558 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICKTUM. PART III. 



against a wall in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, in 18o2, and is found quite hardy. 

 We anticipate the hardiness of most of the other species from their habits ; viz. from their being 

 generally deciduous, in the open air, in the neighbourhood of London ; producing their shoots ra- 

 p'uUy, and so early in the season as to allow time for their ripening before the approach of frost ; 

 and from their having no visible buds in the shoots, but numerous germs in the roots : a proof 

 that a great part of the vitality of the plant is under ground, and, consequently, comparatively safe 

 from the influence of the weather. 



GENUS III. 



n 



DUVAU'J Kth. THE DUVAUA. Lin. Sysst. Polygamia Monoe v cia. 



Identification. Kth. Gen. Tereb., p. 8. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 74. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 76. : Lindley in Dot. 

 Reg., t. 1.568. 1573. 1580. 



Synonymes. Schlnus sp. Andr. ; ^myris sp. Cav. 



Derivation. Called Duvatirt, " after M. Duvau, a French botanist, known as the editor of the 

 original edition of Richard's Analyse du Fruit ; and for some observations on f'erdnica." (Lindleu 

 in Rot. Reg., t. 1568.) 



Gen.- Char., &c. Calyx persistent, with 4 5 segments. Corolla of 4 5 concave petals. Sexes 

 mono?ciously polygamous. Stamens 8 10, inserted under a pitcher-shaped calycine disk, which 

 has as many sinuses and as many teeth as there are stamens : these are opposite the sinuses, and 

 half of them opposite the petals, and half of them alternate with them. Anthers in the fruit- 

 bearing flowers barren. Ovary conical, including one ovule, barren in some flowers. Styles 34. 

 Stigmas capitate. Fruit a globose drupe, with a leathery nut, whose seed is pendulous, and has flat 

 cotyledons, and a long radicle. Chilian trees and shrubs, becoming spiny as they advance in growth; 

 their leaves simple, and their flowers disposed in axillary racemes, many in a raceme. (Dec. Prod , 

 ii. p. 74., and Lindley, in Bot. Reg., t. 1568. 1573. 1580.) There are four species in cultivation, 

 which are all very handsome evergreen bushes, with bright shining foliage ; the leaves rather small, 

 oblong, and toothed; with numerous small flowers of a greenish yellow, and small dry berries. 



Properties and Uses. The foliage emits, when bruised, a strong but not 

 unpleasant odour of the nature of turpentine; and it is probable that this 

 odour pervades all parts of the plants, especially those in which the sap is 

 most abundant. A pretty phenomenon is exhibited by the leaves of D. 

 ovata, and, doubtless, by those of every species of Duvaua and of Schinus, 

 when thrown upon water, both in a whole state and when broken into pieces. 

 The leaves, or parts of leaves, " after lying a short time, will be found to 

 start and jump as if they were alive, while at the instant of each start a jet 

 of oily matter is discharged into the water. This circumstance appears to be 

 owing to some peculiar irritability of the parenchyma of the leaves, which, 

 when acted upon by water, causes the turpentine sacs, that abound in them, 

 to empty themselves with violence ; and the movements of the leaves may 

 be ascribed to the recoil produced by the discharge. Thus we have in every 

 leaf a sort of vegetable battery, which will keep up its fire until the stock of 

 ammunition is expended." (Bot. Reg.) The movements of the leaves upon 

 the water have been compared to a fleet of ships employed in manoeuvring, 

 or to persons engaged in dancing. (Gard. Mag., vol. ix. p. 377.) Dr. 

 Gillies states that the Pehuenco Indians prepare by fermentation an 

 intoxicating liquor from the fruit of D. latifolia, or a nearly allied species. 

 (Bot. Reg.) 



Propagation and Culture. Seeds have been produced plentifully in the 

 London Horticultural Society's garden by D. dcpendens, trained to a south 

 wall ; and seeds of D. latifdlia are often imported from Chile. Plants of 

 this genus may also be multiplied by cuttings of the ripe wood struck in 

 sand, under a bell-glass, in a gentle heat. The species " will not bear the 

 climate of London without protection from frost; but, if trained to a wall, 

 and sheltered by a roof of thatch in winter, they succeed perfectly : in short, 

 they are about as hardy as myrtles." (Bot. Reg.) D. ovata, and, it is pro- 

 bable, all the species, " will grow in any soil or situation which is dry in 

 summer, and well drained in winter; and would probably succeed in the 

 crevices of rocks in Devonshire or Cornwall." (Bot. Reg.) D. dependens, D. 

 ovata, and D. latifolia have flowered in the London Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, the two former in July, and plentifully; the last in June and July, 

 but, it seems by the figure in Bot. Reg., much less abundantly than the other 



