C L U 
694 C L U 
ifland of Afcenfion ; the haumela, and the dorab , found by 
Forlkael in the Red Sea 5 and the villofa, from the North 
Sea, defcribed firft by Muller. 
CLUSE, a place of Swifferland, where there is a palfage 
over the edge of Mount jura: ten miles north-eaft of 
Soleure. 
CLUSE (La), a town of Savoy, and capital of Fau- 
cigny, fituated on the Arve: twenty-four miles fouth- 
ealt of Geneva. 
CLU'SIA, a daughter of an Etrurian king, of whom 
V. Torquatus, the Roman general, became enamoured. 
He alked her of her father, who flighted his addreffes; 
upon which he befieged and deftroyed his town. Clufia 
threw herfelf down from a high tower, and came to the 
ground unhurt. Plutarch. 
CLU'SIA,/. [in memory of Carolus Clttfius , or Charles 
tie PEclufe, an eminent French botanift.J In botany, a 
genus of the Plafs polygamia, order monoecia, natural order 
guttiferae. The generic charafters-are—Calyx: perian- 
thium four, five, or lix, leaved, imbricate; leaflets con¬ 
cave, permanent, the interior ones gradually fmaller. 
Corolla : petals four, five, or fix, roundifh, fpreading, 
concave, large. Stamina: filaments many, Ample, fhorter 
than the corolla; anthers Ample, growing to the fide of 
the tip. Piftillum: germ ovate-oblong; ftyle none ; Itig- 
ma llarred, flat, obtule, permanent. Pericarpium : cap- 
fule ovate, marked with furrows, celled, the valve burlt- 
ing in a radiate manner. Seeds: numerous, ovate, co¬ 
vered with pulp, affixed to a columnar angulated recep¬ 
tacle. The number in the fruit differs from four to 
twelve, according to the proportion obferved in the ftig- 
ma, valves, cells, &c. Some of the flowers are llerile with 
refpedt to the male organs, and others with refpeft to the 
female ones. In the female flowers a neftary is formed by 
the coalition of the antherse, including the germ.— EJfen- 
tial Character. Male. Calyx, four or fix leaved; leaflets 
oppofite, imbricate; corolla, four or fix petalled; ftamina, 
numerous. Female. Calyx and corolla, as in the males; 
nedtaries, formed by the coalition of the antherse, includ¬ 
ing the germ ; capfule, five-celled, five-valved, fluffed 
with pulp. 
Species. 1. Clufia rofea, or rofe-coloured balfam-tree : 
leaves veinlefs; corollas fix-petalled. This is a tree from 
twenty to thirty feet in height, much refembling the next 
fpecies, but the leaves fometimes emarginate, and round¬ 
ifh ; flowers large, rofe-coloured, and very handfome, but 
without fcent. The whole furface of the genitals, and 
efpecially of the nedtary, is covered with a gelatinous 
gluten ; fruit green, the fize of a middling apple, with 
eight lines running like meridians on a globe, from the 
ftalk to the crown of it. When the fruit becomes ripe, 
it opens at thele lines, and divides into eight parts, dif- 
clofing many mucilaginous lcarlet feeds, relembling thofe 
of a pomegranate ; the mucilage being wafhed off, the 
feeds appear white and hard, and contain a kernel; they 
are contained in the hollow furrows of an odtagonal core. 
The whole tree is exceedingly beautiful, and the ftruc- 
tnre of the fruit is a molt exquifite piece of mechanil'm. 
Native of the Bahama iflands, St. Domingo, and other 
American iflands, between the tropics, on rocks, and fre¬ 
quently on the trunks and limbs of trees, occafioned by 
birds fcattering or voiding the feeds, which, being gluti¬ 
nous like thofe of mifleto, take root in the fame manner; 
but the roots, not finding fufficient nutriment, fpread on 
the furface of the tree till they find a decayed hole or 
other lodgment, wherein is fome fmall portion of foil; 
the fertility of this being exhaufted, a root is difcharged 
out of the hole till it reaches the ground, though at forty 
feet difiance; here again it fixes itfelf, and becomes a much 
larger free. The refin is ufed to cure lores in horfes, and 
inltead of tallow for boats. 
2. Clufia alba, or white-flowered balfam-tree: leaves 
veinlefs; corollas five-petalled. Height thirty feet; an 
elegant tree, and parafitical on other vaft trees, like the 
foregoing 5 the trunk is frequently a foot in diameter^ 
and fupporls a fpreading head. The whole abounds in a 
very tenacious balfamic juice, of a green colour, but be¬ 
coming of a brownifh red. on being expofed to the air; 
flowers inelegant, and without fcent; white, all herma¬ 
phrodite, but with the anthers ijiore or lefs polliniferous ; 
fruits, when ripe, fcarlet; feeds white, involved in a fear- 
let pulp ; the birds are very fond of them, and, when the 
capfules burft open, hang over them on the wing, and 
pluck out the feeds with the pulp adhering. It is com¬ 
mon in the woods of Martinico, where it is called aralie , 
The Caribs ufe the juice for paying their boats. 
3. Clufia flava, or yellow-flowered balfam-tree: leaves 
veinlefs; corollas four petalled. The third fort is pretty 
common in the Britilh iflands of America, where the trees 
grow to the height of twenty feet, and {hoot out many 
branches on every fide; with thick, round, fucculent, 
leaves, placed oppofite: the flowers are produced at the 
ends of the branches, each having a thick fucculent co¬ 
ver ; thefe are of different colours in different plants, 
fome being red, others yellow, fome white, and fome 
green. After the flowers are pafi, they are fucceeded by 
oval fruit, which are alfo of different colours in different 
plants. Brown fays, that in Jamaica it rifes only to the 
height of fourteen or fifteen feet, that it grows moftly on 
the lower hills, delighting in dry ground, but .thriving in 
moff light foils. Wherever the trunk or Larger branches 
are wounded, they throw out a thick refinous gum, which 
is fometimes ufed as a vulnerary among-the inhabitants 
of Jamaica; but it has not any extraordinary fmell, or 
pungent tafte. This fpecies was cultivated by Mr. Miller 
in 1759: he informs us that there were fome fine plants 
in the garden of Mr. Parker, near Croydon in Surrey, 
which were brought over in tubs from Barbadoes; anti 
that there are three varieties differing in the fize and co¬ 
lour of the flowers and fruit. 
4. Clufia venofa, or vein-leaved balfam-tree : leaves 
veined. This tree rifes to the height of twenty or thirty 
feet; it has very large oval fpear-fhaped leaves, ending in 
points, placed alternate on the branches, and having feve- 
ral ribs, which go off from the midrib alternate, riling 
upward to the fide of the leaves ; and alfo a great number 
of linall veins, running horizontally between thefe ribs. 
The borders of the leaves are ferrate, and their under 
fides are of a Alining brown colour. The branches are 
covered with a woolly down, and the flowers are produced, 
in loofe fpikes at the end of the (hoots ; thele are fmaller 
than thofe of the foregoing, and are of a rofe colour. Ac¬ 
cording to Jacquin, the corolla is white, and an inch and 
a half in diameter; leaves four inches long. It is a na¬ 
tive of the moift mountainous woods of Martinico, where 
it has the name of paletuvier.de monlagne. Miller fays it 
was difeovered by Dr. Houfioun at Campeachy, whence 
he lent dried fpecimens and feeds. 
5. Clufia pedicellata: leaves oppofite, obovate, quite 
entire, veined ; cymes axillary ; flowers four-petalied. 
Native of New Caledonia; found September 9, 1774. 
6. Clufia feflilis : leaves oppofite, obovate and elliptic, 
quite entire, veined ; flowers axillary, folitary, fubfeffile, 
four-petalled. Native of Tongatabu; found Odtober 8, 
1774 - 
Propagation and Culture. The bell; method of having 
thefe plants, is to procure them from the Weft Indies, to 
be brought over in tubs; for the feeds feldom fucceed, 
and the young plants grow fo llowly as not to make any 
figure for fome years. In bringing them over, great care 
lhould be taken that they do not receive much wet; for, 
having very fucculent Items, moifture will caufe them to 
rot. The plants are tender, and mult be conftantly kept 
in the Itove, otherwife they will not live through the win¬ 
ter in England ; they mull alfo be watered very fparing- 
ly, efpecially in winter, for they naturally grow in thofe 
parts of the iflands where it feldom rains. They may be 
propagated by cuttings, which mult be laid to dry when 
they are cut off from the plants for a fortnight or three 
weeks, that the wounded part may b? healed over, other- 
wife 
