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Embr. longitudine albuminis, inversus, nivens. Cotyl. lineari-oblonge com- 
presse tenues, Radicula brevissima, supera. Gertn. 1. 278. Pars tertia 
fructus haud raro supprimitur. 
Drawn in the hothouse of the Nursery of Mr. Lee at 
Hammersmith, where the plant has now flowered (in the 
shape of a small shrub of two or three feet high) probably 
for the first time in Europe, although pretty common in our 
collections. It had not flowered at Kew (though intro- 
duced by Dr. William Wright as far back as 1778), when 
the last edition of the Catalogue of that garden was pub- 
lished. 
In Jamaica, its native place, it forms a principal orna-_ 
ment of the mountain forests. In our hothouses it is to be 
seen in miniature. 
« This tree rises by a single slender stem like the Palms, 
“ and bears all its oval pinnate moderately ribbed leaves 
« disposed closely together about the top; the leaflets of 
“ these are six or seven inches long and about two broad in 
“‘ the middle. The branches grow from all sides at the top 
“‘in a spiral order, for about two feet in a tree 50 feet 
“high; they spread horizontally, the lowermost about five 
<‘ feet long, the other diminish in size as they approach the 
“summit. As the old ones drop they leave protuberant tri- 
“ angular scars on the body of the tree, and which are 
seen winding spirally about the stem wherever it is bare. 
« A tree which measured 50 feet in height was only 17 
“inches in the circumference about four feet from the 
« ground, and the tree leaned considerably from the weight 
“of the pyramidal panicle of flowers, which issued from 
“ the summit close to the foliage and afforded a magnificent 
«“ sioht; the lowermost branches of the panicle measured 
“ eight feet from the point of one to the point of the other 
<< opposite ; it was six feet high and thickly covered with 
“ beautiful bright purple flowers, about half an inch in di- 
“ ameter when expanded. This fine garland, from the 
“ height of the tree on which it is borne, may be seen above 
“the tops of the forests at a great distance. ‘The wood is 
“ white soft and brittle, of no use in building. Browne 
“has called our tree the Maiden Plum, a name which be- 
“ Jongs to a very different plant, Comoctapta integrifolia.” 
Lunan loc. cit. . 
