Ximenia
(named after Francis Ximenes, a Spanish monk, who wrote a work on Mexican plants in 1615). SYN. Heymassoli. ORD. Olacineae. A small genus (four species are known) of stove or greenhouse, glabrous or tomentose trees or shrubs; one is Mexican, another South African, a third inhabits the South Pacific Islands, and the fourth is broadly dispersed through the tropics. Flowers whitish, large for the order, in short, axillary cymes, or rarely solitary; calyx small, four or five-toothed or lobed; petals four or five, hypogynous; stamens eight or ten. Drupes ovoid or globose; flesh pulpy. Leaves alternate, entire, sub-coriaceous, often fascicled. The drupes of X. americana have a sweet, aromatic flavour, but are a little rough to the palate. This species thrives in a compost of loam and peat. Cuttings will readily root in sand, under a glass, in heat.
X. americana (American). False Sandalwood; Hog, Mountain, or Seaside Plum. fl. odorous, racemose or corymbose; petals four, oblong, villous internally, many times longer than the calyx. April. fr. oval or oblong, edible. l. 1 1/4in. by 1in. and upwards, glabrous, ovate-oblong or roundish, emarginate, rounded at base. Branches covered with astringent bark, often ending in a spine. h. 20ft. Tropics, 1759. Stove tree.