Lecythis
(from lecythos, an oil-jar; in allusion to the shape of the seed-vessels). ORD. Myrtaceoe. A large genus (sixty-four species have been described, but not so many are entitled to specific rank) of stove trees, some-times very large. They are confined to tropical--mostly Eastern--America. Flowers often rather large, disposed in simple or paniculate, axillary, terminal racemes; calyx segments and petals six, rarely four, the former imbricated. Fruit coriaceous or woody, globular or cupuliform, furnished at top with a lid, which falls off when the fruit is ripe. Leaves alternate, coriaceous, entire or serrate, dotted. Few of the species are known to cultivation. They thrive in a mixture of loam and sand, and require a strong heat. Propagation may be effected by cuttings of the ripened wood, inserted in sand, under a glass. Under the name of Sapucai Nuts, the seeds of L. Zabucajo are sold in our shops as a substitute for Brazil nuts, to which they are far superior.
L. grandiflora (large-flowered). fl. 2in. in diameter; petals deep red, very hard; pedicels thick, shorter than the largest petal. April. fr. ovate, nearly globose, 4in. to 5in. in diameter; seeds edible and very palatable. l. petiolate, oval, acute, quite entire, stiff. h. 60ft. to 80ft. Cayenne, 1824.