176 



sule, commonly has no seeds in the locuments or divisions. Ellis', 

 however, says it has a hard and spiked core, containing a num- 

 ber of seed. He calls it an excellent fruit. Forster in his De 

 Plantis Esculentis says the seeds are solitary, ovate, compressed, 

 usually abortive, thus recognizing both states of seeding and 

 seedless, Firminger- says he is told that in India the stones 

 never germinate, but young plants are usually obtained by graft- 

 ing upon seedlings of Spondias mangifera, another species. 



Peach. Amygdalus Persica, L. (Rosace.e). 



It seems to be a general rule that the sweetest, boniest 

 peaches have usually a split stone. Africanus in the Geoponics% 

 give directions how to raise the peach without stones. 



Peach Palm. Gulielma spectosa, Mart. (Falm/e). 



The peach palm, says Humboldt*, bears a fruit which is gener • 

 ally devoid of seed, owing to the extreme luxuriance of the vegeta- 



tion 



piritu 



containingfrom fifty to eighty fruit, yellow like apples, and purpling 

 as they ripen, two or three inches thick, and generally, from abortion 

 without a kernel. Seemann^ says in most instances the seed is 

 abortive, the whole fruit being a farinaceous mass. Occasionally, 

 however, fruit are found containing the perfect stony seed, and 

 they are then double the usual size. The tree is not found wild 

 in the Amazon districts, but is invariably planted. Bates" says 

 bunches of sterile or seedless plants sometimes occur at Ega and 

 at Para. It is one of the principal articles of food at Ega while 

 in season, and is boiled and eaten with treacle and salt. Pres- 



toe says the tree is extremely prolific, bearing two distinct crops 

 a year, and sometimes more. At one season all seedless fruit are 

 produced, and with a greatly enlarged fruit pulp, while at the 

 other season only seeded or fertile fruits are produced. The 



1 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i, 374. 



2 Gard. in India, p. 234, 



3 Geop. lib. X. c. 16. 



4 Views of Nature, p. i6i. 



5 Humboldt, Trav. ii. 336. 



6 Topular Hist, of Palms, p. 208. 



7 A Naturalist on the Amazon, p. 268. " 



8 Kept, of the Bot. Garden of Trinidad, 1880, 39. 



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