Treculia
(named in honour of M. Auguste Trecul, of Paris, author of a monograph on Nuphar lutea, in 1843). ORD. Urticaceae. A small genus (two or three species) of stove, glabrous trees or shrubs, natives of tropical Africa. Flowers dioecious; heads sessile or shortly pedunculate, at the axils or the defoliated nodes; bracts under the head few, small, somewhat biseriate, but by no means forming a true involucre. Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, entire, coriaceous, penniveined; stipules lanceolate, rather small, caducous. T. africana, the only species introduced, is an evergreen tree. It requires a compost of rich loam and leaf mould, and a moist atmosphere. Propagation may be effected by cuttings of the ripened shoots, inserted in sandy loam, under a bell glass, with bottom heat.
T. africana (African). African Bread-fruit Tree; Okwa tree. fl. green, in globose, shortly pedunculate heads. September, fr. in a head 1ft. or more in diameter. l. alternate, very shortly petiolate, thickly coriaceous, 6in. to 14in. long, sometimes 7in. to 8in. broad, oblong-ovate or lanceolate, abruptly and obtusely acuminate, acute or oftener cordate at base; stipules lin. long, caducous. h. 60ft. to 80ft. 1872. (B. M. 5986)