280 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
leaves are petiolate, cordiform, acuminate, and glabrous; the 
flowers are lateral, slender and filiform, in lax spikes. 
Jichras sapota. This plant is also denominated, El Nis- 
pero. Empson states that it is very abundant in South Ame- 
rica, and the fruit is one of the best which the country produces. 
It is the size of an apple, of an oval figure, the rind brown and 
somewhat rough; the pulp is white, very sweet and resembles 
in taste the bergamot pear. It has only three long seeds. The 
fruit is so wholesome, that it is usually given to the sick to 
procure an appetite; it is reckoned among the astringents. 
The tree is large and bushy, and bears fruit during the whole 
year. The wood is held in great esteem, and is of a tobacco co- 
lour inclining to purple. It is capable of receiving a good 
polish, and is so hard as to be used for pegs, as a substitute 
for nails to fasten boxes. The leaves of the Nispero are also 
astringent, and a decoction of them is used for inflammation 
of the throat. In some parts, they call this tree Chico Sapote. 
The fruit is always eaten raw. 
The genus Achras belongs to the family Sapoteae, and Hex- 
andria Monogynia, of Linnteus. The seeds of the A. sapota 
is said, by Lindley, to be aperient and diuretic. They are 
endowed with an agreeable aromatic resinous substance, to 
which these effects are referable. The fruit also, according 
to Jaquin, is capable of curing strangury, disury, &c. The 
plant abounds in a lactescent juice, which, unlike that of other 
families possessing it, is bland and mild in its properties. 
From the hardness of the wood it is near to the Ebony tribe, 
with which it has some botanical affinities. 
Theobroma Cacao. According to Empson, there are two 
kinds of Cacao, the one wild and bitter, which the Indians 
used to prize highly, and as it is still in some repute, they en- 
deavour to cultivate and improve it; the other is distinguished 
by its quality, according to the soil and climate in which it 
grows. The best Cacao is produced in the province of Se- 
conusco, but the produce there is so small that it barely sup- 
