﻿208 MR. J- MIERS ON THE LECYTHIDACEiE. 



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The specimen of the fruit at Kew (Plate XLVII.), without locality, agrees with the 

 dimensions given by Aublet, and another in the British Museum, which differs only in 

 having the operculum somewhat higher ; tliey are all 6 J in. long, about 5 in. broad ; 



the calycary zone is 4 J-4| in. above the base and 5 in. in diam. ; the mterzonary band is 

 J-1 in. high ; tlie upper zone and operculum 3 J-3|- in. broad, the latter ■§— 1 j in. high ; 

 the columella in the mouth is extremely thick, descending in a long 4-sulcated cone. 



It must be understood that this species is not indigenous in the Mauritius. It 

 appears that the Comte d'Estaing, during a visit to Cayenne in 1758, was so much 

 deUghted with the seeds of the Zabucaya, that he carried away with him twelve livii 

 plants of tlic tree, which he conveyed to the Mauritius, planting them in the garden 

 rt«Hluit. Aublet saw them there in a flourishing condition in 1762, when he returned 



5 



>'rnnce; but he feared th(^y perished soon afterward through neglect. M. Poivre, the 

 botanist, arrived at Port Louis in 1701, as intcndant of the colony ; and in 1768 lie 

 founded the Botanic Gard(Mi at Pamplcmousses, and applied to the French government 

 to have fresh plants transported from Cayenne : these afterwards arrived in good 

 foiidiiion, n!vd werV planted there and in the isle Bourbon, and would seem to be still 

 flourishing there. Wc can therefore account for the presence in the Kew Museum of 

 the fruits of 3 species sent from the Mauritius, viz. L. Zabucayo, L. lanceolata, and 

 L. riiJ'uVissimfi, all derived originally from Cayenne. 



13. T/FCYTnis usiTATA. nob. : Leci/thia ollaria, Spruce (non Linn.), Hook. Kew J 



71: Zecylliis Zuhucayo, Hook, (non Aubl.), I. c. i. 21: ramulis brunncis, sub- 

 tenuibns, tei-ctibus, rngoso-striatis, lenticellis verruculosis ; foliis ellipticis, imo 

 rotuudiusculis, ibi canaliculatis et in petiolum breviter acutatis, apice in acumen 

 suhbreve mucronulatum subrecurvulum subito attenuatis, marffinibus vix revo- 

 lutis scrrulatis, tcnuitor chartaceis, supra profunde viridibus, subnitidis, nenis 

 tcnuibus patentim divaricatis paullo prominulis, eosta prominula, striata, sub Icnte 

 minute granulatis, subtus pallidioribus, brunnescentibus, glauco-opacis, nervis venis- 

 que prominulis, costa promincnte; petiolo subtenui, supra piano, subtus eorruguloso, 

 limbo 12plo breviore : racemis axlllaribus et terminalibus, folio multo brevioribns, 

 r:u-lii flexuosa, nodosa (flores desunt) : pyxidio globoso-ovato, imo ovali, ad medium 

 Bona calycari paullo promincnte ambitu circular! obsolete lobata cincto ; vitta inter- 

 ronali scnsim conire subconvexa, diametri tertiam partem alta; zona superiore in- 

 tegi-a, inferiorc diniidio angustiorc ; operculo ignoto ; pericarpio crasso, subponderoso, 

 opacissirao, corticc tcnui ochraceo-brunneo in areolis rimoso ; scminibus plurimis, 

 inaju?»rulis, o!)longis, utrinquc subacutis, irrcgulariter costatis, cum rugis trans- 

 vcrsis in intervallis, grate edulibus. In Brasilia, prov. Para, inde abundat : f. p^- 

 9. in herb. Hook., ins. Carip6 (Spruce, 23) : v./r, s. in Mus. Keic, Caripe (Spruce) ; 

 Hm&iim {JFctheral). . 



Thi-* is the species which produces the well-known Sapucayo nuts of commerce, and is 

 very different from the rj€<^ihh Zapncaijo of Aublet: it abounds in the island of Caripe 

 and other parts of the province of ParA, and is mentioned by Spruce in the list of his 



