176 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Note. — Achras sapota, Wight, a tree of this order, bears a pear-like fruit, 

 Avhich, when a little over-ripe, is sweet and edible. Native of Panama. 



Bassia latifolia, Koxb., another tree of this order, is one of the Butter Trees. 

 The flowers are used for food ; a wine is also made from them. By distilling, 

 a spirit comes over, and by expression, an oil is obtained from the seeds. 

 Native of Bengal. 



The Bassia Parkii is the butter tree of Africa, which supplies material for 

 candles and soap. 



The Mimusops elata, the Cow Tree of Para, in northeastern parts of Brazil, 

 — is another of this order, the sap of which resembles rich cream. The 

 fiuit, of about the size of an ordinary apple, is edible. 



Order XXXIV. EBENACE^. 



Flowers seldom perfect, usually dioecious, in crowded cymes or scat- 

 tered along the ends of the branchlets ; calyx 3-6-parted ; corolla on 

 the receptacle ; petals united, urn-shaped, leathery, smooth within and 

 pubescent outside ; limb 3-6-parted, imbricated in the bud ; stamens 

 inserted on the bottom of the corolla, twice as many as the number of 

 lobes in the corolla, occasionally equal or 4 times as many ; filaments 

 free or in pairs ; ovary sessile, 3 to many-celled. Fruit a berry, globu- 

 lar or ovoid, succulent, few-seeded. Seeds inverted ; testa membra- 

 nous. Leaves alternate, leathery, entire, and without stipules. Trees 

 and shrubs, with hard wood. 



No. of genera, 6. 



DIOSPYROS, L. Flowers dioecious and polygamous ; cah^ 4-6-lobed ; 

 corolla bell-shaped, 4-6-parted, rolled together in the bud ; stamens 

 4-8, or numerous ; filaments short. Fruit globular, an inch to an inch 

 and a half in diameter, surrounded at the base by a fleshy, persistent 

 calyx, 4-8-celled, with 8 to 12 seeds. Tree. 



1. D. Virginiana, L. (Persimmon.) Trunk 30 to 50 feet in height, 10 to 

 18 inches in diameter, forming a symmetrical head. Leaves elliptical, bluntly 

 acuminate, entire, dark green, paler underneath, smooth, and 3 to 5 inches 

 long; petioles and veins somewhat hairy, glaucous underneath ; calyx 4-parted ; 

 stamens 8. Flowers greenish yellow. Fruit globular, an inch to an inch and 

 a half in diameter. Sap-wood yellowish white, light and soft ; heart-wood 

 dark, heavier, and harder. 



2. D. ebenura, Retz. (Ebony.) Trunk 50 to 80 feet high, 2 to 3 feet in 

 diameter, branching into a beautiful head. Leaves elliptical, pointed, and 

 mucronate. Fruit large, 1 to 2 inches in diameter, edible. AVood black, very 

 close-grained, sinks in water, and takes a fine polish. 



There are many species of the Diospyros, all yielding a hard, dark wood. 

 The wood of the D. ebenum, however, is the wood known as ebony, or 

 iron-ivood. 



3. D. melanoxylon, Roxb., produces the black ebony found native in southern 

 Asia. Wood very hard, heavy, sinks in water, and takes a fine polish. 



Geography. — The Diospyros Virginiana is a native of North America, 

 throughout the eastern part of the north temperate zone up to 40° of north 



