DR. B. SEEMANN ON THE CRESCENTIACE^. 5 



thought it necessary to warn against it by changing the specific name of the plant into 

 that of Crescentia letUfera. " I know myself," he says, " that some English soldiers in 

 garrison at the Merebalis, who, having foimd 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 cucurbitina, Linn., may have been mixed with those alluded 

 to, and caused the accident. Colea Telfairice, Boj. is extensively cultivated in Madagascar 

 on account of its fleshy fruit, which has an agreeable flavour, and is highly esteemed as an 

 esculent '^ Phyllarthron Bojericmum, DeCand. also yields an edible fruit '^ The natives 

 of Guiana extract a violet colour from the fruit of " Emosse bereoy " {Tanceclmn lilacimmi. 

 Seem.), with which they dye their cotton cloth, their bark and straw furniture ". The juice 

 of the fruit of the common Calabash-tree dyes silk black '■\ The fruit of the " Coco de 

 Mono " of Topo, Venezuela {Crescentia cucurbitina, Linn.), diffuses, when ripe, an agreeable 

 odour, which attracts monkeys, birds, and other animals partial to the fruit '^ 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, H. B. K. (= C. trifolia, Blanco) an 

 effectual remedy for haemoptysis '". 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 ?)'^ and haK a drachm of the root oi Farmentiera eclulis, DeCand., to one pound 

 of water, is considered by them as a remedy for dropsy '". Purgative properties reside 

 in the pulp of Klgelia pinnata, DeCand., of which the Africans avail themselves-"; they 

 are also found in the juice of Crescentia Cnjete, Linn., obtained in Panama by incision 

 of the fruit ^'. The pulp of the fruit of the last-named tree is also used internally in 

 Mexico in inflammatory and bilious diseases -", and employed, like that of TancBcimn 

 albiflorum, DeCand. ", 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'-''. Its aphrodisiacal 

 properties are also confirmed by A. Richard ". 



Class-ijicatioii. 

 I have di^dded Crescentiacece into two tribes, the one having a regular, the other an 

 irregular calyx. I retain for them DeCandolle's names {Tanceciece and Crescentiece) 

 and their typical genera, but reject his characters and remove Parmentiera from 

 Tanceciece to Crescentiece, and Tripinnaria from Crescentiece to Tanceciece. No new 

 genera are created ; but two {Schlegelia and Tripinnaria) suppressed, they having proved 



" Tussac, Fl. des Antilles, iv. p. 51. '= Hooker, Bot. Mag. (1830) t. 2976. 



'^ Bojer, Mem. in Herb. Vindob. " Aublet, Guiana, ii. p. 631. '" Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 183. 



"^ W. Birschell, Mem. in Herb. Hook. ; Bonpl. v. p. 44. " M. Blanco, Fl. de Filipinas, p. 490 (1st edit.). 



" Seemann in Hook. Journ. and Kew Misc. vi. p. 276. " Heller, Reisen in Mexiko, p. 4)4. 



^" Eduard Vogel, Mem. in Herb. Hook. ; Bonplaudia, v. p. 44. -' Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 183. 



" Heller, Reisen in Mexiko, p. 414. -' Lindley, Veg. Kingd. p. 674 ; Heller, Reisen in Mexiko, p. 414. 



■'* Kotschy in Bonplandia, iv. p. 304. -' A. Richard, Flora Abyssinica, ii. p. 60. 



