The Manchineal, or hippomane, rises from twelve to thirty feet, branching into several stems, but the main trunk sometimes attains three feet in circumference. It is a very beautiful tree, the bark smooth and of a brownish hue; and the leaves, of about two or three inches in length, are of the same glossy bright green as the laurel; they are thick and unctuous, and, when pressed, yield an oily milk. This tree has male catkins, which are produced at some distance from the embryos. The female pointal turns to a globular fleshy fruit, containing a rough woody nut, inclosing fewer or more flat seeds. This fruit is the celebrated manchineal apple, which, with the most beautiful exterior, possesses the most poisonous qualities. So dire is this plant, that the very sun, darting its rays upon it, calls forth all its dangerous odours, and renders it unsafe to the touch; while if any one takes shelter beneath its spreading boughs during a storm, the rain-drops as they trickle off the leaves blister any part of the skin they fall upon. Its timber is, however, made use of by cabinet-makers, although, when felling it, the wood-men, it is said, are obliged to cover their faces with thick cloth. The Caribs used to dip their arrows in this juice, which rendered the wound fatal. Poison extracted from this tree will preserve its venom for 100 years. The apples, if eaten, are said to be certain death to everything but goats.
Loblolly-Tree, varronia-alba, (pisonia subcordata?) is another denizen of Antigua, which shews its verdant green canopy throughout the year. The leaves are broad, glossy, and ovate; the trunk rises from the bottom in numerous woody stems, which, though they present a beautiful road-side scenery, are of very little use, except for fire-wood.
Sandbox-Tree, hura crepitans, rises to the height of from twenty to thirty feet. The trunk is straight and thick, and is armed with short prickles; the branches start from the top, and abound with an acrid juice. The leaves are broad and long, and of a dullish green. The male flowers are formed like a tapering column, and close over each other like the scales of fish; the female flowers consist of a trumpet-like style, with a quinquefid stigma. The germen becomes a round woody capsule, compressed at the ends like an orange, divided into twelve cells, each containing a flat oblong seed. When these capsules are ripe, they burst with a loud noise, scattering their seeds and severed cells to a great distance, and occasioning the negro, who may be passing at the time, to exclaim, “Eh! eh! de jumbies (ghosts) dun dere dinner hark dere plates; how dey mash ’em!” Before these pods burst, they are sometimes plucked by the Antiguans, and after being scraped and garnished with gold paper, are made into sandboxes, (from whence this tree derives its common name,) and sent to England as presents for the curious. This tree belongs to the natural order tricoccæ, and to the monœcia class of plants.
Logwood, hæmatoxylon Campechianum, grows in Antigua, but no use is made of it in the way of commerce. It rises from the height of eighteen to thirty feet. The trunk is generally uneven in its growth, with somewhat of a knotty surface; the branches are thorny, and thickly covered with lanceolated leaves, and the flowers, five-petalled, are of a delicate pale purple and yellow. The pointal afterwards becomes a flat oblong pod, containing a few kidney-shaped seeds. Altogether it forms a very beautiful object in woodland scenery. It belongs to the decandria class of plants.
Calabash-tree, crescentia cujete, rises to about the height of the English apple. The trunk is straight and columnar, branching off at the head into numerous long slender branches, clothed with dark green foliage. The flower is insignificant; the pointal afterwards becomes an oblong or globular fruit, of a fine green colour, and covered with a rind, which, as it approaches to maturity, attains the hardness and stability of maple wood. The interior of the fruit is filled with a white pulpy substance containing the seeds. This the negroes scrape carefully out, and after divesting the nut of its outer green covering, dry it in the sun, and then use them as culinary articles, instead of the more brittle cups and basins of English ware. Some of these calabashes, as they are generally termed, will hold from one to two gallons, while others will not contain more than a gill.
The Pimento, or Jamaica-pepper, is a species of myrtus. It is one of the most beautiful trees in the western hemisphere, the trunk rising smooth and shining, and of a silver-grey colour, to the height of from fifteen to twenty feet, when it branches off into a rich canopy of dark-green foliage, like the leaves of the bay-tree. These leaves are very odoriferous; from them may be expressed oil like that of cloves, and when distilled with rum or high wines, they rank first among the West Indian simple waters, known as bay-rum. The flowers are white with green stamens, and emit a pleasing fragrance; while the berries, round, black, and small, partake of the flavour of all the different spices, from whence their name, allspice. It is said of this tree, as of the nutmeg in the Moluccas, that the chief means of propagation is by the birds, who, swallowing the seeds, void them again whole, when they immediately take root and flourish.
Barbados-Lilac, melia azedarach, is a very beautiful
tree, rising from twelve to twenty feet. The bark is smooth and of an ash colour; it is bitter and astringent, and when compounded with aromatics, has been used (in the form of powders or decoctions) in fevers and chronic rheumatism. Toddy is said to be extracted from the young trees. The leaves are of a light green, and the sweet pale umbelliferous flowers hang in graceful tassels from every branch.
Turpentine Tree, burseræ gummifera, belongs to the order diœcia, class polygamia; the calyx is triphyllous, the corolla three-leaved, and the seed-vessel tri-valved. It grows very fast, and sometimes attains a great height. The trunk is of a bright brown, sometimes mottled with red, and presents a glossy appearance; the leaves are broad, and of a deep green. It is so tenacious of life, that it will bud and blossom after being cut up and planted as posts.
Nickel, or nickar tree, guilandina, is a curious genus of the monogynia order, decandria class of plants. There are two species, the bonduc, or yellow nickar, and the bonducella, or grey nickar. They are both of them climbing plants, sometimes attaining the height of fifteen or eighteen feet. The flowers are quinquefid, the petals of a yellow colour, and growing from the wings of the stalks. The germen becomes an oblong pod, thickly covered with slender spines, two-valved, and containing two hard seeds of the size and shape of a marble; those of the bonduc are yellow; the bonducella, of a beautiful grey colour, from whence their respective names.