420 NATURAL BI8T0RY OF PLANTS. 



have edible fruits, but very inferior in quality.' In the Antilles 

 much is made of Mammea americana^ (fig. 379); its pericarp is 

 sweet and aromatic, but like that of the Corossols, it is very inferior 

 to our good European fruit. Conserves and beverages are prepared 

 from it. Prom the flowers, of sweet odour, a refreshing and diges- 

 tive water is distilled. The fermented juice of the stems also affords 

 a, kind of beverage. The fruit of the Indian and African Ochrocarpus 

 is edible.3 The flowers are aromatic and are sometimes used, like 

 the leaves, for perfuming tea.* The berry of Bheedia lateriflora ^ 

 has the same uses in the Antilles as that of Mammea, likewise, in 

 Brazil, that of Platonia insignis.^ That of Pentadesma hutyracea"^ 

 is highly esteemed in tropical western Africa for the yellowish resi- 

 nous juice it contains in abundance, which is extracted by incisions ; 

 it thickens and becomes a sort of butter much esteemed by the 

 natives, but with a slight turpentine odour and not agreeable to 

 Europeans. Several GluHiacem have a wood of good quality, especially 

 Calophyllum, Mesua which in India furnishes the prized iron-wood, 

 in Guyana Moronobea coccinea, in New Caledonia Montrouzeria.^ 

 Generally Glusia and Garcinia have a soft wood. All the Glusiacece, 

 being from tropical countries, are somewhat difficult of culture ; but 

 their thick glabrous opposite leaves with fine nervures produce a 

 fine effect in our warm conservatories, where are found some Bheedia, 

 Mammea, Galophyllum, and Garcinia, and Clusia * with magnificent 

 flowers. 



1 (?. celebica L. Gambogia Desrx, zeylaniea Sierra Leone. 



EoxB. Gowa RoxB. purpurea RoxB. cochinchi- * To this genus perhaps belongs the famous 



iieiisis Chois. ; ff. cornea L. the fruit of -which Cay-may, with which the Emperor of Hue is 



is small and indifferent, etc. said to aromatize his tea. 



2 L. Spec. 731.— Jacq. Amer. 268, t. 181, fig. ' L. Spec. 719.— Tuss. Fl. Ant. iii. t. 32.— 

 82; Tai. Fict. t. 248.— DC. Frodr. i. 561, n. 1. Van Rheedia Plum. ed. Burm. t. 257. In Pa- 

 — TuBP. Sict. Se. Nat. Atl. 1. 157. — Griseb. Fl. nama the fruit of R. edulis Pl. et Tri. (Ctafo- 

 Brit. W.-Ind. 108. — Lindl. Fl. Med. 115. — phyllum edule Sbem.) is eaten. S. aeuminata 

 GuiE. op. cit. iii. 601. — Eosenth. op. cit. 741. — {Vert'icillaria aeuminata E. et Pav.^ is the Arbol 

 Pl. et Tri. Ann. So. Nat. ser. 4, xv. 242, — del Aceyte de Maria oi the Teiuvia.iia. Madrono 

 Mamay^Avn.Sist.i. 72. — Mammeimagno fructu, oiNaranjuelo of the Colombians is also &Eheedia. 

 Fersicae sapore Plum. Cfen. 44 ; Ic. 170 (Mammei, ° Mart. Nov. Gen. et Spec. iii. 169, t. 288, fig. 

 Wild Apricot, St. Somingo Apricot). 2, t. 289. — Eosenth. op. cit. 747. — Symphonia 



^ Especially, in India, that of 0. longif alius esculenta Steud. — Baeury Moronobea esculenta 



{Calysaccion longifolium Wight ; — Mammea Ion- Arr. d. Camara. 



gifolia Pl. et Tri.), and in Madagascar that of ? See p. 404, note 6. — Eosenth. op. cit. 744 



0. madagasca/rienais (Tovomita madagascariensis {Butter-tree, Tallow-trei). 



G-. Don.). 0. africanus Oliv. {Pl. Trap. Afr. » Pakch. et Seb. Not. Bois N.-Caled. 220. 



i. 169) is perhaps the Mammea africana Don ' Particularly C. rosea L. minor L. Jlava L. 



{Gen. Syst. i. 619) the fruit of which is eaten at alba L. 



