184 THALAMI FLOllJE. 
This is probably, as Sir W. Hooker- observes, merely a variety 
of O. violacea. The O. elegans and latifolia have, like this, 
the sepals spotted near the apex. In none of the species, except 
in this, have the spots, along the under surface of the margin 
of the leaflets, been observed. The flower is rather beautiful : 
but it is not a desirable acquisition to a garden, from the 
numerous bulbules it produces, and by means of which, when 
once established, it becomes a weed very difficult to eradicate. 
II. Averrhoa. 
Calycine sepals 5, more or less cohering at the base. 
Petals 5. Stamens 5, submonadelphous at the base. 
Ovary angulated. Styles .5, persistent. Berry large, 
oblong, 5-sulcated, 5-celled. Seeds few in each locule, 
fixed to the axis. 
Trees, natives of the East-Indies. Named, in honour of 
Averrdes, the most distinguished of the Arabian Philosophers, 
born, about the middle of the 12th century, at Cordova, a city 
of Andalusia. 
1. Averrhoa Bilimbi. Bilimbi or Bimbling. 
Calyx pubescent, petals with the limb ovali-oblong, 
stamens 10, fruit obtusely angled, seeds without an 
arillus. 
Cav. diss. VII. t. 219. — Humph. Amb. I. t. 36 . — De Cand. 
Prod. I. 689. 
HAB. Cultivated. 
FL. May ? 
A tree seldom more than 15-20 feet in height. Leaves 
pinnated and sensitive to the touch. Flowers on short racemes 
of a red colour, situated along the stem and branches. Fruit 
containing a strong acid, which is probably the oxalic. 
This tree is a native of the East, and was brought to Jamaica 
in the year 1793 in His Majesty’s ship Providence. It is now to 
be met with in several parts of the Island. The fruit is said 
to form a pickle and preserve. The juice is employed to dis- 
charge iron moulds from clothes, and ink and other stains from 
furniture. Dr Mason Good recommends it, as an external 
application, in several varieties of cutaneous disease. 
