ANN 



A N I 



feet in height, and is frequently rather a shrub : 

 the trunk is smooth, and the branches spread- 

 ing and round : the leaves alternate, acuminate, 

 entire, nerved, smooth on both sides, glaucous 

 tck : the petioles short, round, smooth, 

 ; kened at the base: the flowers peduncled, 

 usually in pairs, oblong, acuminate, green with- 

 out and whitish within : the peduncles below 

 the petioles, longer and one-flowered: the calyx 

 one-leafed and triangular : the petals three, lan- 

 < ci 'late, triquetrous, plane-convex without, sharp 

 al the tip, excavated within at the base, dark 

 purple, smooth : the nectary none : the fila- 

 ments scarcely any : the anthers imbricate, 

 pressed close to the germ, obtuse and two- 

 valved : the styles short, thick and imbricate : 

 the stigmas oblong and oblique : the berry oval : 

 the scales adnate, roundish, blueish, resembling 

 subimbricate teats : the seeds flatted a little, 

 ■black with a white scar on the side, wrapped in 

 a succulent cottony substance. It is a native of 

 both the East and West Indies. The fruit is 

 sweet, and eaten in those countries. 



The fourth sort grows to a very large tree 

 in South America, and is well furnished with 

 branches : the leaves are bright green, much 

 larger than those of any other species : the fruit 

 is oblong, scaly on the outside, and of a dark 

 purple colour when ripe : the flesh is soft and 

 sweet, and has many brown seeds intermixed 

 with it, which are very smooth and shining. It 

 is esteemed by the Peruvians as one of their most 

 delicate fruits. 



The fifth species is a small tree, only a fathom 

 inheight, -or little more: the branches round, 

 scabrous, ash-coloured : the twigs smooth, al- 

 ternate and patulous : the bark tenacious, and 

 may be drawn out into long threads for making 

 ropes : the leaves are petioled, alternate, spread- 

 ing, ovate, scarcely acuminate, entire, beauti- 

 fully nerved, very smooth, coriaceous, and a 

 little recurved : the flowers peduncled, towards 

 the ends of the branches : the peduncle solitary, 

 the length of the petioles, round, one-flowered, 

 below the petiole, smooth : the flower yellow, 

 the same size as in the second : the calyx three- 

 parted, almost triangular : -the petals three, con- 

 cave, roundish with a short point, thick, coria- 

 ceous, veined on the outside, smooth and paler 

 on the inside, with blood-red spots at the base : 

 the nectary consists of three petals, bhorter by 

 half than the three others, narrower, acute, 

 concave, white without, dark blood-red within : 

 the filaments crowded, fixed to the receptacle 

 below the pistil : the anthers oblong, angular, 

 blunt and white : the germs crowded into aeon- 

 vex, green body : the styles scarcely any : the 

 ,ii;:mas blunt, pafe-j the berry heart-shaped, 



very smooth, with a coriaceous, pulpv rind. It 

 is native of Jamaica. It is known bv the name 

 of Alii gator Apple, and, from the softness of 

 the wood, Cork-wood. 



The sixth has the trunk seldom bigger than 

 the small of a man's leg, and rises about ten or 

 twelve feet high, having a smooth, greenish- 

 brown bark. In March, when the leaves begin 

 to sprout, its blossoms begin to appear, consist- 

 ing each of six greenish-white petals. The fruit 

 grows in clusters of three, and sometimes four 

 together: they are at first green, and when ripe 

 yellow, covered with a thin smooth skin, which 

 contains a yellow pulp, of a sweet luscious 

 taste ; in the middle of which lie in two rows, 

 twelve seeds, divided by so many thin mem- 

 branes. All parts of the tree have a rank, if 

 not a fetid smell. It is observed by Miller that 

 this is rather a shrub than a tree, and that the 

 flowers in this country are of a rusty purple 

 colour. 



The seventh is a middle-sized tree, with spread- 

 ing branches : the leaves quite entire, alternate, 

 petioled : the flower pale, single on binatc pe- 

 duncles : the petals three, oblong-conical, in- 

 curved and erect : the germs superior, uniting, 

 as they ripen, into an oblong-conical berry, five 

 inches long, red and smooth on the outside, 

 filled with a whitish, sweet, eatable pulp, but 

 inferior in flavour to the third sort. It is a na- 

 tive of the East Indies. 



Culture. — All these plants are capable of being 

 raised from seeds. In the more hardy kind, as 

 the sixth species, the culture may be effected 

 by seeds procured from North America, which 

 should be sown in the autumn in pots of light 

 rich earth, and sheltered during the winter sea- 

 son by means of a green-house for two or three 

 years, when the plants may be turned out of 

 the pots, and placed in the open ground in warm 

 screened situations in the spring, for the pur- 

 pose of remaining. As the seed of this sort is 

 very slow in Vegetating, if the plants do not 

 appear the first year, the mould in the pots 

 should not be disturbed, for they frequcntlv 

 come up afterwards. Their vegetation, however, 

 proceeds much quicker when the pots are pro- 

 tected in the house in the winter season, and 

 plunged in a gentle hot-bed in the early 

 spring. 



In the tender sorts the propagation is best ef- 

 fected by sowing the seeds in pots of rich light 

 mould in the autumn, and placing them in a 

 bark hot-bed under glasses about February. 

 When the plants are risen to the height of three 

 or four inches they should be pricked out into 

 other separate pots, a little water given them, 

 and then plunged into the bark bed, being after- 



