Sloanea (slonea)

[NL. (Linnæus, 1753), named after Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), a celebrated English collector.] A genus of trees, of the order Tiliaceæ, the linden family, type of the tribe Sloaneæ. It is characterized by usually apetalous flowers with four or five commonly valvate sepals, a thick disk, very numerous stamens, and an ovary with numerous ovules in the four or five cells, becoming a coriaceous or woody and usually four-valved capsule. There are about 45 species, all natives of tropical America. They are trees with usually alternate leaves, and inconspicuous white or greenish-yellow flowers commonly in racemes, panicles, or fascicles, followed by densely spiny, bristly, or velvety fruit, the size of which varies from that of a hazelnut to that of an orange. Many species reach a large size, with very hard wood which is difficult to work; S. Jam a i cens is, a tree sometimes 100 feet high, bearing a fruit 3 or 4 inches in diameter and clothed with straight bristles like a chestnut-bur, is known in the West Indies as breakax or iron wood.