Volume 4 — PLATE CCXXIII. CLUSIA FLAVA. Yellow-flowered Balsam-Tree.

CLASS XXIII. ORDER I.

POLYGAMIA MONOECIA. Various dispositions. Upon one plant.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx. Perianthium imbricatum; foliolis concavis, persistentibus, exterioribus gradatim minoribus.

Corolla. Petala 4, 5, 6, subrotunda concava, crassa, cochleata.

Stamina. Filamenta plura, simplicia, corolla breviora. Antheræ simplices, apicis lateri adnatæ.

Pistillum. Germen ovato-oblongum. Stylus nullus. Stigma stellatum, planum, obtusum, persistens.

Pericarpium. Capsula ovata, sulcis exerata, locularis, valvis tum radiatim dehiscentibus.

Semina numerosa, ovata, pulpa obtecta, affixa receptaculo columnari, anguloso.

Obs. Numerus in parte fructus differt a quatuor ad duodecim proportione observata in stigmate, valvulis, loculis, &c. Flores alii a parte masculina, alii a feminina steriles sunt.

Empalement. Cup tiled; leaflets concave, remaining, the outer ones gradually smaller.

Blossom. Petals 4, 5, 6, roundish, concave, thick and shell-like.

Chives. Threads many, simple, shorter than the blossom. Tips simple, growing to the side of the point.

Pointal. Seed-bud oblong-egg-shaped. Shaft none. Summit starred, flat, obtuse, remaining.

Seed-vessel. Capsule egg-shaped, strongly furrowed, celled, the valves bursting into a starred form.

Seeds numerous, egg-shaped, covered with pulp, fixed to an angular, columnar receptacle.

Obs. The number in the parts of the fruit differs from four to twelve, according to the proportion observed in the summit, valves, cells, &c. Some of the flowers are sterile with respect to the male organs, and others with respect to the female ones.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Clusia foliis aveniis; corollis tetrapetalis, luteis.

Balsam Tree with veinless leaves; blossoms with four petals, and yellow.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. Flower complete.

2. A petal shewn from the inside.

3. A petal shewn sideways.

4. The Pointal and Chives, one Chive detached, magnified.

5. The Pointal cleared of the Chives, the Seed-bud and Summit detached and magnified.

The Balsam Tree is a native of all the West India Islands, and has been described by Plumier, Sloan, Jacquin, Browne, &c.; but no good figure of the plant, according with our ideas, has hitherto been given of it. The C. rosea, C. alba, and C. flava of Jacquin, the three various species, are said to grow to different heights, in the different Islands; which we are led to think, are but varieties of the same plant. Linnæus has taken them up as species, upon his authority; although Jacquin himself allows, that the one he denominates flava, varies in its blossoms to red and white. This plant does not grow to above the height of eight or nine feet, in this country, and seldom flowers. Our figure was taken last year in September 1801, from a plant in the Stepney Collection. Miller says it was cultivated by him in 1759, and had been introduced by Mr. Parker, of Croydon, in Surrey, from Barbadoes. It is readily propagated from cuttings, and thrives in rich, dungy earth. A slight mistake occurs, in the quotation from Browne, in Martyn’s Edition of the Dictionary; where, the petals are described as screw-shaped; Browne has it, “cochleata,” or shell-shaped, a most expressive term for the shape of these petals.