516 



APPENDIX— PHYTOLOGY. 



Algodeira, or Cotton-Tree, is a shrub which begins to ramify immediately on appearing, its leaves 

 resembling the vine leaf. It has five large yellow petals, encircling each other ; a great number of 

 capillaments united in one column, in the centre of which a pistil arises to a greater height, of whose 

 germ a capsule is formed more than two inches in length, triangular, and enclosing in three lodge- 

 ments a great number of seed, resembling that of the pear, contiguous and in two orders, and unfolding 

 in a white and long cotton wool, supplying the most extensive branch of commerce in the Brazil. 



The Ambuzeero, or Amhuzo Tree, is of small size, and grows in sterile lands, not requiring any cul- 

 ture. It begins to have branches on issuing from the ground, and they are exceedingly intertwined 

 with each other; the leaves are small, elliptical, and varnished on both sides; the flower is in small 

 bunches, like the olive-tree ; the fruit is similar in appearance to the sloe, between a green and while 

 colour, having a thick skin, disagreeable to the taste, with a large round stone, never separating from 

 the pulp, which resolves itself into a thick fluid, generally pleasant when ripe. It is much esteemed 

 in the certams, particularly by the quadrupeds. The people of the country make of its fluid and 

 curdled milk, well mixed together, and sweetened with sugar or honey, a beverage, which they call 

 ambuzada, and say that it might do for a royal repast. This tree produces at the root one large 

 potatoe, and sometimes more, and also small ones of a spongy and transparent substance, which turn 

 into cold water on being compressed, and is a great resource to caravans and travellers passing plains 

 devoid of water. 



Andiroba is a plant, very similar to that of a cucumber, affording a round fruit, without smell, the 

 size of a large apple, with eleven or twelve seeds, round and flat, disposed in three cavities or cells, from 

 which is extracted a clear medicinal oil, being also good for lights. 



Angelim is a tree of medium height, having many branches, the leaf small, the flower, witli five 

 petals in an ear, between a violet and rose-colour, having a pistil and nine capillaments; the fruit is a 

 two-valved capsule of an ash-colour, aflfording an oval almond, covered with a thick membrane, and 

 which is used in pharmacy. 



Araca Mirim is a tree of considerable growth, with a small leaf; the bark is as smooth on the 

 epidermis as the inner side. 



Argueiro, or Argua-Tree, is the size of the olive-tree, its trunk and branches overspread with short 

 prickles; the leaves, which it annually sheds, are of the shape of a heart ; the flowers are in bunches, 

 of one or two spans in length, at the extremity of the branches, disposed three and three; it has five 

 petals of which one only unfolds itself, this is of a beautiful rose-colour, with little less than two 

 inches of length, and more than one in width. Upon the lower part of the pistil, which is amongst 

 ten capillaments, there is a pod, containing an indeterminate number of feijoes, or beans, entirely of a 

 red colour, or with black spots; they are very hard, and bracelets are made of them. It is one of the 

 most beautiful trees in the country when in flower, in which state it remains for some time. 



The Articum, or Araticu, of which there are various kinds, is similar to the ambuzo in size, in the 

 entwining of its branches, and in having an ash-coloured rind. The leaves, which it casts off" annually, 

 are almost round, and of a beautiful green, and varnished on both sides. Its flower is like a fig, of a 

 vellow colour, which opens in three equal portions, as if they were parted with a knife, are thick, of a 

 reddish hue, and in the form of a shell ; below each portion there is a smaller shell, not so thick, and 

 externally white, inclosing a button in the shape of a pine, which becomes a fruit of the size and form 

 of the largest pear; the pulp is white or yellow, soft and full of pips: few are good, but they are 

 generally eaten. 



The Barriguda, {Big-bcllied,) so called in consequence of its trunk being thicker at the middle 



