TOLUIFERA, the BALSAM OF TOLU TREE; a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the decandria class of plants. There is but one species, growing naturally near Carthagena in America, from whence the late Dr. Houtstoon sent the seeds to England: in its native place this grows to a tree of a large size. The bark is very thick, rough, and of a brown colour; the branches spread out wide on every side, and are garnished with winged leaves, composed of several oblong lobes, placed alternately along the foot-stalk, terminated by an odd one, rounded at both ends, but run out to an acute point at the top; they are
smooth, of a light-green colour, and sit close to the foot-stalk. The flowers are produced in small bunches at the wings of the branches, each standing upon a slender foot-stalk almost an inch long; their empalements are of the round bell-shape, being of one leaf, which is slightly scolloped at the brim into five obtuse parts. The flower has four narrow petals of a yellow colour, which are a little longer than the empalement, and one more whose tail is of the same length with the other petals; the top is of an oval heart-shape, stretched out beyond the other parts; it has ten short stamens within the tube of the flower, which are terminated by oblong erect summits, of a sulphur colour; and at the bottom of the tube is situated a roundish germin, having a very short style, crowned by an acute-pointed stigma. After the flower is past, the germin turns to a roundish fruit the size of a large pea, divided into four cells, each containing one oblong oval seed.—This tree may be propagated by seeds, which must be procured from the country where it grows naturally, and should be fresh, otherwise they will not grow. When they are gathered from the tree, they should be put up in sand to preserve them; for when they are sent over in papers, the insects generally devour them. These seeds must be sown in pots filled with light earth as soon as they arrive, and plunged into the tan. If it should happen in autumn or winter, they should be plunged into the stove; but in spring or summer, they may be plunged into the tan-bed under a frame; they should be taken out of their covers, otherwise they will be long in the ground before they vegetate. When the plants come up, and are fit to remove, they should be carefully transplanted, each into a separate pot, and plunged into a good hot-bed of tanners bark, shading them from the sun till they have taken new root; after which they should be treated in the same way as the coffee-tree, with which management the plants will succeed.