36 



SAPOTACE^E. XIII. BASSIA. XIV. LABATIA. 



They make cakes of it, and many of the poor get their liveli- 

 hood by selling these sweet oil cakes. The cake, left after the 

 oil is expressed, is used for washing the head, and is carried as 

 a small article of trade to those countries where these trees are 

 not to be found. The flowers, which fall in May, are gathered 

 by the common people, dried in the sun, roasted, and eaten 

 as food. They are also bruised and boiled to a jelly, and made 

 into small balls, which they sell, or exchange for fish, rice, &c. 

 The leaves are boiled with water, and given as a medicine in 

 several diseases. The milk of the green fruit, and of the tender 

 bark is given also as a medicine. The bark is a cure for the 

 itch. The wood is as hard and as durable as teak, but not 

 so easily worked, nor is it procurable of such a length. Squir- 

 rels, lizards, country do^s, and jackals eat the flowers, and the 

 report is that the latter are apt to grow mad by too much feed- 

 ing on them. 



Long-leaved Bassia. Clt. 1811. Tree 40 feet. 



2 B. SERJCEA (Blum, bijdr. 674.) leaves oblong-lanceolate, 

 acuminated, clothed with silky down beneath ; peduncles axil- 

 lary, crowded, 1 -flowered, shorter than the petioles. fy . S. 

 Native of Java, in woods, in the province of Tjanjor, on the 

 mountains of Parang. Perhaps sufficiently distinct from B. 

 longifblia. 



Silky Bassia. Fl. July. Tree 40 to 50. 



3 B. LATIFOLIA (Roxb. cor. 1. p. 20. t. 19.) leaves oblong 

 or elliptic ; pedicels drooping, terminal ; stamens 20-30, within 

 the gibbous tube of the corolla, on short filaments. fj . S. 

 Native of the East Indies, on the mountains of Bengal and the 

 Circars. Madhaca is the Sanscrit name, see asiat. res. 

 vol. 2. p. 301. and 4. p. 280. Ipie is the Telinga name; 

 Mahva, Muhooa, and Muhoola of the Bengalese. Corolla thick 

 and fleshy, with a more than 8-lobed limb ; lobes cordate. 

 Leaves smooth above and whitish beneath, 4-8 inches long and 

 2-4 broad. Limb of corolla 7-14-parted. Berry 1-4-seeded. 

 The wood is hard, very strong, and proper for naves of wheel 

 carriages. The flowers are eaten raw by the natives of the 

 mountainous parts of the Circars, and by jackals. An ardent 

 spirit is distilled from them by the hill people, which is strong 

 and intoxicating. The seeds yield a large quantity of oil by 

 expression, which is used only by the poorer people to burn. 

 On the apices of the flowers, before they open, there is fre- 

 quently a drop of whitish, soft, tasteless resin to be found. 



Broad-leaved Bassia. Clt. 1799. Tree 40 feet. 



4 B. OBOVA'TA (Forst. prod. no. 200.) leaves obovate ; pedi- 

 cels aggregate, terminal. T? . S. Native of the Isle of Tanna. 



Ofowate-leaved Bassia. Tree. 



5 B. CUNEA'TA (Blum, bijdr. 675.) leaves cuneate-oblong, 

 bluntish, glabrous; peduncles subumbellate, axillary, 1-flowered, 

 about equal in length to the petioles. Jj . S. Native of Java, 

 on mounts Salak and Cede. Very nearly allied to B. obo- 

 vata. 



Cuneated-leaved Bassia. Fl. Aug. Tree 60 to 80 feet. 



6 B. PA'RKII ; leaves obovate, coriaceous, fj . S. Native 

 of Africa, in the kingdom of Bambara. This is the Shea tree 

 mentioned by Mungo Park in his travels ; of which he says, " the 

 people were every where employed in collecting the fruit of the 

 Shea trees, from which they prepare a vegetable butter. These 

 trees," he says, " grow in abundance all over this part of Bambara. 

 It is not cultivated by the natives, but grows wild in the woods, 

 and in clearing woodlands for cultivation every tree is cut 

 down but the Shea. The butter is obtained from the kernel 

 of the fruit, first dried in the sun ; and is prepared by boiling 

 the kernel in water, which has somewhat the appearance of a 

 Spanish olive. The kernel is enveloped in a sweet pulp, under 

 a thin green rind, and the butter produced from it, besides the 

 advantage of its keeping the whole year round without salt, 



is whiter, firmer, and, to my palate, of a better flavour than the 

 best butter I ever tasted, made of cows' milk. The growth and 

 preparation of this commodity appears to me to be one of the 

 first objects of the natives in this and the neighbouring states, 

 as it constitutes the main article of inland commerce. The 

 butter serves also for every domestic purpose in which oil would 

 otherwise be used ; the demand for it is therefore great. Shea 

 Toulon literally means, in the language of the Africans, tree- 

 butter." Park, trav. p. 26. pp. 202, 203. 



Park's Bassia. African Butter Tree, or Shea Tree. Tree 

 30 to 40 feet. 



7 B. BUTYRA'CEA (Roxb. asiat. res. 8. p. 477. fl. ind. p. 527. 

 D. Don, prod. fl. nep. p. 146.) leaves obovate, tomentose be- 

 neath ; pedicels aggregate, and are as well as the calyxes 

 woolly ; anthers glabrous, subulate at the apex. Tj . S. Na- 

 tive of Nipau), at Narainhetty ; and on the Almora hills. Leaves 

 a span long and 4-5 inches broad, coriaceous, obovate, or 

 obovate-oblong. Drupe oval. Corolla thin, 8-cleft. Stamens 

 30-40, on longish filaments. B. butyracea is called Fulrvah 

 or Phulivarah in Almorah. It produces a pure vegetable 

 butter. The kernels of the fruit are bruised into the consis- 

 tence of cream, which is then put into a cloth bag, with a 

 moderate weight laid upon it, and left to stand till the oil or 

 fat is expressed, which becomes immediately of the consistence 

 of hogs'-lard, and is of a delicate white colour. Its uses in 

 medicine are much esteemed in rheumatism and contractions 

 of the limbs. It is also used by the natives of rank per- 

 fumed as an unction. The pulp of the fruit is eaten by some. 



Buttery Bassia. Clt. 1823. Tree 30 to 40 feet. 



8 B. ? DU'BIA (Gaertn. fruct. 2. t. 105.). Jj . S. Native of 

 the East Indies. Rumph. amb. 3. t. 184.? Seeds large, half- 

 moon shaped, shiny, bony, of a dark chestnut colour, except 

 the rugged, pale, almost white, umbilical area. It is not said 

 whether the seeds are albuminous or exalbuminous, in which 

 case the genus to which this tree belongs is very doubtful. 



Doubtful Bassia. Tree. 



9 B. VILLOSA (Wall. cat. no. 4165.) leaves broad-oblong- 

 obovate, obtuse, villous beneath, glabrous and green above ; 

 pedicels aggregate, and are, as well as the flowers, villous. 



fy S. Native on the Taong Dong mountains, near Ava. 

 Villous Bassia. Tree. 



10 B.? POLYA'NTHA (Wall. cat. no. 4166.) glabrous; leaves 

 coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, or oblong-obovate, acutish, rusty 

 beneath ; pedicels aggregate, rusty, and are, as well as the 

 calyxes downy ; petals entire. ^ S. Native of Silhet. 



Many-flowered Bassia. Tree. 



Cult. For culture and propagation see Chrysophyllum, p. 33. 



XIV. LABA'TIA (so named after J. Baptiste Labat, a Do- 

 minican friar, a great writer and traveller ; author of Voyage 

 aux Antilles, Paris. 1721 and 1743. 12mo. ; Haye, 1724. 4to. ; 

 Voyages en Espagne et en Italic, Paris, 1730. &c.). Swartz, 

 prod. p. 32. (exclusive of Pouteria, Aubl.) fl. ind. occ. 1. p. 264. 

 Mart. nov. gen. bras. 2. p. 70. 



LIN. SYST. Tetrandria, Monogynia. Calyx 4-parted, the 2 

 outer segments the largest. Corolla tubularly urceolate, 4- 

 cleft, furnished witli as many scales (abortive stamens), in the 

 incisures between the lobes. Stamens 4, inserted in the bottom 

 of the corolla. Anthers ovate. Berry hard, roughish, 4-celled, 

 rarely 2-celled. Seeds with a thick crustaceous testa, attached 

 to parietal placentas. Evergreen trees. Leaves sub-alternate, 

 crowded towards the tops of the branches, quite entire, firm, 

 exstipulate, furnished with shining pili, which are attached by 

 their middle. Flowers small, axillary, aggregate, on short pedi- 

 cels. Fruit brownish. 



1 L. MACROCA'RFON (Mart. nov. gen. bras. 1. p. 71. t. 160.) 



