4 DR. B. SEEMANN ON THE CRESCENTIACEiE. 
Properties and Uses. 
All Crescentiacece may be termed ornamental plants, the fine foliage, elegant flowers, 
and curious fruit of which, have already procured for their order a fair representation 
in our gardens. We cultivate (1859) Colea floribunda, Boj. ; two species of Phyllar- 
thron (P. Bojerianum, DeCand. and P. Comorense, DeCand. = P. Poivreanum, DeCand.) ; 
Tancecium parasiticum, Swartz ; all the known species of Crescentia, and Kigelia pmnata, 
DeCand. Parmentiera cereifera, Seem, was in 1845 at Kew, but has since been lost. 
Several Crescentiacece furnish excellent timber ; and considerable praise is given in this 
respect to the Kigelia pinnata, DeCand., of which canoes, posts and pillars, etc. are made 1 , 
and which, not only as an umbraculiferous, but also as a sacred tree, is held in high esteem 
in Africa. Kotschy, speaking of the kingdom of Nubia, says : " On moonlight nights 
the negroes celebrate their religious festivals under this tree and the Bosxoellia serrata, 
Roxb. As soon as the moon rises, they form circles under the oldest trees, and begin to 
dance, sing, and beat large drums, whilst the women supply them with the slightly 
intoxicating merisa (beer made of Sorghum). These festivals are repeated every month, 
and extend over several nights, during which time pitchers filled with merisa are placed 
around the trunks, and some of the same beverage poured on the roots of the trees. As 
symbols of special veneration, high poles made of Kigelia-wood are erected before the 
houses of the great chiefs 2 ." The genus Crescentia has a fruit with a hard woody 
shell, which in Crescentia Cujete, Linn. (=(7. cuneifolia, Gardn.), the Calabash-tree 
of the British colonists, is so large and durable, that it admits of being converted into pails, 
bottles, pans, cups, sieves, ladles, spoons, and various other household articles 3 . In 
Panama I have seen milk-pans made of it, measuring thirteen inches across ; and Hum- 
boldt mentioned to me that during his travels in America, Bonpland and he commonly 
m 
used one of these vessels as their wash-hand basin. Even the shell of Crescentia alata, 
H. B. K., the Tecomate of the Mexicans, though much smaller than that of Crescentia 
Cujete, Linn, is used in Mazatlan and other parts of Mexico as a drinking-cup 4 . The 
shell, or rather rind, of Kigelia pinnata, DeCand., after having been hardened by drying, 
serves as frames for drums in Africa 6 ; and it is not unlikely that the account given by 
the missionary Knoblecher, of the shell of a fruit found on the White Nile 6 and devoted 
to the same purpose, refers to it. The fruit of the Palo de velas, the famous Candle-tree 
of the Isthmus of Panama (Parmentiera cereifera, Seem.), has an apple-like smell, and 
fattens cattle 7 , whilst that of the Quauhilote (Parmentiera edulis, DeCand. = Crescentia 
oculeata, II. B. K.), resembling a cucumber in shape, is eaten by the Mexicans 9 . The 
berry of Tancecium lilacinnm, Seem. (=Besleria ? violacea et B. ?J ccerulea, Aubl.) 
is also edible 9 ; and the subacid pulp of the fruit of Crescentia Cujete, Linn, affords food 
to the negroes 10 . Tussac believed that the fruit of Crescentia cucurbitina, Linn., a 
common sea-side shrub of tropical America, contained a deadly poison, and hence he 
Mem 
Seemann 
in Mus. Kew ; H. Barth in Bonpl. iv. p. 292. 2 Kotschy b Bonpl. iv. p. 304. 
, Herald, p. 183. 4 Seemann in Hooker's Journ. and Kew Misc. vi. p. 276 
1 Barth in lit. ad auct. -* Kotschy in Bonpl. iv. p. 304. T Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 183. 
• DeCandolle, Prodromus, ix. p. 244; Lindley, Veg. Kingd. p. 674. * Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 182. 
10 Lindley, Veg. Kingd. p. 6/4. 
