TEREBINTHACE/E. 229 



SPONDIAS DULCIS, a native of the Mauritius and the Socie- 

 ty Islands, has been introduced, and at present grows in the 

 Botanic Garden at Bath. 



VII. BURSERA. 



Flowers polygamous. Calyx small, 3-5-partite, 

 with the lobes obtuse. Petals 3-5, during aestivation 

 valvular. Stamens 6-8. Disk annular, subocto- 

 crenated. Ovary ovate, 3-celled : style short, 3-fid 

 at the apex. Drupe oblong, 3-stoned, with the husk 

 succulent, 3-valved ; 2 of the stones abortive, and 1 

 fertile, fleshy, 2-ovuled, 1 -seeded. Seed pendulous, 

 exalbuminous ; cotyledons leafy corrugato-plicate ; 

 radicle straight, superior. De Cand. 



American balsam-bearing trees: leaves impari-pinnate, or 

 simple from the odd leaflet only being present. Named, after 

 Joachim Burser, Professor of Botany at Sara, in Naples. 



1. Bursera gummifera. West-Indian Birch-tree. 



Leaves deciduous generally impari-pinnate, leaflets 

 ovate acute membranaceous, racemes axillary. 



Terebinthus major betulse cortice, fructu triangulari, Sloane, 

 t. 199 Terebinthus foliis cordato-ovatis pinnatis, cortice Isevi 

 rufescente, floribus masculis spicatis, Browne, 345 Bursera 

 gummifera, Jacq. Amer. 94. t. 65. Swartz, Obs. 130. 

 HAB. Common in the plains. 

 FL. March, April, with the new leaves. 

 A tree, usually of moderate height, with the bark of a reddish 

 colour, and the epidermis scaling off. Leaves impari-pinnate : 

 leaflets 3-4-paired, petiolulated, ovato-oblong, acuminate, en- 

 tire, glabrous, shining above, nerved and veined : common pe- 

 tioles, villous when the leaves are young, angulated, subarticu- 

 lated at the insertion of the leaflets. The flowers make their 

 appearance with the young leaves in Spring, small, not showy. 

 $ Raceme subterminal, axillary, shorter than the common 

 petiole, several together, compound, many-flowered : common 

 peduncle terete, thickish, villous : pedicels filiform, several to- 

 gether. Calyx minute, 5-partite. Petals 5, lanceolate, reflected. 

 Stamens 5, 8, or 10, of nearly the same length as the petals ; 

 anthers yellow, linear. Ovary : style 3-fid, caducous, or 0. 

 <j> Raceme as in the male, but the flowers are less numerous. 

 Calyx minute 3-partite. Petals 3, ovate, acute, patent, decidu- 

 ous. Stamens 6. Ovary ovate ; style short, thick, 3-fid : 

 stigmata simple. Drupe "sub-3-lobate, 3-celled, 3- valved : only 



