WEST INDIAN BIRCH TREE. 
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rounded at base, and somewhat cordate, entire, at length 
smooth on both sides, even, and a little shining above, 
(an inch and a half to two inches wide, and about 3 inches 
long, when fully expanded after the flowering period.) The 
flowers are small, whitish, scentless, growing in axillary, 
clustered flowered racemes or panicles, towards the sum- 
mits of the branches. The drupe is about the size of a 
hazel nut, greenish, tinted with brownish purple when ripe, 
resinous, fragrant, with a succulent bark, appearing some- 
what 3-lobed, 3-celled and 3-valved, with only 1 seed 
usually coming to perfection, the nuts of the 2 other cells 
being abortive ; the nuts are very white, a little compress- 
ed, each containing one kernel. 
Two other species of this genus are described by Decan- 
dolle, B. acuminata , from St. Domingo, of which but little is 
known, and the B . simplicifolia , which is probably not a 
congener, having a single nut, exactly 3-sided, with the 
angles partly salient. This bears simple leaves, and forms 
a tree only about 15 feet in height. 
The Bursera paniculata , (now Colophonia mauritiana ,) 
the Bois de Colophone of the isle of France, gives out from 
the slightest wound in the bark, a copious flow of limpid oil 
with a pungent, turpentine odor, which soon congeals to 
the consistence of butter, assuming the appearance of cam- 
phor. 
Plate LXXIX. 
A branch of the natural size, a . The drupe, b. The nut. c. The 
male flower, d . The female flower, e. A small fruiting branch. 
