Order Xcviii
EBENACEÆ.
Some of these are hardy trees or shrubs, with deciduous leaves and white flowers, natives of woods, mountains, and banks of streams in North America and Europe; others are tropical evergreens. Among the former, the best known are the Snow-drop tree, or Halési, with pendent shewy white blossoms; and the different species of Stýrax: of the latter, many of the Diospýruses' produce are eatable fruit; as, for example, the Mabolo of the Phillippine Islands, which is as big as a peach, and the Kaki of Japan, which resembles an apricot. All these fruits are remarkable for their extreme austerity before maturity, and the necessity of letting them decay, like our medlars, before they are fit for table. These are also distinguished for the excessive hardness of their wood, and for the black colour it sometimes acquires when old, as the Ebony. The bark of Diospyros virginiána is used in North America in intermittent fevers. 1035 Royéna W. 2086 Mába J. 2159 Diospyros W. 1025 Stýrax W. 1081 Halésia W. 1105? Vísnea W.