95 



The madi (madia, gen. nov.) Of this planttherc 

 are two kinds, the one wild the other cultivated. 

 The cultivated, which Î have called jnadia sativa^ has 

 a branching hairy stalk, nearly five feet in height ; the 

 leaves are villous and placed by threes ; they are four 

 inches in length, half an inch in breadth, and of a 

 bright green like the leaves of the rose laurel ; its flow- 

 ers are radiated and of a yellow colour ; the seeds are 

 convex on one side, and covered with a very thin 

 brownish pellicle on the other ; they are from four to 

 five lines in length, and enclosed in a spherical peri- 

 carpium of about eight or nine lines in diameter. An 

 excellent oil is obtained from the seed, either by ex- 

 pression, or merely boiling them ; it is of an agree- 

 able taste, very mild, and as clear as the best olive 

 oil. Feuille, who resided three years in Chili, praises 

 it highly, and gives it the preference to any olive oil 

 used in France.* This plant, hitherto unknown in 

 Europe, would become a valuable acquisition to 

 those countries where the olive cannot be raised. 

 The wild madi (madia meliosa) is distinguished 

 from the other by its leaves which are amplexicaul 

 and glutinous to the feeling. 



The pimento (capsicum) called by the Indians 

 thapi. Of this plant many species are cultivated in 

 Chili, among others the annual pimento, which is 

 there perennial, the berry pimento, and the pimento 



* From the seed of this plant is obtained an admirable oil, 

 which the inhabitants of the country use in vai-ious ways — to alle- 

 .viate pain by rubbing with it the diseased part, to season their 

 victuals, and also for light. To my taste it is svv'eeter and more 

 pleasant than most of our clive oil, which it resembles in co- 

 lour. — Feuille <¡ vol. iii. 



