104 
difficulty in identifying them as portions of the pods of P/erodon 
pubescens, Benth. The reason for the application of the obsolete 
Linnean name, Ignatia amara, to these pods is not far to seek, 
for it seems that the term * St. Ignatius Bean" is employed to 
designate the seeds of several medicinal plants in South America, 
and the species of P/erodon are included amongst them under 
ihe name of Fava de St. Ignacio. 
Cupu-assu._In a Report on the “Condition of tropical and 
p pe. fruits in the United States," in 1887, published by the 
United States Department of Agriculture (Division of Pomology 
Bullets No. 1), the following account is given of a fruit with 
this name which had hitherto not been identified botanically. 
Deltonea luctea (sic)—Native of Brazil, where it is called the 
“ Capu-assu.” It is a medium-sized tree, with immense thick 
foliage, so that in a grove of them it would be dark at noonday. 
The blossoms are small; the fruit an immense oval vessel, but 
ro rd ith : 
seeds. When ripe, one of the fruits will most deliciously perfume 
the whole air. The flavour it is impossible to describe, but to 
off in water and strained with a little sugar added, is worth a 
voyage across the At ants ” (Edward S. Rand). 
The writer of this note was a resident at Para, and an occasional 
orrespondent of Kew for many years. The news of his death 
was received Si regret in the autumn of last year. 
Deltonea lutea, Peckolt (Hist. das Plant. pef Brasil, L, 
p IIb "is a name only. It does not appear i n the 
Index Kewensis, and, as far as can be traced, n6 deseiption has 
ever been published. The native name Cupu-ass u or Cupu-acu 
is not unfamiliar in connection Mu EET plants. It is given 
by Martius (Flora Bras., XII., 4 p. 76) as the local name 
of Theobroma gr ied To k han . while in Burchell’s MS. 
list in the Kew Herbarium (Nos. 9,367, "9,467, aa 10,001) Cupu- 
Ssu kad TOL esed are caleba to species of Theobroma. From 
Mr. Rand’s descri ipon it is evident that "the plant which yields 
the “ wine "of cupu-assu” does not belong to the Malvacew, as 
suggested by Peckolt, but to the genus Theobi ‘oma, in the nearly 
allied Sterculiacee, which includes the plant that yields the 
Mies wn cacao, or chocolate of commerce. The details 
Mr. Rand almost exactly apply to species re 
ose 
Theobroma, bearing sa shelled fruits, such as those of 
r T. martia The — in Theobroma are 
aei embedded in a swee et and somewhat aromatic pulp, 
which, washed off and strained, with a little sugar added, would 
afford a palatable or even a delicious drink in hot countries. 
There are fruits of T. martiana in the Kew Museum from 
R. Spruce, marked Cupu assu, with the information that “the pulp 
is made into a preserve.” They correspond in size, form, and out- 
ward appearance almost exactly with Rand’s description. 
