B E E N E L

Beénel to the Malabarese, Mana to the Brahmins, Catufa to the Portuguese, Papekoppen to the Dutch; it is a low shrub, about twelve feet high, with a thin trunk elegantly adorned with branches spread in a circle. These branches are covered with a bark that is initially green, then grayish, and has a sharp and aromatic taste; inside, they are filled with a soft and whitish pith. The wood, however, is very hard, whitish, tasteless, and odorless.

The Root is likewise whitish, surrounded by a reddish bark, and aromatic.

The Leaves grow around the branches in a crosswise order, with thick, greenish stems; they are oblong-round, pointed, thick, and smooth, shining with a dark-green color above and a lighter green below. Several nerves run out to the sides from a green middle rib, which is very prominent on the underside. The odor and taste are aromatic.

The Flowers are sweet-scented and are produced not sparsely, but in clusters around the ends of the branches. They open gradually as the little columns extend, in the manner of an umbel. They consist of four oblong-cylindrical, pointed, rigid leaves, which are cochleate-concave shell-shaped or spiraled and whitish on the inside, greenish on the outside, and expanded like a star, with eight white, upright, broad, and similarly expanded stamens occupying the center. Among these, a small greenish globule emerges with a yellowish base.

The fruit succeeds the flowers, being sub-rotund and nearly quadrilateral, with a short point at the top, surrounded by a thick, green skin, and filled with a greenish-brown pulp of aromatic odor and taste; within this is contained...

Part V.