X Y L 



Dr. White, in 17R9 and 1793. Mr. Brown fays it Rrows 

 on ftony hilly Rround. This, the only known fpeciea, is a 

 tree, with oppolite branches ; downy and ruily when young. 

 Leaves oppolite, ftalked, five inches long, lanceolate, acute 

 at each end, entire, rather coriaceous, fmooth, with one rib, 

 and many prominent reticulated veins ; pale and yellowifli 

 beneath ; clothed, when they firft come out, with dsnfc, de- 

 ciduous, rnfty down : thofc of young plants, according to 

 Mr. Brown, are toothed. Footjlalh flattifti, an inch long, 

 fmooth. Slif>u/tis none. Spiles axillary, oppofite, catkin- 

 like, cylindrical, denfe, much (hortcr than the leaves, many- 

 flowered, ihaggy with rnfty down. Fkiuers feflile, hardly 

 an inch long, in pairs, each pair accompanied with one fmall 

 downy braBca ; all of them abortive, except the lowermolt, 

 fo that from fpccimens fcen in fruit only, the flowers were 

 judged to be folitary. The fruit is ovate, or inverfely 

 pear-fhaped, very haid, even, downy, two or three inches in 

 length. SeeJs and their wings brown. Mr. Brown remarks, 

 that the greater part of the fiowers, having a fmall pgma-, 

 and no germi-n, are neccfTarily abortive. Many of the anthers 

 too have, as above-mentioned, an imperfeft appearance ; but 

 having never feen living flowers, we cannot tell whether this 

 be an original defeft, or merely owing to their having long 

 ago performed their office. It is poffible that the rufty hue 

 of the flowers and young leaves, fo rich and beautiful in 

 our fpccimens, may partly, if not altogether, be owing to 

 drying. This plant, though procured for Kew garden, by 

 fir Jofeph Banks, in 1789, appears never yet to have 

 bloffomed there. 



XYLON, is fo well defcribed by Phny, book 19. 

 chap. I, as to leave no doubt of its being our Cotton. (See 

 GossYPiUM.) He fays it ferved to make the choiceft 

 garments of the Egyptian priefts. Dr. J. II. Forfter, the 

 famous botanift and circumnavigator, publidied in 1776 a 

 moft learned little volume, to prove Cotton the true Bvfiis 

 of the ancients. See alfo Matth. Valgr. v. I. 376. 



Xylon, Hi/^ov, among the Athenians, a puniflimcnt in- 

 flifted, by putting the offender into the Hocks. 



XYLOPHYLLA, in Botuny, very expreffivcly named 

 by Linnaeus, after Rumphius, from ^vX'tv, ivooJ, and ^^vXKov, 



a leaf, in allufion to the hardnefs and rigidity of its foliage, 



which indeed ferves the purpofe of both leaves and flower- 



ftalks. — Linn. Mant. 147. Schrub. Gen. 200. Willd. 



Sp. PI. V. I. 1500. Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. Ait. Hon. 



Kew. v. 5. 336. Juff. 387. Poiret in Lamarck Dift. 



V. 8. 812. Lamarck Illuilr. t. 855. Ga;rtn. t. 108. 



(Phyllanthus; Browne Jam. 188.) — Clafs and order, Mo- 



noecia Monadelphia. (PentandriaTrigynia ; Browne, Linn. 



Schreb. Willd.) Nat. Ord. Tricocce, Linn. Euphorbit, 



Jufl". 



Gen. Ch. Male, Cal. Perianth in fix deep regular 



fegments ; the three innermoft largett. Cor. Petals none, 



unlefs the calyx, or its inner fegments, be taken for fuch. 



Neftary of fix globular glands. Stam. Filaments united 



into a very fhort column ; anthers tliree or fix, roundifli ; 



two-lobed. 



Female, on the fame plant, and in the fame fituation, as 



the male. 6W. and Neftary as in the male. Pifl. Germen 



fuperior, feffile, roundifli ; ftyles three, fliort, fpreading ; 



ftigmas three-cleft. Peric. Capfule roundifh, with three 



furrows, three cells, and fix elaftic valves. Seeds two in 



each cell, roundifli. 



Eff. Ch. Male, Calyx in fix deep fegments ; three of 



them interior. Petals none. Neftary of fix globofe 



glands. 



Female, Calyx and Neftary like the male. Styles three. 



X Y L 



Stigmas three-cleft. Capfule of three cells, with fix elaftic 

 valves. Seeds two in each cell. 



Obf. Dr. Sims, in Curt. Mag. 102 1, has juftly indi- 

 cated this genus as too near Phyllanthus (fee that 

 article) ; where they^((/j are erroneoully faid to be folitary. 

 Whether the difference between their neilaries be permanent, 

 we have not feen enough to determine. At any rate, 

 thefe two genera muft Hand next to each other, in the Lin- 

 naean artificial fyftem, as well as in every natural one. 



1. X. ? longifoUa. Long-leaved Sea-fide Laurel. Linn. 

 Mant. 221. Willd. n. i. Swartz Obf. 112. (Xylo- 

 phyllos ceramica ; Rumph. Amboyn. v. 7. 19. t. 12.) — 

 Leaves linear, alternately toothed. Flowers fohtary at each 

 tooth. — Found only on the lofty, ftony, cold mountains of 

 the ifland of Ceram. The trunk is flirubby, fcarcely fo 

 thick as a man's arm, dividing above it into many round 

 branches, as thick as the finger. Thefe end in numerous, 

 alternate, drooping, long, linear, acute leaves, or perhaps 

 winged branches, with blunt alternate teeth, ufually an inch 

 diftant from each other. The Jlotuers are folitary, nearly 

 feffile, at each notch. Of their ftrufture nothing is known ; 

 nor of the fruit, except what Rumphius relates, and this, 

 as Dr. Swartz obferves, does not agree with the genus 

 before us, Linnaeus having merely adopted this remarkable 

 plant as a Xylophylla, on account of its habit, which is 

 ilrikiiig enough. Rumphius fays, " the calyx refembles a 

 fmall clove, and is red, bearing a roundi(h-oblong fruit, 

 refembling a Bay-berry, or the Abrus of Alpinus, (and 

 Linn;cus, ) green, hard, with a fmall point. When opened, 

 a fmall nucleus is found, refembling a grain of rice, fixed on 

 the llalk, and tailing fweet, like a Filberd, being enclofed 

 in a white fl<iii." It is very unlikely that the kernel of 

 any fpecies of this genus fhould be eatable. 



2. X. IntifoUa. Broad-leaved Sea-fide Laurel. Linn. 

 Mant. 221, excluding the fynonym. Willd. n. 2. Ait. 

 n. I. Swartz Obf. 113. Curt. Mag. t. 1021. (Gcnefi- 

 phylla afplenifolia ; L'Herit. Sert. Aiigl. t. 39. Phyllan- 

 thus n. I. Browne .lam. 188. Hemionitidi affinis, ame- 

 ricaiia cpiphyllanthos, &c. ; Pluk. Phyt. t. 36. f. 7.) — 

 Leaves rhomboid, cienatc ; notches crowded, each bearing 

 one or more ftalked flowers. — Native of lime-ftone rocks, 

 near the fea-fide, in the Weft Indies. Mr. Waller is re- 

 corded in Hort. Kew. as having firll fent this elegant and 

 fingular fhrub to his friends in England, in 1783. If we 

 miftake not, the marquis of Rockingham, who died in 1782, 

 received it from Mr. Waller fome time before ; the original 

 having been long one of the dowager marchionefs's fineft: 

 plants. It flowers in a ftove copioufly in Auguft and 

 September. The flem is four or five feet high, with a 

 round bufliy head. Leaves a foot long, alternate, ftalked, 

 alternately pinnate ; leaflets twelve or more, nearly feffile, 

 one and a half or two inches long, ovate-rhomboid, acute, 

 hard and rigid, eredl, ftriated, fmooth ; entire towards the 

 bafe. Floiuers copious, fmall, green, on fimple crimfon 

 ftalks ; thofe of the female flowers much the longeft. 

 Bothjlaniens and pi/lil fometimes occur in the fame flower, 

 according to Dr. Swartz. 



3. X. Arbufcula. Lanceolate-leaved Sea-fide Laurel. 

 Swartz Prodr. 28. Willd. n. 3. ( Phyllanthus fpeciofa ; 

 Jacq. Coll. v. 2. 360. Ic. Rar. t. 616. Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. 1107. Schneev. Ic. t. 30?) — Leaves pinnate, lan- 

 ceolate, pointed, crenate ; notches crowded, each bearing 

 one or more ftalked flowers. — Native of the iloping fides 

 of lofty mountains, in the fouth part of Jamaica. Swartz. 

 We can difcern no real fpecific difference between this and 

 the laft. The leaves indeed are narrower, more elongated 

 and k'fs fiilcate, but thofe characters vary. Dr. Swartz 



lay:, 



