NOTES ON SOME OF THE EDIBLE FRUITS, ETC. 265 



and West Indies, as well as in Africa and other tropical countries — as, 

 indeed, are all three species. The Sour Sop is a small tree, fii'teen to 

 twenty feet high, producing a very hard and dense wood. All parts of 

 the plant have a very sweet scent. The fruit much resembles the Cheri- 

 moyer in form, hut is of a lighter or greenish colour ; the flesh, or pulp, 

 is also lighter, and is considered of a cooling nature. It is very com- 

 monly eaten by the negroes, by whom it is greatly esteemed ; but with 

 the better classes it is seldom sought after, owing, perhaps, in a great 

 measure, to its abundance. The tree was introduced into England so 

 early as 1 656, but never established as a fruit tree ; it is, however, very 

 common all over the West Indies, and especially on the savannahs of 

 Jamaica. 



The Sweet Sop, as has been said before, is undoubtedly a native 

 of South America, but now cultivated in nearly all tropical coun- 

 tries, where the fruits are always eaten in large quantities, but are 

 said to attain much greater perfection in the Indian Archipelago than 

 anywhere else ; the pulp is said to be very delicious, and has been 

 likened in flavour to clotted cream and sugar. The size of the fruit is 

 about that of an artichoke, and it is covered with tubercular scales. The 

 plant grows to a height of from twelve to twenty feet, and was intro- 

 duced into this country about the middle of the eighteenth century, but 

 has never been naturalised. 



The tree which bears the Alligator Apple is small, not more than 

 twenty feet high, very common in low damp situations and the borders 

 of rivers in Jamaica. This fruit is not so common an article, of food as 

 the other species of Anona, owing to a strong narcotic principle con- 

 tained in it ; but nevertheless it is agreeable to some tastes, having at 

 first a sweet and pleasant flavour. It is somewhat heart-shaped, and 

 smooth on the outside. In Brazil, a wine is sometimes made from the 

 fruits, but ie not much esteemed. The wood of this tree is so soft that 

 it is called cork-wood in Jamaica, and is there used for stoppers for 

 bottles, and other purposes to which cork is usually applied. 



The -tree' producing the Mammee Apple (Mammea Americana, L.) 

 grows to about sixty or seventy feet in height, with a thick spreading 

 head, forming a beautiful tree. The wood is very much esteemed for 

 various kinds of work, for ornamental purposes, as well as where strength 

 and durability is required ; indeed, it is considered one of the best timber 

 trees in Jamaica. The fruit is round, about the size of a cannon ball ; 

 the outer skin, or covering, is of a brown leathery texture, the inner of a 

 lightish yellow, fibrous nature, so united with the pulp as to be difficult 

 of separation. The seeds which are embedded in this pulp are about 

 four inches long and one broad, of a triangular form, two sides being 

 flat, and one partly rounded. The number of seeds in each fruit is four ; 

 the outer coating is hard, and much reticulated. They have an exceed- 

 ingly bitter taste, owing to a resinous matter which seems to abound in 

 them ; but the pulp is the part for which the fruit is prized, and for 

 vol. iv. y 



