New Genera of American Plants

The most illustrious Master Guy de la Brosse Latin: Guido Brossaeus, Ordinary Physician to the King, who served the fields of botany and medicine most excellently. He was the first director of the Royal Garden of Paris the Jardin des Plantes, and he took great care to see that the Royal Garden was constructed and adorned with plants sought out from every corner of the earth. He published a most learned treatise in French on the nature, virtues, and utility of plants; a work truly most scholarly and useful. it was published in Paris by Rollins Baragnes in 1628, in quarto.

X I M E N I A

Plate 21.

Ximenia named after Francisco Ximenez is a genus of plant with a single-petaled flower, bell-shaped, divided into three parts, and usually with turned-back edges. From the calyx the outer protective envelope of the flower rises a pistil the seed-bearing organ, which later develops into an egg-shaped fruit. This fruit is soft and contains a small pit of the same shape, which encloses a kernel.
I have recognized only one species of Ximenia:
Prickly Ximenia with hairy flowers and yellow fruit. original: Ximenia aculeata flore villoso, fructu luteo

The Reverend Father Francisco Ximenes, a Spaniard of the Order of Friars Minor in the Province of Saint Gabriel. He was one of the first twelve Franciscan Fathers who brought the light of the Gospel to the West Indies. As he was most highly skilled in the Mexican language Nahuatl, he wrote four books on the nature and virtues of the trees, plants, and animals of New Spain Mexico, and especially of the Mexican region, for use in medicine. These were printed in the city of Mexico in the year 1615, and were frequently praised by Joannes de Laet in his work on the New World.

H E R N A N D I A

Plate 40.

Hernandia named after Francisco Hernandez is a genus of plant with a flower that is either single-petaled, bell-shaped, spreading and many-cleft; or rose-like, consisting of several petals arranged in a circle. Some of these are sterile, others are fertile. In the fertile ones, the calyx later turns into a nearly spherical fruit that is bladder-like and perforated, containing a small, grooved nut which hides a round kernel.
I know of only one species of Hernandia:
Hernandia with large, navel-like ivy leaves. original: Hernandia amplo Hederae folio umbilicato

Francisco Hernandez, a Spaniard, and the primary physician at the Royal Court of Mexico in the New World. By the command of King Philip II of Spain, and through his very diligent observation over many years concerning plants, liquids...