270 XXXI. GUTTIFEIkE. 



adnate or terminal, extrorse or rarely introrse, sometimes sessile, or plunged in the 

 mass of the filaments, opening longitudinally, or by an apical pore. OVARY rudi- 

 mentary, or more or less developed. FLOWERS ? and $ : STAMINODES or STAMENS 

 surrounding the ovary, often definite, fewer and less coherent than those of the $ 

 flower. OVARY seated on a flat receptacle or a fleshy disk, 2-raany-celled, rarely 1- 

 celled ; stigmas as many as cells, sessile or sub-sessile, radiating, or coherent and 

 peltate, or radiating at the top of a single elongated style, sometimes distinct on as 

 many styles ; ovules l-oo in the cells, fixed to the central angle, or erect and basal, 

 anatropous. ' FRUIT usually between fleshy and coriaceous, sometimes indehiscent, 

 berried or drupaceous, sometimes with as many septicidal valves as cells. SEEDS 

 large, often arillate or strophiolate ; testa thin, coriaceous, or rarely spongy. EMBRYO 

 straight, exalbutninous, filling the seed, sometimes with a voluminous radicle and 

 minute or scaly cotyledons, sometimes divided into 2 cotyledons, which are connate, 

 or separable with difficulty ; radicle very short, inferior. 



PRINCIPAL GENERA. 



"Cluaia. Garcinia. Oalophyllum. Havetiopsis. Cbrysochlamys. 



Tovomita. Khecdia. Mesua. Maminca. Quiina. 



Guttiferfc are very near Hypericinece and Marcgraviaceee (see these families). They are equally close 

 to C'amvlliacea; in their more or less distinct sepals, the aestivation of their petals and connection of fila- 

 ments ; they are distinguished by their opposite leaves, their usually diclinous four-meroua flowers with 

 decussate sepals and petals, their straight embryo, and often inconspicuous cotyledons. All the Guttifercc 

 are intertropical, except a few natives of the warm regions of North America ; they are more numerous in 

 America than in Asia, and are rather rare in Africa. 



Guttifeia; owe their name to the yellow or greenish juice which flows on the incision of their stem, 

 and which contains an acrid resin held in solution by a volatile oil, sometimes mixed with a gummy 

 principle. The acidulous-sugary berries of several species are eatable. The seeds of others contain a 

 fixed oil, and the wood of all is durable, and hence valuable. The inspissated juice of Hebradendrun 

 cambogioides, a Ceylon tree, is the saffron-red colored, opaque, smooth, shining substance called gamboge, 

 which is a rich golden-yellow pigment and a powerful purgative. The same is the case with Clwia rosea, 

 a West Indian tree, whose blackish bitter juice, thickening in the air, is frequently used instead of 

 scammony. That of C.Jlava, which is also cultivated in European hot-houses, is praised in Jamaica as a 

 vulnerary. The berries of Calophyllum are sweet, acidulous, and agreeable. C. inophyllum, an Indian 

 plant, affords a purgative and emetic resin, and its root is considered diuretic. That of C. ttiriferum, a 

 native of Peru, emits a balsamic odour when burned, and is used for incense. C. C'alala, of the Antilles, 

 yields a juice (ticcitc de Maria) which rivals copal. Mesna upeciosa and fcrrea, of India, have very hard 

 and excellent woods ; their aromatic and bitter root and bark are powerful sudorifics. The fruit of the 

 Mangostecn (Garcinia mangostana), a native of the Moluccas (now introduced into the Antilles), possesses 

 a bitter and astringent rind, but a delicious pulp which is refreshing and antibilious. The fruit of th 

 Mammea is also eatable, the water distilled from its flowers (can de Creole) is eminently digestive, and the 

 juice of its young shoots yields a very agreeable vinous liquor. 



