Genus MACLURA, JYutt 
Urticaceae. Dioecia Tetrandna. 
Syst. Nat. Syst. Lin 
Synonymes. 
Madura, Toxylon, Of Authors 
Derivation. This was named by Nuttall, in honour o: '.he late Mr. William Maclure, of Philadelphia, a celebrated natural 
ist, and patron of science. 
Generic Characters. Flowers dioecious. Male flowers with the calyx 4-cleft. Stamens 4, exserted. 
Female flowers in globular aments ; the calyx fleshy, 4-parted, with the bases ingrafted together. Co- 
rolla none. Style 1, filiform, villous. Germs numerous, each 1-seeded, coalescing into a compound 
globular berry of many cells, the cells 1-seeded. Seed obovate. Nuttall, Sylva. 
>HE genus Madura embraces but one species, indigenous to North 
America, a lactescent tree, intermediate between the fustic, (Moms 
tinctoria,) and the bread-fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa.) The 
latter is a native of the South Sea Islands, growing to the height 
of thirty feet, and abounding throughout, in a very tenacious milky 
juice. Its fruit, when fully ripe, is nearly round, from twelve to 
twenty inches in girth, with a rough, reticulated surface, and is covered with a 
thin skin. The eatable part, which is of a snowy whiteness, lies between the 
skin and a core, and has somewhat the consistency of newly-made bread ; hence 
the name. 
Closely allied to the maclura, is the celebrated Arbol de la Vaca, or cow-tree, 
i^Galactodendrum utile,) of South America, sometimes growing to the height of 
one hundred feet, with a trunk six feet in diameter, and having leaves resembling 
those of the laurel. It yields a profuse supply of nutritious milk, by making an 
incision in the bark, which tastes somewhat like that of a cow, but slightly bit- 
terish to the taste, and producing a disagreeable clamminess on the lips. 
To the same natural order belongs the Jamaica bread-nut, (Brosium alicas- 
trum,) a native of the woods of Cuba and Jamaica, the leaves and younger 
branches of which are full of gum, and afford an excellent fodder for cattle. The 
nuts or fruit, when roasted, are sometimes used instead of bread, and have a taste 
not unlike the European chesnut. Boiled with fish or flesh, they are also eaten 
as food in times of scarcity, by the poor, and prove nutritious and pleasant to the 
taste. 
