646 



G R E 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



GRE 



Grewia; a genus (according to Linneus) of the class Gynan- 

 dria, order Polyandria ; removed by Schreber into the class 

 Polyandria, order Monogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. 

 Cater : perianth five-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, upright, lea- 

 thery, coloured within, spreading, deciduous. Corolla: petals 

 five, the same form with the calix, often smaller, emarginate at 

 the base; nectary, a scale inserted into each petal at the base, 

 thickish, bent in, inclined to the rim, surrounding the style. 

 Stamina: filamenta very numerous, the length of the petals, 

 bristle-shaped, inserted into the base of the germen ; antherae 

 roundish. ^.Pistil: germen peclicelled, roundish, sitting on a 

 columnar upright receptacle, surrounded by a five-cornered 

 rim; style filiform, the length of the stamina; stigma obtuse, 

 four-cleft. Pericarp: berry four-lobed, four-celled. Seeds: 

 solitary, globular, usually two-celled. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: five-leaved, coloured within. Pe<afe:five, 

 with a nectareous scale at the base of each. Berry : four- 

 celled. The species are, 



1. Grewia Occidentalis ; Elm-leaved Grewia. Leaves sub- 

 ovate, bluntly serrated, smooth ; flower-stalks solitary, club- 

 shaped, single-flowered. This plant will grow to the height 

 of ten or twelve feet, and has a stem and branches very like 

 those of the small-leaved Elm, the bark being smooth, and 

 of the same colour as that of Elm when young ; the leaves 

 are also very like those of the Elm, and fall off in winter; 

 the flowers are produced singly along the young branches 

 from the axils, and are of a bright purple colour ; they ap- 

 pear towards the end of July, and continue through August 

 to the beginning of September, but are never succeeded by 

 fruit in this country. Native of the Cape ; and long culti- 

 vated in our greenhouses, flowering most part of the sum- 

 mer. Propagation and Culture. The common Grewia may 

 be propagated by cuttings or layers : the cuttings should be 

 taken oft' and planted in April, before the buds swell, for 

 they do not succeed well after; these cuttings should be 

 planted in small pots filled with loamy earth, and the pots 

 should be plunged into a moderate hot-bed of tanners' bark, 

 where, if they are duly watered, and in the heat of the day 

 sheltered from the sun, they will take good root in about two 

 months, and may then be gradually inured to bear the open 

 air, into which they should be removed in June, and placed 

 in a sheltered situation, where they may remain till autumn, 

 when they must be removed into the greenhouse. The best 

 time to lay down the layers of this plant, is in the spring, 

 before the buds come out, and these will be rooted by the 

 same time the following year, when they may be cut oft from 

 the old plants, and planted each into a separate pot filled 

 with a soft loamy soil. The best time to remove or transplant 

 this plant is, either in the spring just before the buds begin 

 to swell, or in autumn when the leaves begin to drop ; for in 

 summer, when the plants are in full leaf, it will be very im- 

 proper to disturb them. In winter they should be placed in 

 the greenhouse, for they are too tender to live abroad in 

 England; but they should have as much free air as possible 

 in mild weather, for they only require to be protected from 

 frost, and after their leaves are fallen they will require very 

 moderate watering ; but in summer they should be watered 

 three or four times a week in dry weather, and placed in a 

 sheltered situation, with other hardy greenhouse plants, 

 where they will add to the variety. The other species of 

 this genus will not live through an English winter, unless 

 they are placed in a warm stove ; nor do those plants thrive 

 well which are placed on shelves in the dry-stove ; therefore 

 the only method to ensure their succeeding is, to place them 

 in the bark-bed in the tan-stove. In summer these plants 

 require a good share of free air to be admitted to them, and 



should have water three or four times a week in warm wea- 

 ther ; but they must be kept warm in winter, and sparingly 

 watered. 



2. Grewia Populifolia ; Poplar-leaved Grewia. Leaves 

 orbiculate ; peduncles solitary, one-flowered. This is a 

 branching shrub ; the branches are slender, smooth, and ash- 

 coloured ; leaves shorter and rounder than the first species, 

 on longer and more slender stalks; bractes in pairs, on the 

 middle of the peduncle, deciduous ; calicine leaflets linear, 

 obtuse, villose, smooth within, coloured; petals linear, shorter 

 than the calix. It is allied to the first species, but of a looser 

 habit. Native of Arabia, where it is called Chaddr, or 

 Nabba; also of the East Indies. 



3. Grewia Orientalis ; Oriental Grewia. Leaves sublan- 

 ceolate; flowers solitary. This is a middling sized tree. 

 Peduncles from the axils tomentose, trifid, three-flowered. 

 Berry subglobular, depressed, becoming obtusely four-cor- 

 nered, and drying, succulent ; the skin when fresh sarTVon- 

 coloured, villose, flesh pulpy, fugacious ; stones hard hkt; 

 grape-stones, having a deep furrow on the back, two-celled. 

 It flowers in July and August. Native of the East Indies. 



4. Grewia Leevigata. Leaves elliptic, acuminate, smooth 

 on both sides, quite entire at the base ; peduncles three-flow- 

 ered. Branches with a purple bark dotted with white ; pedi- 

 cels almost the length of the petioles. Native of the East 

 Indies. 



5. Grewia Glandulosa. Leaves ovate, lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, smooth on both sides, glandular at the base; flowers 

 solitary, subsessile. Branches somewhat rugged ; petiole 

 short; flowers axillary, on very short peduncles. Native of 

 the Isle of France. 



6. Grewia Hirsuta. Leaves lanceolate-ovate, soft ; calices 

 very hairy; peduncles many-flowered. Branches soft with 

 hairs, especially at top ; flowers subsessile, with a three- 

 leaved lanceolate involucre ; petals very short, oblong, 

 ciliate. Found by Koenig on the tops of mountains in the 

 East Indies. 



7. Grewia Excelsa. Leaves oblong, beneath tomentose, 

 hoary ; peduncles axillary, often solitary, three-flowered ; 

 pedicels angular. Found in Arabia. 



8. Grewia Asiatica ; Asiatic Grewia. Leaves cordate, 

 serrated at the base, white and downy beneath, flower-stalks 

 aggregate, much longer than the footstalks ; column naked, 

 as long; as the germen. A tree with the branches scarcely 

 tomentose; stipules lanceolate; petioles round, tomentose, 

 one-fifth the length of the leaves ; peduncles axillary, usually 

 iu fours, trifid, three-flowered, half the length of its leaves; 

 petals not bigger than the calix ; berries small, red, acid. 

 Native of Surat, in the East Indies. 



9. Grewia Tilisefolia. Leaves cordate, roundish, smooth 

 on both sides ; peduncles shorter than the petiole. Branches 

 smooth, with brown bark, very minutely dotted with asb- 

 colour, the younger ones subvillose ; petioles powdered at 

 the tip, scarcely thickened ; stipules half-cordate, acuminate, 

 shorter than the petiole ; peduncles axillary, two or three 

 together, three-flowered ; involucre three-leaved ; leaflets 

 lanceolate, obtuse, concave, the length of the pedicels; fruit 

 two-grained. Native of the East Indies. 



10. Grewia Mallococca; South Sea Grewia. Leaves cor- 

 date, ovate-oblong, crenate, scabrous ; pedicels axillary, three- 

 flowered ; fruit tetraooccous. The difference by which it is 

 distinguished from other species is difficult to make out. It 

 is distinct by having no scales to the petals, the germen sessile, 

 nd the stones or nuts not two-celled. The berry is obtusely 

 four-cornered, depressed, scabrous on all sides, with mi mile 

 bristles. Seeds solitary, and four in the whole berry, obovate, 





