Home › C › Cupania (Named after Father Francis)

Cupania (Named after Father Francis)

(named after Father Francis Cupani, an Italian monk, author of "Hortus Catholicus," and other botanical works; he died in 1710). ORD. Sapindaceae. Ornamental stove trees or shrubs. Flowers whitish, in panicles or racemes. Leaves exstipulate, abruptly pinnate, or from abortion simple; leaflets opposite and alternate. The species number about thirty; they are found in tropical regions throughout the world. They thrive in a compost of loam and peat. Cuttings of halfripe shoots will root in sand, if placed under a hand glass, in heat. Very few species of this rather large genus are seen in cultivation.

C. americana (American).* fl., petals yellowish, triangular, hairy on the outside. l., leaflets three to four pairs, obovate, retuse, clothed with fine rusty tomentum beneath, serrate-toothed at the top of the lateral; outer leaflets largest. h. 30ft. South America, 1818. SYN. C. tomentosa. C. sapida (savoury). Savoury Akee-tree. fl. whitish. March. l., leaflets three or four pairs, ovate-lanceolate, veiny. h. 30ft. West Africa, 1793. Naturalised in West Indies.

C. tomentosa (tomentose). A synonym of C. americana.