DR. B. SEEMANN ON THE CRESCENTIACEiE. 5 
thought it necessary to warn against it hy changing the specific name of the plant into 
that of Crescentia lethifera. " I know myself," he says, " that some English soldiers in 
garrison at the Merebalis, who, having found the fruit possessed a cucumber-like taste, 
boiled and ate it, were seized with dreadful colic, and nearly all perished " ". As this 
is the only instance of poisonous properties recorded of this order, the statement must be 
received with caution ; possibly some fruits of the Manchineel-tree, which generally grows 
in company with Crescentia cuenrbitina, Linn., may have been mixed with those alluded 
to, and caused the accident. Colea Telfair ia, Boj. is extensively cultivated in Madagascar 
on account of its fleshy fruit, which has an agreeable flavour, and is highly esteemed as an 
esculent I2 . Phyllarthron Bojerianwn, DeCand. also yields an edible fruit 13 . The natives 
of Guiana extract a violet colour from the fruit of " Emosse* bereoy " (Tancecium lilacinum, 
Seem.), with which they dye their cotton cloth, their bark and straw furniture u . The juice 
of the fruit of the common Calabash-tree dyes silk black ,s . The fruit of the " Coco de 
Mono " of Topo, Venezuela ( Crescen t ia cucurbit in a, Linn.), diffuses, when ripe, an agreeable 
odour, which attracts monkeys, birds, and other animals partial to the fruit ,6 . The medi- 
cinal properties of some species are in repute among the natives of various countries, though 
they have not yet been recognized in our pharmacopoeias. The Philippine Islanders 
consider a decoction of the leaves of Crescentia alata, II. B. K. (= C. trifolia, Blanco) an 
effectual remedy for haemoptysis 17 . The pulp of the fruit of the same species, boiled with 
sugar, is administered internally by the Mexicans in complaints of the chest (con- 
sumption?) 18 , and half a drachm of the root of JParmentiera edulis, DeCand., to one pound 
of water, is considered by them as a remedy for dropsy 19 . Purgative properties reside 
in the pulp of Kigelia pinnata, DeCand., of which the Africans avail themselves 20 ; they 
are also found in the juice of Crescentia Cujete, Linn., obtained in Panama by incision 
of the fruit 21 . The pulp of the fruit of the last-named tree is also used internally in 
Mexico in inflammatory and bilious diseases 22 , and employed, like that of Tancecium 
albiflorum, DeCand. 23 , in various countries as poultices. With the fruit of Kigelia 
pinnata, DeCand. cut in halves, and slightly roasted, the nations of North-eastern Africa 
rub their skin, as a cure for rheumatic and syphilitic complaints 2 \ Its aphrodisiacal 
properties are also confirmed by A. Richard 2 \ 
Classification. 
I have divided Crescentiacece into two tribes, the one having a regular, the other an 
irregular calyx. I retain for them DeCandolle's names (Tanaciea? and Crescentiea) 
and their typical genera, but reject his characters and remove Parmentiera from 
Tanaciece to Crescent ie&, and Tripinnaria from Crescent iece to Tanteciece. No new 
genera are created ; but two {Schlegelia and Tripinnaria) suppressed, they having proved 
Fl 
13 
W 
«. iv - P- 51 - ls Hooker, Bot. Mag. (1830) t. 2976. 
Vindob. u Aublet, Guiana, ii. p. 631. 15 Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 183. 
M 
18 Seemann in Hook. Journ. and Kew Misc. vi. p. 276. 19 Heller, Reisen in Mexiko, p. 414. 
20 Eduard Vogel, Mem. in Herb. Hook. ; Bonplandia, v. p. 44. 21 Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 183. 
Mexik 
Mexiko 
4 Kotschy in Bonplandia, iv. p. 304. 25 A. Richard, Flora Abyssinica, ii. p. 60. 
