215 



of fructification. It seems, according to Mr. 

 Kunth, to belong to the sapota family *. Long 

 after my return to Europe, I found in the De- 

 scription of the East Indies by Laet, a Dutch- 

 man, a passage, that seems to have some rela- 

 tion to the cow-tree. u There exist trees," says 

 Laet -f, " in the province of Cumana, the sap of 

 which resembles curdled milk, and affords a 

 salubrious nourishment 



Amid the great number of curious pheno- 

 mena, which have presented themselves to me 



* Galactodendrum, ex i'amilia sapotearum. Arbor 8-7 — 

 orgyalis. Ramuli teretes j glabri, juniores angulati, tenu- 

 issime canescenti-puberuli. Gemma terminates, subulatae, 

 convolotse, sericeo-pubescentes. Folia alterna, petiolata, 

 oblonga, utrinque rotundata, apice brevissime acuminata, 

 integerrima, reticulato-venosa, venis primariis transversali- 

 bus paulo approximatis subparallelis nervoque subtus, promi- 

 nentibus, subcoriacea, glaberrinia, exsiccata supra viridia, 

 subtus aureo-fsisca, novem aut decern pollices Ionga, vix 

 quatuor pollices lata. Petioli crassi, canaliculati, glabri, 8 

 aut 9 lineas longi. Stipule nulls. Fructus facie drupae 

 juglandis, carnosus, globosus,, viridis, foetus nucibus 1 aut 

 2, monospermis (Drupa? pluri — , arbotu uni-aut bilocularis: 

 loculis monospermis ?) Kuntfi in Humb. et Bonpl., Nov. Gen., 

 Tom. iii, ined. 



f Inter arbores quae sponte hie passim nascuntur, memo- 

 rantur a scriptoribus hispanis quaedam que lacteum quemdam 

 liquorem fundunt, qui durus admodum evadit instar gummi 

 et suavem odorem de se f'andit ; alias quae liquorem quemdam 

 edunt, instar lactis coagulati, qui in cibis ad ipsis usurpatur sine 

 noxa. Descript. Ind. occ, Lib. 18^ Cap. 4 (ed. 1633. p. 

 672). 



