fiARCINIA CAMIIOGIA.
seem scarce fertile, which, as in all ihe other species of this
genus I have yet met with, itiduces me to think tliere is a
male tree, though I have not yet met with it,
•m superior, round, 8-10-lobed, S-lO-celled, with one ovule in
each, attached to the axis. Shjle none. peltate, with
as mimv ragged divisions as there are cells in the genn.
Bernj round, :
run from the base tc
ripe yellow, and o:
Seeds generally eight or
each enveloped ii
pulpy aril.
Jlbumm and mbri/o as i
3rangc, from eight t(
II the
5n elevations
me/o?i),when
its own proper, succulent, yellowish,
. the other species.
OBSERVATIONS.
From wounds a yellowish juice exudes, •
brownish yellow gum-resin, greatly infcrioi
G Y N O C A R D I A .
DIOECIA POLYANDRIA.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
MALE.
Calyx 4-5 lobed. Pclali five, a nectarial s
each.
ale c r the base of
Calyx and corol a;
FEMALE,
in the male. Gim superior, one-celled: ovuUi
1 five parietal receptaclcs. Styles five. Berry
dry, one-celled, many-seeded. Embryo furnished with albumen
: direction of the radicle various.
96
Peduncles from the sides of the ligneous branchlets of from one to
several years growth, generally several together, from one
to two inches long, one-flowered.
Bracks minute, rotind the base of the peduncles,
Flojccrs large, about an inch and a half in diameter when expanded,
)>ale yellow, and powerfully fragrant.
Calyx cme-lcKved, bowl-shaped ; border 4-5-lobed.
Peiali- five, sessile, oblong, inserted into the receptacle round the
filaments. J^ectary: five ciliate, oblong scales, or smaller
petals, of a deeper yellow colour over the lower half of the
proper petal, and attached to them.
numerous [about one hundred), woolly, inserted into
tlie disk of the receptacle. Anthers linear, erect, about the
length of the filaments, and the two together rather shorter
than the petals,
Germ none.
FEMALE, on a distinct tree.
Pcdmdes in bundles from tuberosities over the trunk, and larger
branches, one-flowered, &c. as in the male.
Floivcrs larger than the male, and fragrant.
Calyx, corol and nectary as in the male.
Stamina none, but round the base of the germ are inserted about
ten pinnatifid, villous bodies.
Germ superior, ruund, slighdy five-lobed, one-celled, and contains
numerous emlcs, attached to five parietal receptacles,
as u\^us%ie\\sCal>parides. to which this will,no doubt, belong.
Styles five, short. Sii^mas large sagittate-cordate.
Brny globular, size of a shaddock, one-celled. Cortex thick,
rough, ash-coloured, surface internally brown and composed
of radii pointing to the centre of the berry, Rcceplade in the
Seeds numerous, size of large filberts, immersed in pulp, shape
various, but in general nearly oval, smooth, light-gray.
IntegumeiUs two: exterior subnuciform : interior membrana-
299. GYNOC.^RDIA ODORATA.
OBSERVATIONS.
Chaulmoogri, or Chawulmoogrl ; also Pctarcurrah, are the
names by which this tree, and the drug, hereafter tnen tioneil, which
it furnishes, are known in the Silhit district, where it is indigenous,
and grows to a large siie. equalling the largest mango trees, (and
their size; when full grown, may be compared to the great maple,
or sycamore, Accr jisetulo-jilutanw .) Blossoms in April and Way ;
and the seed ripen about the close of the year; when the fruit is
gathered, the seed carefully taken out, dried, and sold to the
native dealers in drugs for about five rupees the maund, of 84lbs.
DESCRIPTION.
Trunk and large branches covered with tolerably smooth ash-coloured
bark: the young shoots more or less declinate, round,
smooth and green. HW of a light brown colour, closegrained,
and seems very fit for a variety of purposes,
i e o f i i shoit-petiokd, alternate, bil'arious, drooping, lanceolate,
entire, acuminate, smooth ; from six to ten inches long, and
from one and a half to two and a half broad.
Stifules none.
Mbumen conform to the seed, fleshy, whitish-gray.
Embryo white. Cotyledons subreniform. Radicle oval, direction
various. OBSERVATIONS.
The seeds of this tree, called Chaulmoogri, or Petarcurrah
by the natives, are employeil by them in the cure of cutaneous disorders.
When freed from the integuments, they are beat up with
clarified butter, into a soft mass; and in this state applied, thricc
a day to the parts aifected.
300. MUSA GLAUCA.
Root fibrous, and perishes with the columnar stem.
drooping; sl>atlm ovate-lanceolate, imbricated, many (10-20)
flowered, permanent, those of the male-hermaphrodite /lowers
withering.
OBSERVATIONS.
A very stately, elegant, perfectly distinct, strongly-marked
species ; a native of Pegu \ and from thence introduced, by the
discoverer, the Kev. Mr. F. Carey, into the Botanic Garden at
CakMa, where it blossoms in May. and the seed ripen in October
and November. Like my M. superba, it never produces suckcrs,
97 MUSA CLAUCA. MUSA GLAUCA. 98
consequently must be reared from the seed, which it futnishes in
great abundance; the fruit containing little else, even fit for a
monkey to eat. The whole plant has a pale glaucous appearance,
which, with its columnar stem, and total want of suckcrs,
readily distinguishes this, from all the other Mustc known to me.
DESCRIPTION.
Root fibrous, about triennial, for like that of my jji/'cria, it perishes
\Yith the plant, when it has perfected its seed ; and not like
the cultivated sorts, tuberous, permanent, and furnishing a
succession of suckers, by which they are quickly and abundantly
propagated,
Jicwisimple, erect, columnar, 10-12 feet high, and about two feet
in circumference.
Leaves numerous round the apex of the stem, &c.: as in M. sapient
um.
Spadix in thisspccies rather long-peduncled, perfectly pendulous;
base occupied with fertileJemale hentaphroditc flowers, which
are completely liid under the permanent, ovate-lanceolate
spathes; the barren, or male hcrmaphrodile flowers occupy all
the rest to the very apex, and continue to blossom in succession,
until the seeds are ripe, hy which time this part greatly
exceeds in length the fertile part, and continues covered
with the withered, but permanent spatlies.
Corol, stamina and pistillmi, as in M. sapieutum, &c.
Berries trigonally-clavate, thick as a cucumber, and about 4-.'i
inches long, smooth, striated lengthways with small veins;
colour when ripe, a mixture of green yellow and pink,
5-celled.
Seeds, rather nuts, a few in each cell, oval, size of a field bean.
Integumenl a perfect, hard, black nut, divided into three
transverse cells; the uppermost and lower filled with .spongy
matter ; the middle one is occupied by the friable white
albxanen, in the middle of the base thereof is lodged the
small, simple, short, subobconic embryo: the whole nearly as
in Gasitner's Musa sapientum, vol. i.p. 28. t. 11./. 1.