Mesua
(named after two celebrated Arabian physicians and botanists, Mesue, who flourished at Damascus in the eighth and ninth centuries). ORD. Guttiferae. A small genus (about half-a-dozen species) of stove evergreen shrubs or trees, natives of tropical Asia. Flowers large, axillary, solitary. Leaves narrow, very slender, crowded, elegantly marked with numerous parallel veins, diverging from the midribs. The undermentioned species thrives in a loam and peat compost. Propagated by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, placed in sand, with slight bottom heat, in May; or by seeds, sown in heat, during March or April.
M. ferrea (iron-wooded). fl. white, about the size of those of the Sweetbriar, very fragrant, stalked, axillary. July and August. l. elliptical-lanceolate, acute, glaucous beneath. h. 40ft. India, 1837. An exceedingly ornamental hard-wooded tree, the deep yellow stamens contrasting finely with the white corolla.