Hedwigia
(named after John Hedwig, 1730-1799, a celebrated muscologist and Professor of Botany, at Leipsic). SYNS. Caproxylon, Tetragastris. ORD. Burseraceae. A genus containing four or five species of glabrous trees, natives of the West Indies, Northern Brazil, and Guiana. H. balsamifera, the species best known to cultivation, is a tall-growing stove evergreen tree, yielding an exudation of a balsamic nature. It requires a sandy loam soil, with a little peat added. Propagated by ripened cuttings, inserted in sandy soil, in a rather strong heat.
H. balsamifera (balsam-bearing). fl. whitish, small, in panicled racemes. l. impari-pinnate, with stalked, quite entire, coriaceous leaflets. h. 60ft. West Indies, 1820.