 



II. RHINOCA'RPUS (from piv rhin, a snout, and *.-ap:roe, 

 karpos, a fruit ; fruit ending in a snout). H. B. et Kunth, nov. 

 gen. amer. 7. p. 5. t. 601. 



LIN. SXST. Polygamia, Dice'cia. Flowers polygamous. Pe- 

 tals oblong, reflexed. Stamens 1 0, very unequal, 2 or 4 bearing 

 anthers, the rest sterile, with the filaments connate at the base 

 and adnate to the petals. Style sublateral, crowned by an obtuse 

 stigma. Fruit oblique, compressed? 1 -seeded, on a thick fleshy 

 pedicel. A tree with the habit of Anacardium, having simple, 

 scattered, entire, obovate, exstipulate leaves, and a terminal 

 corymbose raceme of flowers, with racemose bracteate pedicels. 



1 R. EXCE'LSA (Bert. ined. H. B. et Kunth, 1. c.). Tj . S. Na- 

 tive of South America in St. Martha, Tobago, and New Granada. 

 Anacardium rhinocarpus, D. C. prod. 2. p. 62. 



Tall Rhinocarpus. Tree 140 feet. 



Cult. For culture and propagation see last genus. 



III. SEMECA'RPUS (from ati/jttov, semeion, a mark, and 

 *;ap7ro, karpos, a fruit ; use of juice). Lin. fil. suppl. 25. 

 Kunth, gen. tereb. p. 5. D. C. prod. 2. p. 62. Anacardium, 

 Lam. diet. 1. p. 139. ill. t. 208. Gsert. fruct. 40. 



LIN. SYST. Polygamia, Dice da. Flowers polygamo-dioecious. 

 Calyx flat, 5-cleft. Petals 5, oblong. Stamens 5, all bearing 

 anthers. Disk urceolar in the bottom of the flower. Ovary 1, 

 sessile, girded by a tumid ring, 1 -celled? Styles 3. Stigmas 

 obtuse, emarginate. Nut compressed, heart-shaped, seated on 

 a depressed, thickened torus. Seed conforming to the nut. 

 Embryo inverted, with fleshy cotyledons and a 2-leaved plu- 

 mule, with a small radicle lying at the top between the cotyle- 

 dons. Trees with entire feather-nerved leaves and axillary and 

 terminal panicles of flowers. 



1 S. ANACA'RDIUM (Lin. fil. suppl. 1 82.) leaves oblong, blunt- 

 ish, glaucous beneath, more or less covered on the nerves beneath 

 with scabrous down ; panicle terminal, tomentose. ^ . S. Na- 

 tive of the East Indies, on mountains. Anacardium orientale 

 officinale, Anacardium officinarum, Gasrt. fruct. l.p. 192. 



Var. a, angvstifblkim (D. C. prod. 2. p. 62.) leaves taper- 

 pointed at both ends. Rumph. amb. 1. t. 70. Anacardium 

 longifolium, Lam. diet. 1. p. 140. S. Cassuvium, Spreng. syst. 

 l.p. 936. 



Var. ft, cuneifblium (D. C. prod. 2. p. 62.) leaves wedge- 

 shaped and acuminated at the base, blunt at the apex. 



1 



Var. y, obtusiusculum (D. C. prod. 2. p. 63.) leaves obovate, 

 blunt at both ends. Roxb. cor. 1. t. 12. Anacardium latifo- 

 lium, Lam. diet. 1. p. 139. 



P. S. Perhaps all these varieties are as many species. 



These are lofty trees with spreading branches. Leaves about 

 eighteen inches long, and about 4 or 5 broad. Flowers small, 

 of a greenish-yellow colour. Receptacle of the fruit when ripe 

 yellow, about the size of the nut, which is black ; the cover or 

 shell is composed of 2 laminae, the inner hard, the outer less so 

 and leathery, between them are cells, which contain the black, 

 corrosive, resinous juice, for which this nut has been long known; 

 the juice is of a pale milk-colour till perfectly ripe, when it 

 becomes black. The wood of this tree is reckoned of no use, 

 not only on account of its softness, but also because it contains 

 much acrid juice, which renders it dangerous to cut down and 

 work upon. The fleshy receptacles on which the seeds rest are 

 roasted in the ashes and eaten by the natives ; their taste is very 

 like that of roasted apples : unroasted they taste astringent and 

 acrid, leaving a painful sensation on the tongue for some time. 

 The kernels are rarely eaten. The green fruit, well pounded 

 into a pulp, makes good bird-lime. The pure, black, acrid juice 

 of the shell is employed by the natives externally to remove 

 rheumatic pains, aches, and sprains ; in tender constitutions it 

 often produces inflammation and swelling ; but where it has not 

 these effects it is an efficacious remedy. It is employed by the 

 Telinga physicians in the cure of almost every kind of venereal 

 complaint. It is in general use for marking cotton cloths ; 

 the colour is improved and prevented from running by a little 

 mixture of quick-lime and water. This juice is not soluble in 

 water, and is only diffusable in spirits of wine, for it soon falls 

 to the bottom, unless the menstruum be previously alkalised. 

 The solution is then pretty complete, and of a deep black colour. 

 It sinks in expressed oils, but unites perfectly with them : alka- 

 line lixivium acts upon it with no better success than plain water. 

 Officinal Anacardium or Marking Fruit. Fl. July, Aug. Clt. 

 1820. Tree 50 feet. 



Cult. For culture and propagation see Anacardium. 



IV. HOLIGA'RNA (from the appellation of the tree in the 

 language of Karnata). Roxb. hort. beng. p. 22. cor. 3. p. 79. 

 t. 282. B.C. prod. 2. p. 63. 



LIN. SYST. Polygamia, Dicecia. Flowers polygamous, male 

 and female flowers in different divisions of the tree. Calyx 5- 

 toothed. Petals 5, broadest at the base, and somewhat concrete, 

 oblong, villous. Stamens 5, shorter than the corolla. Ovary 

 in the hermaphrodite flowers adnate to the calyx, 1 -celled, 1- 

 seeded. Nut olive-formed, ovate, somewhat compressed, con- 

 taining a valveless nut. Albumen wanting. Embryo inverted. 

 Cotyledons thick. Radicle oblong, situated above the apex. 

 A tall Indian tree, with oblong, acuminated, feather-nerved, 

 entire, smooth, coriaceous leaves, which are crowded towards 

 the tops of the branches. Petioles short, bearing a bristle on 

 each side. Panicles axillary. Flowers white. This genus is 

 allied to Semecarpus. 



1 H. LONGIFOLIA (Roxb. cor. 3. t. 282.) fj . S. Native of 

 the East Indies, on the mountains of Malabar and Chittagong. 

 Rheed. mal. 4. p. 20. t. 9. ex Roxb. and therefore referable 

 to Mangifera racemosa, Lam. ill. 2. p. 113. The natives of 

 Malabar by incision extract an exceedingly acrid juice, which 

 they use as varnish. The nut is about the size of an olive, con- 

 taining between the lamina numerous cells filled with black, 

 rather thick, acrid fluid, as that of Semecarpus, which is also 

 used as varnish. 



Long-leaved Holigarna. Tree 60 feet. 



Cult. For culture and propagation see Anacardium. 



