4 DR. B. SEEMANN ON THE CRESCENTIACE^. 



Properties and Uses. 

 All CrescentiacecB may be termed ornamental plants, the fine foliage, elegant flowers, 

 and curious fruit of which have already procured for theu' order a fair representation 

 in our gardens. We cultivate (1859) Colea floribunda, Boj. ; two species of Fhi/llar- 

 thron (P. Bojerianuni, DeCand. and P. Co??ior^«se, DeCand. = P. Foivrecmtim, DeCand.) ; 

 TancBciimi parasiticum, Swartz ; all the known species of Crescentia, and Kigelia pinnata, 

 DeCand. Farmentiera 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,DeCa.n(i.., of which canoes, posts and pillars, etc. are made', 

 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 Boswellia 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 Avith 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 '\" The genus Crescentia has a fruit with a hard woody 

 shell, wliich in Crescentia Cujete, Linn. (=C. 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 \ In 

 Panama I have seen milk-pans made of it, measui'ing thirteen inches across ; and Hum- 

 boldt mentioned to me that during his travels in America, Bonpland and he commonly 

 used one of these vessels as their wash-hand basin. Even the shell of Crescentia alata, 

 H. B. K., the Teconiate 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 \ The 

 shell, or rather rind, of Kigelia pinnata, DeCand., after having been hardened by drying, 

 serves as frames for drums in Africa ^ ; and it is not unUkely that the account given by 

 the missionary Knoblecher, of the shell of a fruit found on the White Nile ^ 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 {Farmentiera cereifera, Seem.), has an apple-like smell, and 

 fattens cattle ', whilst that of the Quauhilote [Farmentiera edulis, DeCand. = Crescentia 

 aculeata, H. B. K.), resembling a cucumber in shape, is eaten by the Mexicans ^ The 

 berry of Tanoscium lilacinum, Seem. (:=Fesleria ? violacea et ^. ?' ccerulea, Aubl.) 

 is also edible ^ ; and the subacid pulp of the fruit of Crescentia Cujete, Linn, aifords food 

 to the negroes'". Tussac believed that the fruit of Crescentia cucurbitina, Linn., a 

 common sea-side shrub of tropical America, contained a deadly poison, and hence he 



' Oswald, Mem. in Mus. Kew ; H. Earth in Bonpl. iv. p. 292. " Kotschy in Bonpl. iv. p. 304. 



" Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 183. * Seemann in Hooker's Journ. and Kew Misc. vi. p. 276. 



' Barth in lit. ad auct. " Kotschy in Bonpl. iv. p. 304. ' Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 183. 



" DeCandolle, Prodromus, ix. p. 244; Lindley, Veg. Kingd. p. 674. ' Seemann, Bot. Herald, p. 182. 



" Lindley, Veg. Kingd. p. 674. 



