Bassia
(named after Ferdinando Bassi, Curator of the Botanic Garden at Bologna). ORD. Sapotaceae. Handsome lofty-growing lactescent stove trees, with axillary, solitary, or aggregate flowers, and quite entire, smooth, coriaceous leaves. They require stove heat, and a compost of peat and loam. Cuttings, taken from ripened wood, strike readily in sand, under a hand glass, in a strong moist heat.
B. butyracea (buttery). The Indian Butter Tree. fl., pedicels aggregate, and are, as well as the calyces, woolly. l. obovate, 8in. to 9in. long, and 4in. to 5in. broad, tomentose beneath. h. 30ft. to 70ft. Nepaul, 1823. (B. F. F. 35.) B. latifolia (broad-leaved). The Mahwah Tree of Bengal. fl., corolla thick and fleshy; pedicels drooping, terminal. l. oblong or elliptic, smooth above, whitish beneath, 4in. to 8in. long, and 2in. to 4in. broad. h. 50ft. India, 1799. (B. F. S. 41.) B. longifolia (long-leaved). fl., pedicels axillary, drooping, crowded round the ends of the branchlets. l. ovate-lanceolate, approximate at the tops of the branches, 6in. long, deciduous. h. 50ft. Malabar, 1811. (B. F. S. 42.)