CHAP. II. DESSEKT FRUITS. 211 



moyer. Its taste, indeed, surpasses that of every other fruit, and 

 Haenke was quite right when he called it the masterpiece of 

 nature." * 



Dr. Lindley observes : 



" Fenelle says, one European Pear or Plum is worth all the 

 Cherimoyers of Peru." f 



Plants are to be met with in the gardens of the Agri-Horti- 

 cultural Society as well as in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, 

 where they were introduced a great many years ago, but their 

 cultivation has been attended with no success. Dr. Jameson 

 states also in his Eeport that the Cherimoyer had been intro- 

 duced into the Saharunpore Gardens, but had been found not to 

 succeed there. Whence perhaps it may be fairly concluded 

 there is little prospect of this fruit ever being produced in India, 

 unless possibly upon some spot on the slopes of the Himalaya, 

 or on the Nilgherries, where plants have recently been raised 

 from the seeds imported by Mr. Markham. 



DILLENIACE^E. 



Dillenia speciosa. 

 CJiulta. 



A tree of considerable size, native of India ; bears a dense 

 head of exceedingly handsome foliage, with large noble leaves, 

 and produces in July great beautiful, pure white, fragrant 

 flowers, succeeded by fruit, having as they hang upon the tree 

 a resemblance to enormous green Apples. These are gathered 

 for use about the middle of September. The part made use of 

 for the table is not the fruit itself, but the large thickened sepals 

 of the calyx, by which it is firmly enclosed. Tasted raw these 

 have the exact flavour of a very sour unripe Apple, and when 

 cooked with sugar have also exactly the flavour of the same 

 fruit cooked in the same way. The great objection to them is 

 the large quantity of fibre they contain. They are very commonly 

 mixed as an ingredient in curries, especially in those made with 

 prawns, to which they impart a most agreeable flavour. 



Plants are propagated by seed. 



* Travels in Peru and India,' p. 337. 



f * Transactions of the London Hort. Society,' vol. v. p. 102. 



p 2 



