ing in shape according to the number contained in each fruit; smooth, shining, light brown, with a long, lanceolate, lighter coloured, less smooth, umbilical mark on the inside.

This tree, which is rendered interesting on account of its seeds yielding a firm butyraceous substance, resembles Bassia Latifolia, (see Coromandel Plants, Volume I, No. 19, also Asiatic Researches, Volume I, Page 300,) so much as scarce to be distinguished from it, except by the Corol and

Stamina.

Here (in. Bassia butyracea) the Corol is of a thin texture, with a tube nearly cylindric, and border of eight, large, spreading, oblong segments. There (in Bassia latifolia) it is thick and fleshy, with a gibbous, indeed almost globular tube; and border of generally more than eight, small, cordate, rather incurved segments.

Here, the Stamina, from thirty to forty in number, have long filaments inserted on the mouth of the tube of the Corol. There they are fewer in number; have very short filaments, and are arranged in two, or three series, completely within the tube, to which they are affixed.

It may not be improper to notice here some other species of the same genus. The following Botanical description of Bassia longifolia. LINN. Mant. page 563, I have been favoured with by Doctor KLEIN, of Tranquebar, and the account of its economical uses by the Reverend Doctor JOHN, of the same place.

:

DESCRIPTION by DOCTOR KLEIN.

Calyx, Perianth: monophyllum, 4-partitum; laciniis ovatis, acutis, coriaceis, extus tomento ferrugineo obductis, persistentibus.

Corolla monophylla, campanulata; tubo cylindraceo, inflato, carnoso, limbo 8-partito; laciniis lanceolatis, erectis.

Stamina, filamenta 16, brevissima, in duos ordines divisa, quorum octo ad incisuras laciniarum, octo in tubo corollæ inserta. Antheræ lineares, setaceæ, acutæ, extus pilosæ, limbo breviores.

Pistil: Germen superum, ovatum, Stylus setaceus, corolla duplo longior. Stigma simplex. Pericarp: drupa oblonga, 1-3 sperma, carnosa, lactescens. Seminibus subtrigonis oblongis.

Arbor magna; ramis sparsis, erectis, horizonta libusque.

Folia sparsa, petiolata, lanceolata, acuta, inte gerrima, glabra, venosa.

Flores longe-pedunculati, axillares, solitarii, et aggregati.

ECONOMICAL USES of the OIL, ON ILLEEPEI TREE, Bassia longifolia.

BY THE REVEREND DOCTOR JOHN.

1st. The oil, pressed from the ripe fruit, is used as a common lamp oil, by those who cannot afford to buy the oil of the coco-nut. It is thicker, burns longer, but dimmer, smoaks a little, and gives some disagreeable smell.

2d. It is a principal ingredient in making the country soap, and, therefore, often bears the same price with the oil of the coco-nut.

3d. It is, to the common people, a substitute for ghee, and coco-nut oil, in their curries and other dishes. They make cakes of it, and many of the poor get their livelihood by selling these sweet oil cakes.

4th. It is used to heal different eruptions, such as the itch, &c.

5th. The cake (or Sakey) is used for washing the head; and is carried, as a petty article of trade, to those countries, where these trees are not found.

6th. The flowers, which fall in May, are gathered by the common people, dried in the sun, roasted, and eaten, as good food. They are also bruised, and boiled to a jelly, and made into small

balls, which they sell or exchange, for fish, rice, and various sorts of small grain.

7th. The ripe fruit, as well as the unripe, is eaten by the poor, as other fruits. Of the unripe, the skin is taken off, and after throwing away the unripe kernel, boiled to a jelly, and eaten with salt and Capsicum.

8th. The leaves are boiled with water, and given as a medicine, in several diseases, both to men, and to cattle.

9th. The milk of the green fruit, and of the tender bark, is also administered as a medicine.

10th. The bark is used as a remedy for the

itch.

11th. The wood is as hard, and durable, as teak wood, but not so easily wrought, nor is it procurable of such a length for beams, and planks, as the former; except in clay ground, where the tree grows to a considerable height; but, in such a soil, it produces fewer branches, and is less fruitful, than in a sandy, or mixed soil, which is the best suited for it. In a sandy soil, the branches shoot out nearer to the ground, and to a greater circumference, and yield more fruit. These trees require but little attention; beyond watering them during the first two or three years, in the dry season. Being of so great use, we have here whole groves of them, on high, and sandy grounds, where no other fruit trees will grow.

12th. We may add, that the owls, squirrels, lizards, dogs and jackals, take a share of the

flowers; but the vulgar belief is, that the latter, especially in the time of blossom, are apt to grow mad, by too much feeding on them.

Bassia obovata, FORSTER'S Prod. No. 200: a native of the Isle of Tanna, in the South Sea. Of this species, I possess no other account than the definition, which corresponds with the habit of the genus. If FORSTER has left us no account of the uses of the tree, it may be worth while to make inquiry, when an opportunity offers.

PARK'S Shea, or butter tree of Africa, we have reason, from his description, and figure, as well as from analogy, to suppose a species of this same genus. At page 352 (of his travels in the interior of Africa) he says, "The appearance of the fruit evidently places the Shea tree in the natural order of Sapote, (to which Bassia belongs,) and it has some resemblance to the Madhuca tree (Bassia latifolia), described by Lieutenant CHARLES HAMILTON, in the Asiatic Researches, Volume I, page 300.

"The people were every where employed in collecting the fruit of the Shea trees, from which they prepare a vegetable butter, mentioned in the former part of this work *. These trees grow in great abundance all over this part of Bambarra.