SAPOTACE.E. I. SERSAUSIA. II. ARGANIA. 



27 



Africa. The most famous of this description are the Indian 

 Mara, mahra, or Madliuca, the Bdssia butyracea, and the 

 African Shea-tree, Bassia Pdrkii ; the seeds of the former 

 are so oleaginous, that a single tree has been known to produce 

 three qtrntals of oil ; the dried flowers of the same tree are 

 mixed by some Indians with their food, and a kind of spirit is 

 distilled from them by others. The juice of all the sapotas is 

 milky, but not acrid and poisonous, like that of most other 

 lactescent orders, but, on the contrary, yielding a wholesome 

 beverage or food. According te Mr. R. Brown, the bark of 

 some species of A^chras and Lucuma is so astringent and febri- 

 fugal as to be substituted for quinquina or Peruvian bark. 



Synopsis of the genera. 



1 SERSALISIA. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla 5-cleft. Stamens 

 10, 5 fertile and 5 sterile. Stigma undivided. Ovarium 5- 

 celled. Berry 1-5-seeded. Seeds exalbuminous, crustaceous. 



2 ARGA'NIA. Calyx 10-parted, disposed in a double series. 

 Corolla 5-cleft ; segments sub-emarginate. Stamens 1 0, 5 fer- 

 tile, and 5 sterile, petal-like. Drupe containing a 2-S-celled nut, 

 some of the cells usually above, marked by as many furrows as 

 there are cells. 



3 SIDEROXYLOX. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla 5-cleft, with a 

 denticulated lobe at the base of each segment. Stamens 5, 

 alternating with the 5 teeth or sterile stamens. Berry 5-celled ; 

 cells 1 -seeded, not all fertile ; seeds exalbuminous, bony. 



4 BUME'LIA. Calyx and corolla 5-parted. Stamens 10, 5 

 fertile, alternating with 5 membranous sterile ones. Ovarium 

 5-celled. Berry 1 -seeded. Seeds albuminous. 



'< XYCTERISITION. Calyx and corolla 5-parted. Stamens 5, 

 fertile, without any sterile ones. Ovarium 5-celled; cells 1- 

 seeded. Stigma obtuse. Seeds bony, albuminous. 



6 CHRYSOPHT'LLVM. Calyx and corolla 5-parted. Stamens 

 5. fertile, and no sterile ones. Stigma obsoletely 10-lobed. 

 Berry 10-celled. Seeds bony and albuminous. 



7 A CHRAS. Calyx 6-parted. Corolla 6-cleft. Stamens 12, 

 -erile and 6 fertile. Ovarium 12-6-celled, 12-6-seeded. 



Seeds albuminous, bony. 



8 LUCC'MA. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla 5-cleft. Stamens 10, 5 

 fertile, and 5 sterile, scale-like. Ovarium 10-5-celled. Berry 

 1-10-seeded. Seeds bony, exalbuminous. 



9 IXOCA'RPUS. Calyx 2-cleft. Corolla 5-cleft, long and li- 

 near. Stamens 10, inserted in a double row. Stigma concave, 

 sessile. Drupe compressed, ovate, incurved at top, containing 

 a fibry reticulated nut. Embryo exalbuminous. 



10 MIMC'SOPS. Calyx 8-6-parted, in a twin order. Corolla 

 with a double row of segments. Stamens 6-8 fertile (f. 7. a.), 

 and 6-8 sterile (f. 7. o.). Ovarium 6-8-celled. Berry few- 

 seeded from abortion. Seeds albuminous, nucumentaceous. 



11 IMBRICA'RIA. Calyx 8-parted. Corolla with a triple 

 series of trifid segments. Stamens 8 sterile and 8 fertile. Ova- 

 rium 8-celled, 8-seeded. Berry few-celled from abortion. Seeds 

 albuminous, nucumentaceous. 



12 OMPHALOCA'RPUM. Calyx many-parted, covered by 11-12 



concave scales. Corolla 6-7-cleft; segments alternating with 

 as many fringed scales. Stamens 30-40, disposed in unequal 

 series. Fruit solid, woody, umbilicate, many-celled, many- 

 seeded. 



13 BA'SSIA. Calyx 4-5-parted. Corolla 8-parted. Stamens 

 16, disposed in a double row. Berry 6-8-celled ; cells 1-seeded. 

 Seeds without albumen, somewhat trigonal, bony. 



14 LABA'TIA. Calyx 4-parted, the 2 outer segments the 

 largest. Corolla 4-cleft. Stamens 8, 4 sterile and scale-formed, 

 and 4 fertile ones inserted in the bottom of the corolla. Berry 

 hard, roughish, 4-celled, rarely 2-celled 4-seeded. Seeds exal- 

 buroinous. ? 



15 POCTE'RIA. Calyx and corolla 4-cleft. Stamens 8, 4 

 sterile and bristle- formed, and 4 fertile. Capsule ovate, hispid, 

 4-valved ; each valve containing an arillate almond-formed seed. 



16 PHELLIXE. Calyx 4-toothed. Corolla 4-parted. Sta- 

 mens 4, fertile. Capsule 4-celled ; cells corky, dehiscing inside. 

 Seeds solitary. 



t A genus hardly known. 



17 MONTA'BEA. Calyx tubular, with 5 unequal segments. 

 Corolla funnel-shaped, with unequal segments. Nectary mono- 

 phyllous, or stamens 5-8 combined, fixed to the superior part 

 of the tube of the corolla, 5-toothed at top, with an anther 

 between each of the teeth, which are probably abortive stamens. 

 Stigma globose, obtuse. Berry 3-5-celled, 3-5-seeded. Seeds 

 arillate, umbilicate on one side. 



I. SERSALI'SIA (named in memory of John Baptist Ser- 

 salis, a Neapolitan ecclesiastic, much praised by Fabius Co- 

 lunana). R. Br. prod. p. 529. Sideroxylon species of authors. 



LIN. SYST. Pentandrla, Monoggnla. Calyx 5-parted. Co- 

 rolla 5-cleft. Stamens 10, 5 of which are sterile and scale- 

 formed, and the other 5 fertile and bearing anthers, alternating 

 with the scale-formed sterile ones. Ovarium 5-celled. Stigma 

 undivided. Berry 1-5-seeded. Seeds exalbuminous, with a 

 crustaceous testa, and longitudinal hilum. Shrubs, with obovate 

 leaves, and axillary, white flowers. The flowers are almost 

 those of Sideroxylon, and the fruit almost that of Bumelia. 



1 S. SERICEA (R. Br. prod. p. 530.) leaves ovate or obovate, 

 obtuse, tomentose beneath as well as the peduncles and calyxes ; 

 corollas villous outside, having the tube exceeding the calyx; 

 sterile filaments lanceolate ; style filiform, villous at the base. 

 I? . S. Native of New Holland, within the tropic. Sideroxy- 

 lon sericeura, Ait. hort. kew. 1 . p. 262. 



Si%- leaved Sersalisia. Clt. 1772. Shrub 6 to 10 feet. 



2 S. OBOVA V TA (R. Br. 1. c.) leaves obovate, a little attenuated 

 at the base, rather silky beneath ; calyxes smoothish ; corolla 

 5-parted, glabrous : with orbicular segments, which much ex- 

 ceed the lanceolate, sterile filaments ; stigma sessile, round. 

 *2 . S. Native of New Holland, within the tropic. 



O&oeate-leaved Sersalisia. Shrub. 



Cult. A mixture of loam, peat, and sand is a good soil for 

 the species of Sersalisia; and cuttings strike root freely in sand, 

 with a hand-glass over them. 



II. ARGA'NIA (Argan is the aboriginal name of the tree). 

 Roem. et Schultes, syst. XL\ 7 I. Sideroxylon spinosum, Lin. 



LIN. SYST. Pentandrla, Monogynia. Calyx 5-10-cleft; 

 leaflets, or rather scales, roundish, concave, disposed in a double 



E 2 



