Flora Medica

AMYRIDACE^E.Nat. syst. ed.2. p. 165.AMYRIS.Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx 4-toothed, permanent. Petals4, hypogynous, cuneate, unguiculate, imbricated in aestivation.Stamens 8, shorter than the petals. Ovary 1 -celled,seated on a thick disk-like receptacle;stigma sessile. Drupewith a thin-sided 1 -seeded stone. Trees or shrubs containinga resinous juice. Leaves compound, with pellucid dots. Flowerspanicled, white. Drupes abounding in aromatic oil.576. A. balsamifera Linn, sp.pl. 496. Willd. ii. 338. Swartz.obs. 149. i.Macfady. jam. 232. A. toxifera Willd. ii. 336.DC.prodr. ii. 81. (Pluk. t. 201. f. 3. Catesby car. i. t. 40.)West Indies.A small tree or bush. Branches rough with small asperities. Leavesunequally pinnated leaflets in 2 ;pairs, slightly stalked, ovate, roundedat the base, acuminate, nearly entire, with pellucid dots. Panicles terminal,sessile. Flowers numerous, white, slightly fragrant, in threes. Divisionsof calyx ciliated. Petals reflexed. Ovary slightly downy; stigmasub-sessile, capitate. Branches when bruised or broken exhale a strongsmell. Said to be poisonous according to De Candolle.577. A.? hexandra Hamilt. prodr. ind. occ. p. 34. Woodsindamp cool alpine places on the central mountain of Nevis.A good sized tree. Leaves unequally pinnate, in 3 pairs ; leafletsentire, ovate, shortly, obtusely, and rather obliquely acuminate, decurrentat the base into a short petiole ;smooth on each side, netted beneath.Flowers panicled, small, greenish, always hexandrous. Panicles axillaryand terminal. Calyx cyathiform, entire. Petals 3, greenish, entire.Stamens 6, very short. Ovary oblong, smooth (inferior according toHamilton, but this I suppose to be an error of the press for superior) ;style short; stigma obtuse. Fruit (the stone of the drupe ^membranous,elliptical, acuminate at each end, 1-valved. Mr. WilliamHamilton from whom the above imperfect account is taken says thatthis plant produces the fragrant fennel-scented substance called GumElemi, on Nevis. He adds that it is a large tree yielding a fragrant resinousjuice which flows in abundance when the smooth ash-colouredbark is wounded.* #* The genera Copaifera and Myrospermum, included in this orderhere and in my Introduction to the Natural System,hold a sort of middleplace between Amyridaceas and Fabaceae (Leguminosae), and are usuallyreferred to the latter. I think however that the balance of reasoningupon the subject upon the whole turns this way, and they accordinglyremain where I have already placed them.277 T 3