XXVII. Description and use of the cabbage-bark tree of Jamaica.

Abstract

The Cabbage-bark tree, or Worm-bark tree, grows in most parts of Jamaica, and particularly abounds in the low Savannahs of St. Mary and St. George. It rises to a considerable height, but no great thickness, sending off branches towards the top of a straight, smooth trunk. The leaves are, when young, of a light-green hue; when full-grown, of a dark-green colour; and before they drop, of a rusty appearance. The flower-spike is long and beautifully branched. The flowers are numerous; the <italic>calyces</italic> of a dark purple; their <italic>petals</italic> of the colour of the pale-rose; the <italic>nectaria</italic> must contain much honey, as thousands of bees, beetles of various kinds, butter-flies, and humming-birds, are continually feeding thereon.