GAR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



GAR 



595 



in the open fields, in the same manner as other pulse : a soft 

 rich soil is best for it, but a stiff clay is not unsuitable. The 

 Spaniards have a proverb, that rain never hurts Garbanzos. 

 There are two principal sorts, or rather varieties ; the large 

 or winter, and the small or summer Garbanzo : the former 

 should be sown the first week in October, that it may ac- 

 quire a good root, and spread out luxuriantly for fodder ; 

 the latter must be sown about the end of February. The 

 Spaniards consume large quantities of the Garbanzo as fodder 

 for their cattle. It is reckoned to be tolerably nutritive, 

 and is used either by feeding it on the ground, by cutting it 

 green, and giving it to them in the stall or stable, (which is 

 the best,) or dried after the manner of hay. The large sort 

 furnishes an early fodder for cattle, sheep, and lambs, at a 

 time when no other is to be had. It is a good preparation 

 for other crops, because it is destructive of weeds, and shades 

 the surface of the ground. 



Garcinia; a genus of the class Dodecandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth four- 

 leaved ; leaflets roundish, concave, obtuse, spreading, perma- 

 nent. Corolla : petals four roundish, concave, spreading, a 

 little larger than the calix. Stamina : filamenta about six- 

 teen, upright, placed in a cylinder, simple, shorter than the 

 calix; antherse roundish. Pistil: germen superior, suboval ; 

 style scarcely any ; stigma flat, spreading, peltate, eight-cleft, 

 obtuse, permanent. Pericarp : berry coriaceous, globular, 

 large, crowned with the stigma, of six or eight pulpy cells, 

 with membranous partitions. Seeds: solitary, imbedded in 

 the pulp, convex on one side, angular on the other. Observe: 

 Jussieu remarks, that the clefts in the stigma, and the num- 

 ber of seeds, vary from five to eight: Gaertner says, six or 

 eight, and the cells of the pericarp as many ; he adds, that there 

 is no other difference between this genus and Cambogia, ex- 

 cept the form of the stigma, and the number of stamina. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-leaved, inferior. 

 Petals: four. Berry: eight-seeded, (or five, six, or eight,) 

 crowned with the peltate stigma. The species are, 



1. Garcinia Mangostana ; Mangostan, or Mangosteen. 

 Leaves ovate; peduncles one-flowered. The Mangostan rises 

 with an upright stem nearly twenty feet high, sending out 

 many branches on every side, which are placed opposite, 

 and stand oblique to each other, and not at right angles ; the 

 bark of the branches is smooth, of a gray colour, but on the 

 tender shoots it is green, and that of the trunk is of a darker 

 colour, and full of cracks ; the leaves are entire, seven or 

 eight inches long, and about half as much in breadth as in 

 the middle, gradually diminishing to both ends, of a lucid 

 green on their upper side, and of an olive colour on their 

 under, having a prominent midrib through the middle, with 

 several small veins running from that to both sides of the 

 leaf: the flower is like that of a single rose, composed of 

 four roundish petals, which are thick at their base, but are 

 thinner towards their ends, they are of a dark red colour; 

 the fruit is round, the size of a middling orange; the shell 

 of the fruit is like that of the pomegranate, but softer, thicker, 

 and fuller of juice; it is green at first, but changes to a dark 

 brown, with some yellowish spots ; the inside of the fruit is 

 ' of a rose-colour, and divided into several parts by thin par- 

 titions, as in Oranges, where the seeds are lodged, surrounded 

 by a soft juicy pulp of a delicious flavour, partaking of the 

 Strawberry and the Grape, and is esteemed one of the 

 richest fruits in the world. As these trees naturally grow in 

 the form of parabolas, and the branches are well garnished 

 with large shining green leaves, they have an elegant appear- 

 ance, and afford a kindly shade in hot countries, where they 

 are highly deserving of cultivation, and indeed in any coun- 



try where there is warmth enough to ripen the fruit, which 

 is esteemed the most delicious of all the East Indian fruits. 

 A large quantity may be eaten without any inconvenience, 

 as it is the only fruit which sick people are allowed to eat. 

 It is given with safety in almost every disorder ; and we are 

 told, that Dr. Solander, in the last stage of a putrid fever, 

 at Batavia, found himself insensibly recovering by sucking 

 this delicious and refreshing fruit ; the pulp has a most 

 happy mixture of the tart and sweet, and is no less salutary 

 than pleasant, for which reason, in hot climates, it is allowed 

 with the sweet orange in any quantity, to those who are 

 afflicted with fevers, either of the putrid or inflammatory 

 kind : the dried bark is used with success in the dysentery 

 and tenesmus ; and an infusion is esteemed a good gargle for 

 a sore mouth, or ulcers in the throat. The Chinese dyers use 

 this bark for the ground or basis of a black colour, in order 

 to fix it the firmer. Native of the Mohicca Islands, whence 

 it has been transplanted to Java and Malacca. The head is 

 so fine and regular, and the leaves so beautiful, that it is 

 looked upon at Batavia as the tree most proper for adorning 

 a garden, and affording an agreeable shade. As there are 

 but few of the seeds which come to perfection, (for the 

 greatest part of them are abortive,) so most of those which. 

 have been brought to Europe have failed ; therefore the 

 surest way to obtain the plants, is to sow the seeds in tubs 

 of earth in the country, and when the plants have obtained 

 strength, they may be brought to Europe ; but there should 

 be great care taken in their passage to screen them from 

 salt water, and the spray of the sea, as also not to give them 

 much water, especially in a cool or temperate climate, for 

 they are very impatient of wet. When the plants arrive in 

 Europe, they should be carefully transplanted, each into a 

 separate pot filled with light kitchen-garden earth, and 

 plunged into the tan-bed, observing to shade them from the 

 sun till they have taken new root; then they must be treated 

 in the same manner as the other tender plants from hot coun- 

 tries. It may be increased in England by cuttings, in the 

 same manner as is directed for Gardenia. 



2. Garcinia Celebica ; Celebes Mangostan. Leaves lance- 

 olate ; peduncles three-flowered. This is not a lofty tree, but 

 it has an elegant spreading head; the fruit resembles that of 

 the common Mangostan, but sometimes grows to a larger 

 size ; it is of a yellowish red or saffron-colour, like the pome- 

 granate, and is not crowned with a Star, but with a little 

 crown, which is hollowed above, and broader there than at its 

 origin. Native of the island of Celebes, about Macassar, 

 whence it has been transplanted into Ambovna and Java, 

 where, however, it seldom bears ripe fruit. ' 



3. Garcinia Cornea ; Thorny Mangostan. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, veinless ; peduncles one-flowered, drooping. The trunk 

 of this tree is lofty, but not very thick; it is covered with a 

 black bark, adhering firmly to the wood ; the branches ex- 

 tend wide, and divide into many short branchlets, which have 

 a pair of leaves at each joint; the flower comes out from the 

 branch between the upper leaves, hanging on an incurved 

 peduncle, having the form of a small rose, but of a yellow 

 colour; fruit solitary, growing close to the branch, the size 

 of a plum, crowned by a sort of wart like the head of a nail, 

 it is of a dusky brown or smoky colour on the outside, and 

 within it has a mucous pulp, in which lie a few seeds in shape 

 of a half moon ; it has a resinous smell when fresh. The wood 

 is heavy, and very hard, like horn; hence Rumphius calls it 

 Lignum corneum, or hornwood: it is used for the handles of 

 tools, and the young trees are employed in building, the 

 old being too hard to work. Native of the high mountains 

 of Amboyna. 



