MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. " 243 



The shell is converted into drinking cups, sugar dishes, &c. 

 The water is pleasant, and used to quench thirst. Before the 

 fruit is quite ripe, the nut is soft, and may be eaten with a 

 spoon ; but when ripe it is hard. Like other nuts, it is apt 

 to give a pain in the stomach. A sort of tarts, or cheesecakes, 

 is made from the dry nut-kernels, rasped or pared down. 

 This may also be used for emulsions, instead of almonds ; and, 

 by expression or decoction, these kernels yield a considerable 

 quantity of oil. 



The prickly pole is a native of low and upland valleys ; it 

 rises to about thirty feet. The trunk and leaves are beset 

 with spines, in form of needles The fruit is of the size of hic- 

 cory nuts, and very hard. The black people boil the nuts in 

 their messes ; and, if boiled in water, a yellow thick oil, or 

 butter, is obtained. 



88. Cocos Butvracea. — The Mackaw Tree. 



This was originally brought from Guinea by the Negroes. 

 The trunk is straight, and guarded by numerous long spines, 

 or needles. The fruit is triangular, yellow, and as big as a 

 plum. The nut, or kernel, by decoction yields the oleum 

 palmse of the shops. 



The fruit of this and the former serve to feed swine, and 

 are greedily eaten by the wild hog, of which there are still 

 many in the interior parts of the island. 



89. Areca Oleracea. Cabbage- Tree. 



This is a native of the woods. The trunk is straight, and 

 marked with rings at the vestigioe of the footstalks of the 

 leaves. These leaves spread out at the summit in form of an 

 umbrella, and are about three yards in length, and pinnated. 

 The footstalks at the bottom are broad, and form a green 

 trunk above the woody or true summit. As the lower leaves 

 drop, the broad part of the footstalks forms a hollow trough. 



Q 2 



