Trichilia
(from tricha, by threes; the ovary and capsule are usually trilocular). ORD. Meliaceae. A genus comprising about thirty species of stove trees and shrubs, natives of tropical Africa and America. Flowers rather large for the order, disposed in axillary, many-flowered panicles; calyx four or five-toothed or cleft; petals four or five, imbricated; staminal tube eight to ten-cleft or parted, rarely entire. Leaves trifoliolate or imparipinnate; leaflets opposite or alternate, often many-jugate, very rarely bijugate. A selection of the introduced species is here given. They are not much grown, and rarely flower in this country. A compost of loam and peat is most suitable. Propagation may be effected by cuttings of the ripened wood, with the leaves intact, inserted in sand, under a glass, in heat. T. glabra (smooth). A synonym of T. havanensis.
T. havanensis (Havana). fl. white, long-pedicellate, densely crowded in very short, umbelluliform panicles. June. l. shortly petiolate, three-jugate; leaflets sessile, opposite, obovate, cuneate at base, rounded or obtuse, sometimes slightly acuminate, at apex, firm, opaque, somewhat shining. h. 20ft. Havana, 1791. Shrub or tree. SYN. T. glabra.
T. hirta (hairy). Bastard Ironwood. fl. whitish; panicles puberulous, two to four times exceeded by the leaves. June. l., leaflets five-jugal, variable, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, tapering to the base, glabrous, the lower ones smaller. h. 12ft. West Indies, 1800. Tree.
T. odorata (fragrant) fl. yellowish, sweet-scented; pedicels much longer than the flowers; cymes glabrous, many-flowered. June. l., leaflets five-jugal, elliptic or oblong, 2in. to 6in. long; petioles naked. h. 12ft. to 25ft. West Indies, 1801. A low tree or shrub. (A. B. R. 637; H. E. F. 128.) T. spondioides (Spondias-like). White Butterwood. fl. of a greenish-yellow colour; panicles puberulous, one-fourth the length of the leaves, the divisions three to eleven-flowered. June. l., leaflets seven to ten-jugal, ovate-oblong, oblique at base, acute at apex, glabrous, the lower ones smaller. h. 15ft. to 20ft. Tropical America, 1870. Tree. (Ref. B. 293.)