AEGAN TREE. 403 



to the Hortua Kewensis, it was introduced into England : " Cult. 

 1711, by the Duchess of Beaufort, Br. Mus. H.S. 141, fol. 39." 

 It is indicated as a stove-plant. 



' Sir James Smith, article Sideroxylon spinosum in Rees's 

 " Cyclopsedia '' (1819), throws no new light upon the subject ; he 

 omits the reference to Commelyn. Retz, in " Obs. Bot." vol. vi. 

 p. 26, refers the plant to Elmodendron, in which he is followed 

 by Willdenow, and by Sohousboe, which latter author has 

 given by far the fullest and best account of the plant botanically 

 and economically. 



' M. Corr6a de Serra, " Annales du Museum d'Histoire Natu- 

 relle," 1809, tom. viii. p. 393, tab. v. f. 1., has published a very 

 good analysis of the fruit, with very brief characters and no 

 observations. At length Mr. Brown, " Botanicorum facile 

 princeps,'' in his invaluable Prodromus, under his Observations 

 on Sapotese, says, "Sideroxylon spinosum, L., fructu valde 

 diversum proprium hujus ordinis genus efficit ; " and, actiug 

 upon his suggestion, Rcemer and Schultes, " Systema Vegeta- 

 bilium," vol. iv. pp. xlvi. and 502, have formed of this plant a 

 new genus, Argania, in which they have been followed by End- 

 licher and Alphonse De Candolle. In this latter work a very 

 full generic character is given, which need not here be repeated.' 



' It is singular that no further allusion to this tree should 

 appear in Jackson's " Account of the Empire of Marocco " than 

 the following : " Oil Arganic is also in abundance in Suse ; it is 

 much used for frying fish and burning-lamps. When used for 

 frying fish, a quart of it should be boiled with a large onion cut 

 in quarters ; and when it boils, a piece of the inside of a loaf, 

 about the size of an orange, should be put in ; after which it 

 should be taken off the fire and let stand to cool, and when 

 quite cold should be strained through a sieve ; without this pre- 

 caution it is supposed to possess qualities which promote leprosy." 

 — Dr. Barretta.' 



The Hmited distribution of the Argan is one of its most 

 noticeable features, for as a genus it is not far removed from 

 Sideroxylon, a very widely spread tropical and subtropical 

 genus of both hemispheres, and which reaches its northern 

 limit in Madeira (in the same latitude as that attained by the 

 Argan), where one species, -S*. Mermulana, Lowe, is found on 



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