THE CHOCOLATE NUT FAMILY. 



485 



texture. Another tree of India is Elceocarpus Ganitrus^ the 

 hard nuts or fruit stones of which are used for making 

 rosaries, buttons, bracelets, necklaces, and other similar 

 articles; specimens may be seen in the museum at Kew. 



The genus Sloanea consists of large trees, natives of tro- 

 pical America and the West Indies. S. Jamaicensis (dentatd) 

 has very hard wood, and is known in Jamaica by the name of 

 Break-axe. 



The genus Grewia consists of bushy shrubs or small trees 

 with pretty little pink flowers, natives of India and the 

 Asiatic Islands. They have tough bark, which is used for 

 many purposes. The wood of 0. occidentalism native of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, is elastic, and is used for many purposes 

 where elasticity is required. It has been long cultivated at 

 Kew. 



The genus Triumfetta consists of many species, widely 

 dispersed throughout the trojoical regions. They are either 

 soft-stemmed herbs or fruticuls, having broad leaves with 

 stellated pubescence and small yellow flowers. In their 

 habit of growth and in their fibre they resemble the Jute. 



The Chocolate Nut Family. 



(Byttneriace^,) 



Soft-wooded trees or shrubs, with alternate entire leaves, 

 smooth, or covered with star-like hairs. Flowers in clusters, 

 on short stalks, produced on the stems or branches, or in 

 terminal spiked panicles or umbels. Petals 4, 5, or none, 

 variable in form. Stamens 5, 10, or more, one half of which 

 are sometimes sterile, free or united. Fruit a short or long, 

 generally 5-celled, many-seeded, indehiscent capsule. 



About 400 species constitute this family. They are plants 

 of tropical and temperate climates, being represented in 

 Australia and South Africa by shrubs, while the magnificent 

 Dombeyece and Astrapece are natives of Mauritius and Mada- 

 gascar, and Theohroma of America. They contain a mucila- 

 ginous principle. 



