Vismia
(named in honour of M. de Visme, a merchant of Lisbon). SYN. Acrossanthes. ORD. Hypericineae. A genus embracing upwards of twenty species of stove trees or shrubs, mostly tropical American, four being found in Western tropical Africa. Flowers yellow or whitish; sepals five; petals five, often villous above; stamens in five groups; cymes terminal, sometimes few-flowered, sometimes paniculately many-flowered. Berry indehiscent. Leaves entire, often ample and tomentose or canescent benneath, gland-dotted, rarely highly glabrous. The under-mentioned species, which are all that call for mention in this work, thrive in a compost of loam and peat, and may be increased by cuttings, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in heat. All are shrubs.
V. glabra (smooth). fl., calyx ovate-oblong, obtuse, glabrous; panicle loose. July. l. elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous, on short, compressed petioles. Branchlets compressed. h. 6ft. Peru, 1824.
V. guianensis (Guiana). American Gamboge or Gutta-Gum Tree. fl. corymbose; calyx villous. August. l. ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, dilated at base, glabrous above, rufescent beneath; petioles short. Stems quadrangular. h.8ft. Guiana, 1824.
V. guineensis (Guinea). fl., calyx ovate-lanceolate; corolla glabrous; panicle spreading. May. l. ovate-lanceolate, acute, softly dotted beneath; petioles slender. Stems terete; branches divaricate. h. 6ft. Guinea, 1823.