Genipa
(from Genipapo, the Guiana name of one of the species). Genip-tree. ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus comprising about eight species of stove evergreen shrubs or small trees, natives of tropical America and the West Indian Islands. Flowers white, at length yellow, axillary or terminal, solitary or few; corolla narrow, campanulate; tube short; throat glabrous or villous. Fruit succulent, with a rather thick rind, crowned by the calyx, and tapering at each end. Leaves sessile or shortly pedunculate, opposite, coriaceous, obovate, or lanceolate, clear; stipules interpetiolar, ovate, acuminated, deciduous. For culture, see Gardenia, to which the genus is closely allied. The species enumerated below flower in summer.
G. americana (American). Genipap Fruit. fl. small; peduncles axillary, dichotomous, corymbose. fr. greenish-white, large, full of dark purple juice; pulp edible, rather acrid. l. oblong-lanceolate, quite glabrous on both surfaces. h. 20ft. to 30ft. West Indian Islands, &c., 1779. G. Caruto (native name). fl., corolla white, having the tube silky both inside and outside; peduncles terminal, two or three-flowered. l. obovate, obtuse, glabrous above, clothed with velvety tomentum beneath. h. 20ft. West Indian Islands, &c.
G. Merianae (Merian's). fl. nearly sessile, crowded at the tops of branches. Berry hairy, umbilicate; pulp edible. l. oblong-ovate. h. 20ft. Guiana, 1800. G. oblongifolia (oblong-leaved). fl. crowded at the tops of the branches, on short pedicels, and disposed somewhat racemosely. fr. the size of a peach. l. oblong-ovate, obtuse, shining above, and downy on the nerves beneath, with rather revolute margins. h. 20ft. Peru, 1821. The seeds and pulp of the fruit of this species are used by the Indians as a dye.