100 
TH ALAMIFLORiE. 
ever by Labat, that they are apt to burn and injure the texture of 
the cloth. The seeds are round, smooth, and black, about the 
size of a cherry, and were at one time imported into Eng- 
land for buttons to waistcoats. In the present day, they are 
tipt with gold, and strung as beads, or made into crosses, and 
are very ornamental. They appear to be possessed of medi- 
cinal properties. Bruised or pounded, and thrown into ponds 
of water, they intoxicate and kill any fish that may be there. 
Given to fowls, they are said to be a preventative against their 
getting a disease, which is very fatal to them in the West-Indies, 
called the foivl-ijaws. A tincture, prepared by infusing the 
bruised berries in spirits, is often used as an embrocation in 
rheumatism. It has also been confidently stated, that the 
tincture or extract is a medicine of singular and specific virtue 
in Chlorosis. The timber of this tree is soft, and not durable. 
V. Blighia. 
Calyx 5-partite. Petals 5. Stamens 8. Style 
very short : stigmata 3. Carpels 3, connate, fleshy, 
dehiscent : seed solitary, placed on a large fleshy 
arillus. 
Named , in honour of Captain Bligh, who first carried the 
Bread-fruit to the West-Indies. 
1. Blighia sapida. ydkee. 
Koenig , Ann. Bot. II. 571. — Akeesia, Tussac, FI. Aut. I. 66. 
HAB. Cultivated. 
FL. After the rains in May. 
This tree, a native of Africa, is now very common through- 
out the Island. It comes into bearing about Christmas, when 
it forms a beautiful object from the contrast of the red colour 
of the fruit, with which it is loaded, with the bright green of 
the leaves. The fruit is brought in great abundance to the 
Kingston market. The arillus, which supports the seed, is the 
part which is eaten. It is prepared by parboiling in water 
with salt, and afterwards stewing or frying with butter, or by 
simply boiling in soups. It is very wholesome, and from its 
soft rich flavour well deserves the appellation of the vegetable 
marrow. 
VI. ScHMIDELIA. 
Flowers generally monoico-polygamous. Calyx 
4-partite. Petals 4, bearded within at the middle of 
the disk. Stamens 8. Ovary didymous. Carpels 
% snbconnate, berried, 1 -seeded. — De Cand. 
