MH HIERN, ON EBENACE^E. 245 



Local names, Faux Magostan in Mauritius, Lolin in Amboina, Sapotte negro, &c. 



Philippine Islands, Sonnerat, Blanco, flowers in July; Celebes, Jacquin; Amboina, Rumf. 

 Cultivated in Mauritius, at Calcutta, and Malacca, Maingay! 975 ; introduced into England 

 and France &c., where it requires a hot-house for protection. Occurs also in cultivated 

 places in tropical America, perhaps introduced; Mexico, Orizaba, Botteri! 909; Vera Cruz, 

 Galeotti! 4609 (2000ft. alt.); Cuernavaca, Humboldt and Bonpland! 3984 (5000ft. alt.); 

 Lizardo, Wawra! 249; Miradon, Wawra! 1029; Brazil, Rio Janeiro, Schott and Pohlf 

 4568; Cuba, Richard; Montserrat, Ryan! ex Hb. Vahl. 



Blanco loc. cit. states that the tree in the Philippine Islands grows to a height of 

 24 30 feet and is carefully cultivated as well as indigenous. He says that the flesh of 

 the fruit is blackish, and although it is eaten the taste is not well flavoured, that the 

 leaves have caustic properties, and that the unripe fruit is reported to poison fish. An 

 evergreen tree 30 50 ft. . high with light even-grained wood grown at Cordova, Mexico, 

 and called Zapotillo, probably belongs to this species; a specimen exists in the Kew Museum. 

 The type of this species cannot be found in Retz' herbarium at Lurid in Sweden. 



126. DIOSPTROS SAMOENSIS, A. Gray in Amer. Acad. V. p. 326 (1862). 



D. foliis alternis, ovali- vel ovato-oblongis, apice obtuse angustatis, basi angustatis, coriaceis, 

 glabris, petiolatis ; floribus masculis 3 9-nis, tetrameris, pubescentibus, calyce campanulato, 

 4>-Jldo, lobis obtusis, corolla campanulatd brevi, 4<-fidd, lobis obtusis ; staminibus 8 10, glabris ; 

 floribus femineis solitariis, petiolatis, ovario hirsute, 8-loculari; fructibus globosis glabris, 

 calycis fructiferi aucti tubo concavo depresso-cupuliformi, intus margine elevato ; seminum albu- 

 mine non ruminato. 



Branches glabrous or young ones scarcely puberulous. Leaves alternate, glabrous, oval 

 or ovate-oblong, coriaceous, obtusely narrowed at apex, somewhat narrowed at base, 3 6 in. long 

 by 1J 3 in. wide; midrib depressed above; lateral and net- veins raised, slender; petioles 

 i | in. long. 



<5 . Peduncles 3 9-flowered ; flowers tetramerous, - J in. long, ovoid in bud. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, in. long, shortly puberulous, 4-fid ; corolla silky outside, 4-fid; stamens 8 10, 

 glabrous, unequal, some in pairs. 



9 . Calyx-lobes rounded ; calyx about equalling the corolla ; peduncles solitary, \ J in. long, 

 puberulous, 1-flowered, equalling the flower; ovary hairy, 8-celled ; fruit globose, f lin. in 

 diameter, glabrous ; fruiting calyx-tube flat or cupuliform with a raised border receiving the 

 base of the fruit, and with 4 obtuse spreading or recurved lobes, glabrous, about f in. wide ; seeds 

 | in. long, closely packed together ; albumen not ruminated, white. 



Navigators' Islands, South Pacific Exploring Expedition ! ; Friendly Islands, W. H. Harvey !, 

 (caustic berry for burning ringworms, &c.) " Tutuna." The foliage and fruiting calyx resemble 

 D. Ebenum, Koenig, but the plant is of a paler green colour and the flowers shorter. 



According to the Rev. Thomas Powell in Seemann's Journal of Botany, vol. vi. p. 281 (1868), 

 the wood of this large tree is hard and used for axe-handles and spear-points ; the fruit is used 

 for poisoning fish ; and the secretion of the fruit is a vesicatory and turns the human skin black. 

 Also the Samoan children are said to insert the midrib of the cocoa-nut leaflet into the fruit and 

 apply the liquid thus obtained to their arms to produce blisters and eventually permanent pro- 

 minences which they consider an ornament. Mr Powell describes the flowers as hermaphrodite. 



