New Genera of American Plants (1703) - Page 27

AMERICAN GENERA

D I O S C O R E A.

Plate 26.

Dioscorea named for the Greek physician Dioscorides is a genus of plant with a single-petaled monopetalous flower (A), shaped like a bell, spreading and many-cleft. From its calyx (B) the outer protective envelope of the flower rises a pistil the seed-bearing organ, which pierces the lowest part of the flower and later develops into a three-angled fruit (C), divided into three chambers (E), and filled with seeds that are flat, circular, and bordered (F).

I have observed only one species of Dioscorea:
Climbing Dioscorea with Black Bryony leaves and clustered fruit. original: Dioscorea scandens foliis Tamni, fructu racemoso

Tournefort, Institutions of Botany, 6, etc.

Pedanius (called by others Pedacius) Dioscorides, a native of that city in Cilicia which was called Anazarbus and later named Caesarea Augusta, surpassed all others in the zeal and diligence with which he encompassed medicinal materials, and most especially Botany. He made mention of about six hundred plants, of which he either described four hundred and ten or compared them with those better known.

P L I N I A.

Plate 11.

Plinia named for the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder is a genus of plant with a single-petaled monopetalous flower (A), bell-shaped, spreading, and many-cleft; from its calyx (B) rises a pistil, which later develops into a soft, spherical, and striated fruit (D), filled with a seed (E) of the same shape (F).

I know of only one species of Plinia:
Plinia with saffron-colored, fragrant fruit. original: Plinia fructu croceo, odorato

Gaius Plinius Secundus of Verona held the study of plants so dear that in his "Natural History" original: Historia mundi, which he dedicated to the Emperor Vespasian—or, as others prefer, to Titus—he treated plants in every variety of way (philosophically, historically, medically, and agriculturally) from the twelfth book, as Gesner noted, all the way to the twenty-seventh. While commanding the fleet at Misenum, he perished miserably in the eruption of Vesuvius. The Latin "incendio Vesuvii" refers to the catastrophic volcanic eruption of 79 AD.

C A I N I T O.

Plate 9.

Cainito the indigenous name for the Star Apple is a genus of plant with a single-petaled monopetalous flower (A), bell-shaped, spreading, and many-cleft; from its calyx (B) rises a pistil (C), which later develops into a soft, fleshy fruit (D), either spherical or olive-shaped, filled with small stones, or a single stone (E) enclosing a kernel (F).