AMY 



ANA 



pericarpium, a drupaceous, roundish berry j and 

 the seed, a round, shining nut. 



The species are : 1. A. elemifera, Gum-elemi 

 Tree ; 2. A. maritima, Small Shrubby Sweet- 

 Wood ; 3. A. Gileadensis, Balsam of Gilcad 

 Tree; 4. A. Opobabamum, Balsam of Mecca 

 Tree; 5. A. loxifera, Poison Ash. 



The first species rises in a shrubby branching 

 manner to the height of about six feet. The. 

 leaflets arc pointed, stiff and shining; the leaves 

 being opposite on peduncles two inches long ; 

 and at the ends of the branches four or five 

 slender stalks issue, set with many very small 

 white flowers, in a little corymb. The petals 

 are inflex at the tip. The fruit is the size and 

 figure of an olive, and the colour of a pome- 

 granate, having an odoriferous pulp within it. 

 It is a native of Carolina and Brazil, and af- 

 fords the resin known under the name of Gum- 

 elemi. 



The second species is a shrub of theDwarf kind, 

 branching, with a juice like that of the former, 

 but pleasanter, and smelling like Rue. The 

 leaflets shining, ovate, and finely notched, but 

 scarcely an inch long ; the racemes, as in the 

 former ; the fruit twice as big, of a black co • 

 lour, with a purple juice. It is found on rocks 

 by the sea-side about the Havannah. 



The third, or Balsam of Gilead Tree, is a 

 shrub with purplish branches, a little striated, 

 having protuberant buds loaded with balsamic 

 resin. The leaves are crowded, petioled, ter- 

 nate, smooth, and the leaflets sessile, quite en- 

 tire, lanceolate, somewhat acute, that at the 

 end larger than the others, wedge-lanceolate. 

 The flowers proceed from the same buds, by 

 threes. Proper peduncles one-flowered, shorter 

 than the leaf, sheathed at bottom. The bracte 

 extremely minute, slightly bifid. It is doubled 

 by some whether this~be distinct from the fol- 

 lowing species. The Balsam of Gilead is ex- 

 tracted from its buds. 



The fourth species is mostly represented as 

 rising to the height of a moderate shrub. Ac- 

 cording to Bruce, one of these was five feet two 

 inches high from the part where the red root 

 begins, or which is buried in the earth, to that 

 where it divides itself first into branches. The 

 trunk at the thickest part was about five inches 

 diameter; the wood light and open, and inca- 

 pable of being polished, covered with a smooth 

 bark of blueish white casts, like that of a stan- 

 dard cherry-tree in good health. Indeed a part 

 of the bark is a reddish brown : it flattens at 

 top like trees that are exposed to snow blasts or 

 sea air, which gives it a stunted appearance. It 

 is remarkable for a penury of leaves. The 

 flowers are like those of the Acacia Tree, white 



and round, only that three hang upon three 

 filaments or stalks, where the Acacia has but 

 one. Two of these flowers fall off and leave, a 

 single fruit ; the branches that bear this are the 

 shoots of the present year ; they are of a reddish 

 colour, and tougher than the old wood. It af- 

 fords the Opobalsam, or Balsam of Mecca. 



In the filth species the leaves are pinnate ; the 

 petioles long and five-leaved. The leaflets ovate- 

 oblong, evergreen, quite entire, opposite with 

 a terminating one, all pcdicelled. The racemes 

 several, axillary, filiform, with scattered flowers. 

 Catesby describes it as a small tree, with a 

 light-coloured smooth bark, and the fruit as 

 hanging in bunches, shaped like a pear, of a 

 purple colour, covering an oblong hard stone. 

 From the trunk a liquor distils as olack as ink, 

 which the inhabitants say is a poison. Birds feed 

 on the fruit. It is a native of America. 



Culture. — The propagation in these shrubby 

 trees is the best accomplished by sowing the 

 seeds, which must be procured from the places 

 of their natural growth, in the early spring 

 months, in pots of good rich mould, and then 

 plunging them into a good bark hot-bed, very 

 slight waterings being occasionally given. They 

 may likewise be raised from cuttings from the 

 young branches, which should be planted in the 

 early spring, in pots filled with good earth, well 

 closed about them, and immediately placed in 

 the hot-bed, a very little water being given at 

 the time of planting, and afterwards according 

 as there may be a necessity for it. 



From the very tender nature of these plants 

 they require to be kept constantly in the stove, 

 and to have the same attention bestowed upon 

 them as others of the exotic tender kinds. They 

 are chiefly cultivated for the purpose of afford- 

 ing curiosity and variety in collections of exotics. 



ANACARDIUM, a genus comprising a plant 

 of the tender exotic tree kind ; the Acajou, or 

 Cashew nut. 



It belongs to the class and order Pohjgamia 

 Moncecia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Ho/oracece. 



Its characters are : that it has hermaphrodite 

 and male flowers, cither mixed with the herma- 

 phrodites, or on a distinct tree. The calyx of 

 the former is a five-leaved perianthium ; the 

 leaflets ovate, concave, coloured, erect, and de- 

 ciduous ; the corolla has five petals, lanceolate, 

 acute, three times as long as the calyx, upright 

 at bottom, and reflex at the end ; the stamina 

 have ten filaments, united at the base and up- 

 right, nine of them capillary, shorter than the 

 calyx, one thicker, double the length of the 

 others, lying on the germ in front; the antherae 

 roundish : in ihe longer filament large and fer- 



