Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) 2nd ed. (part 5 of 6)

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) 2nd ed. (part 5 of 6)

Leaves persistent, long-petiolate, with a single pair of bifoliolate pinnæ and a slender petiole ½′—1′ long and slightly and abruptly enlarged at base; rachis glandular between the short stout petiolules and between the orbicular or broad-oblong leaflets, rounded and rarely emarginate at apex, rounded on one side and cuneate on the other of the oblique base, entire, thin or somewhat coriaceous, reticulate-veined, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface and paler on the lower surface, ½′—2′ long, and ½′—1½′ wide. Flowers polygamous, pale yellow, glabrous or slightly puberulous, opening in Florida in March and continuing to appear until midsummer, in globular heads on slender peduncles 1′—1½′ long fascicled in the axils of upper leaves or collected in ample terminal panicles, their bracts lanceolate, acuminate, chartaceous, ¼′ long, caducous; calyx rather less than 1/12′ long, broadly toothed, one quarter as long as the acuminate petals barely exceeding the tube formed by the union of the filaments; stamens purple, ½′ long; ovary glabrous, long-stalked, minute or rudimentary in the sterile flower. Fruit slightly torulose, stipitate, rounded or acute at apex, 2′—4′ long, ¼′—½′ wide, the valves reticulate-veined, thickened on the margins, bright reddish brown and after opening greatly and variously contorted; seeds irregularly obovoid or sometimes nearly triangular, compressed or thickened, dark chestnut-brown, lustrous, marked by faint oval rings, ⅓′ long, surrounded at base by the enlarged bright red ariloid funicle; seed-coat thin, cartilaginous.

A tree, sometimes 20°—25° high, with a slender trunk 7′—8′ in diameter, ascending and spreading branches forming a low flat irregular head, and slender somewhat zigzag branchlets slightly striately angled when they first appear, becoming terete, light gray-brown or dark reddish brown, covered with minute pale lenticels, and armed with the straight persistent rigid stipular spines broad at base and ¼′ long, or rarely minute; more often a shrub, with many vine-like almost prostrate stems. Bark of the trunk ¼′ thick, reddish brown and divided by shallow fissures into small square plates. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, rich red varying to purple, with thin clear yellow sapwood. The bark is astringent and diuretic, and was once used in Jamaica as a cure for many diseases.

Distribution. Florida, Captive and Sanibel Islands and Caloosa, Lee County to the southern keys; most abundant in its arborescent form on the larger of the eastern keys, and probably of its largest size in Florida on Elliott’s Key; often forming shrubby thickets; on the Bahamas, and common and widely distributed through the Antilles to Venezuela and New Granada.

2. Pithecolobium brevifolium Benth. Huajillo.

Zygia brevifolia Sudw.

Leaves 2′—3′ long, 2′ wide, with eight to ten 10—20-foliolate pinnæ and slender terete petioles 1′ in length and furnished near the middle with a dark oblong gland, when they unfold coated with pale tomentum and at maturity glabrous with the exception of the puberulous petiole and rachis; persistent or tardily deciduous; leaflets oblong-linear, obtuse or acute at apex, oblique at base, very short-petiolulate, light green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, ⅙′—¼′ long. Flowers white to violet-yellow, in globose or oblong heads ½′ in diameter, on thin pubescent peduncles bracteolate at apex, coated at first, like the flower-buds, with thick white tomentum, developed usually in pairs from the axils of lanceolate acute scarious deciduous bracts, and arranged in short terminal racemes; calyx shortly 5-lobed, puberulous on the outer surface, about 1/24′ long and one fourth the length of the puberulous petals persistent with the stamens at the base of the mature legume; stamens nearly ½′ long. Fruit ripening at midsummer and often persistent on the branches after opening until the trees flower the following year, straight, slightly torulose, short-stalked, contracted at apex into a short slender point, 4′—6′ long and ⅔′ wide, its valves thin, thick-margined, reddish brown on the outer surface, yellow tinged with red on the inner surface, reticulate-veined; seeds suspended by a slender coiled and somewhat dilated funicle, compressed, ovoid to nearly orbicular, dark chestnut-brown, very lustrous, ¼′ long, and faintly marked by large oval depressions; seed-coat thin, cartilaginous.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a trunk rarely 5′—6′ in diameter, slender upright branches forming a narrow irregular head, and branchlets slightly striately angled, covered with minute white lenticels, light gray and puberulous when they first appear, becoming dark brown in their second year, and armed with stout rigid stipular spines sometimes ½′ long and persistent for many years; more often a shrub, sometimes only 2°—3° tall. Bark of the trunk smooth, light gray somewhat tinged with red, and often marked by large pale blotches. Wood dark-colored, hard, and heavy.

Distribution. Bluffs and bottom-lands of the lower Rio Grande, and on the upper Nueces River in Uvalde County, Texas; usually a low shrub spreading into broad clumps, but occasionally in the rich and comparatively moist soil of the banks of river-lagoons a slender tree; in Mexico more abundant, and of its largest size from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon.

3. Pithecolobium flexicaule Coult. Ebony.

Zygia flexicaulis Sudw.

Leaves persistent, 1½′—2′ long, 2½′—3′ wide, long-petiolate with slender puberulous petioles glandular near the middle and furnished at apex with small orbicular solitary glands, and 4—6 usually 6-foliolate pinnæ, the lowest pair often the shortest; leaflets oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, reticulate-veined, thin or subcoriaceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, ¼′—⅓′ long; petiolules short and broad. Flowers light yellow or cream color, very fragrant, sessile in the axils of minute caducous bracts, appearing from June until August, in cylindric dense or interrupted spikes 1½′ long, on stout pubescent peduncles fascicled in the axils of the upper leaves of the previous year; corolla four or five times as long as the calyx and like it puberulous on the outer surface, and about as long as the tube formed by the union of the filaments; stamens ⅛′ long; ovary glabrous, sessile. Fruit ripening in the autumn and remaining on the branches until after the flowering season of the following year, sessile, tardily dehiscent, thick, straight or slightly falcate, oblique at base, rounded and contracted into a short broad point at apex, pubescent, 4′—6′ long and 1′—1¼′ wide, with thick woody valves lined with a thick pithy substance inclosing and separating the seeds; seeds suspended on a very short straight funicle, bright red-brown, ½′ long and ¼′ wide, irregularly obovoid, faintly marked by short oblong depressions; seed-coat thick, crustaceous.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, separating 8°—10° from the ground into short spreading branches forming a wide round head, and stout zigzag branchlets, puberulous, light green or dark reddish brown when they first appear, becoming in their second year glabrous or rarely puberulous, dark reddish brown or light gray, and armed with the persistent stipular pale chestnut-brown spines ¼′—½′ long. Wood exceedingly heavy, hard, compact, close-grained, dark rich red-brown slightly tinged with purple, with thin clear bright yellow sapwood; almost indestructible in contact with the ground and largely used for fence-posts; valued by cabinet-makers and for fuel, and considered more valuable than that of any other tree of the lower Rio Grande valley. The seeds are palatable and nutritious, and are boiled when green or roasted when ripe by the Mexicans, who use their thick shells as a substitute for coffee.

Distribution. Shores of Matagorda Bay, Texas, to the Sierra Nevada of Nuevo Leon, and in Lower California; common on the bluffs of the Gulf-coast and on both banks of the lower Rio Grande; south of the Rio Grande one of the commonest and most beautiful trees of the region.

2. LYSILOMA Benth.

Trees or shrubs, with slender unarmed branchlets, abruptly bipinnate long-petiolate persistent leaves, their petioles marked by large conspicuous glands, and small leaflets in many pairs; stipules large, membranaceous, persistent or deciduous. Flowers perfect or rarely polygamous, minute, usually white or greenish white, from the axils of minute bractlets more or less dilated at apex, in globose many-flowered heads, on axillary solitary or fascicled peduncles; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed; corolla funnel-shaped, of 5 petals united for more than half their length; stamens generally 12—30, exserted; filaments filiform, united at base into a tube free from the corolla; anthers minute, ovoid, versatile; ovary sessile, contracted into a slender subulate style, with a minute terminal stigma. Legume broad, straight, compressed, submembranaceous, the valves at maturity separating from the undivided margins, continuous within, their outer layer thin and papery, dark-colored, the inner rather thicker, pale yellow. Seeds compressed, transverse, suspended by a long slender funicle, the hilum near the base; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; radicle slightly exserted.

Lysiloma with about ten species inhabits tropical America from southern Florida and the Bahama Islands, the West Indies, Mexico and Lower California, to Central America and Bolivia. Several of the species produce valuable timber.

The generic name, from λύσις and λῶµα, refers to the separation of the valves from the margins of the legume.

1. Lysiloma bahamensis Benth. Wild Tamarind.

Leaves 4′—5′ long, glabrous or sometimes slightly puberulous, with slender petioles 1′ long, marked near the middle with an elevated gland, enlarged and slightly glandular at base, and 2—6 pairs of short-stalked 40—80-foliolate pinnæ; stipules foliaceous, ovate or ovate-oblong, acuminate, auriculate and semicordate at base, ½′ long, usually caducous; leaflets obliquely ovate or oblong, obtuse or acute, more or less united at base by the greater development of one of the sides, sessile or short-petiolulate, entire, reticulate-veined, light green, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, ¼′—½′ long, and ⅛′—¼′ wide. Flowers about ⅓′ long, in heads appearing in Florida early in April, coated before the flowers open with thick pale tomentum, and after the exsertion of the stamens ⅔′ in diameter, on peduncles ¾′—1½′ long, solitary or fascicled in the axils of upper leaves, their bracts and bractlets acute, membranaceous, caducous; calyx 5-toothed, pilose on the outer surface, especially above the middle, 1/12′ long, and half as long as the 5-lobed corolla with reflexed lobes; stamens about 20, twice as long as the corolla, united for one fourth of their length into a slender tube. Fruit ripening in the autumn and persistent on the branches until after the flowering period of the following year, stipitate, gradually narrowed and acute at the ends, 4′—5′ long, 1′ broad, with a slender stem 1′—2′ long, in clusters of 2 or 3 on short peduncles abruptly and conspicuously enlarged at the apex; valves thin and papery, bronze-green when fully grown, becoming dark red-brown, separating slowly from the margins; seeds oval or obovoid, dark brown, lustrous, ½′ long.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a wide flat head, and glabrous or somewhat pilose conspicuously verrucose branchlets, bright red-brown when they first appear, becoming pale or light reddish brown in their second year. Bark of the trunk of young trees and of the branches smooth, light gray tinged with pink, becoming on old trunks ¼′—½′ thick, dark brown and separating into large plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, tough, close-grained, rich dark brown tinged with red, with nearly white sapwood 1′—1½′ thick, of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth; in Florida occasionally used and valued for boat and shipbuilding.

Distribution. Florida; shores of Bay Biscayne near Miami, and the Everglade Keys, Dade County, common, and on Key Largo, Elliott’s, Plantation, and Boca Chica Keys, not common; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.

3. ACACIA Adans.

Trees or shrubs, with slender branches armed with spinescent stipules or infrastipular spines. Leaves alternate on young branchlets and fascicled in earlier axils, bipinnate, with usually small leaflets, persistent. Flowers perfect or polygamous, small, in the axils of minute linear bractlets more or less dilated and often peltate at apex, in globose heads or cylindric spikes on axillary solitary or fascicled peduncles; calyx campanulate, 5 or 6-toothed; petals as many as the divisions of the calyx, more or less united; stamens numerous, usually more than 50, exserted, free or slightly and irregularly united at base, inserted under or just above the base of the ovary; filaments filiform; anthers small, attached on the back, versatile; ovary contracted into a long slender style terminating in a minute stigma. Legume nearly cylindric or flat, indehiscent, continuous or divided within. Seeds transverse, compressed; seed-coat thick, crustaceous, marked on each face of the seed by an oval depression or ring; radicle straight, included, or slightly exserted.

Acacia with more than four hundred species is widely distributed through Australia, where it is most largely represented, tropical and southern Africa, northern Africa, southwestern China, the warmer regions of southern Asia, the islands of the south Pacific, tropical and temperate South America, the West Indies, Central America and Mexico to the southwestern boundaries of the United States where ten or twelve species occur; of these five are arborescent. Acacia is astringent, and many species yield valuable tan bark. Gum arabic is produced by different Old World species; many of the species yield hard heavy durable wood, and some of the Australian Acacias are large and valuable timber-trees. Many species are cultivated for their graceful foliage and handsome fragrant flowers.

The generic name, from ἀκακία, relates to the spines with which the branches are usually armed.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Flowers in globose heads; corolla 5-lobed; ovary sessile; stipules persistent, becoming spines. Legume cylindric, glabrous, its sutures conspicuously thickened and grooved; seeds in 2 ranks. 1. A. Farnesiana (E). Legume flattened, pubescent, its sutures not thickened, slightly grooved; seeds in 1 rank. 2. A. tortuosa (E). Flowers in short, often interrupted, spikes; legume flattened, pubescent, its sutures thickened; seeds in one rank. 3. A. Emoriana (E). Flowers in elongated slender spikes; corolla of 5 petals only slightly united at base; ovary stalked; stipules caducous; branchlets armed with infrastipular spines. Legume 1′—1¼′ wide, straight or slightly contracted between the seeds, not becoming twisted and contorted at maturity; seeds narrow-obovoid or ovoid; leaflets green, glabrous, with prominent veinlets. 4. A. Wrightii (E). Legume ½′—¾′ wide, often conspicuously contracted between the seeds, becoming twisted and contorted at maturity; seeds nearly orbicular; leaflets blue-green, pubescent, with obscure veinlets. 5. A. Greggii (E, G, H).

1. Acacia Farnesiana Willd. Huisache. Cassie.

Leaves 2′—4′ long, with 2—8, usually 4 or 5, pairs of pinnæ, generally somewhat puberulous on the short petiole and rachis; in Texas mostly falling at the beginning of winter; pinnæ sessile or short-stalked, remote or close together, with 10—25 pairs of linear acute leaflets tipped with a minute point, unequal at base, sessile or short-petiolulate, glabrous or puberulous, bright green, ⅛′—¼′ long. Flowers bright yellow, very fragrant, 1/16′ long, opening during the summer and autumn from the axils of minute clavate pilose bractlets, in heads ⅔′ in diameter, on axillary thin puberulous peduncles, solitary or most often 2 or 3 together and 1′—1½′ in length, with two minute dentate connate bracts forming an involucral cup immediately under the flower-head; calyx about half as long as the petals and like them somewhat pilose on the outer surface; stamens two or three times as long as the corolla; ovary short-stipitate, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit oblong, cylindric or spindle-shaped, thick, turgid, straight or curved, slightly contracted between the seeds, short-stalked, narrowed at apex into a short thick point, 2′—3′ long, ½′—⅔′ broad, dark red-purple, lustrous, and marked by broad light-colored bands along the thickened grooved sutures, the outer coat of the walls thin and papery, inclosing a thick pithy pulp-like substance surrounding the seeds, each in a separate thin-walled compartment; seeds ovoid, thick, flattened on the inner surface by mutual pressure, ¼′ long, suspended transversely in 2 ranks on a short straight funicle, light brown, lustrous, and faintly marked by large oval rings.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a straight trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, separating 6°—8° from the ground into numerous long pendulous branches forming a wide round spreading head, and slender terete or slightly striate angled branchlets, glabrous or at first puberulous, and armed with straight rigid terete spines developed from the persistent stipules and sometimes 1½′ long. Bark of the trunk thin, reddish brown, irregularly broken by long reticulated ridges, exfoliating in large thin scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich reddish brown, with thin pale sapwood; in India used for the knees of small vessels and in agricultural implements.

Distribution. Now widely spread by cultivation through the tropical and subtropical regions of the two worlds and probably a native of America from western Texas to northern Chile; growing in Texas apparently naturally in the arid and almost uninhabited region between the Nueces and Rio Grande; naturalized and now covering great areas in the valley of the Guadalupe River near Victoria, Victoria County, Texas.

Largely cultivated in southern Europe for its fragrant flowers used in the manufacture of perfumery, as an ornament of gardens in all warm countries, and in India as a hedge plant.

2. Acacia tortuosa Willd.

Leaves generally less than 1′ long, short-petiolate, with a slender puberulous rachis and usually 3 or 4 pairs of pinnæ; early deciduous; pinnæ sessile or short-stalked, remote, with 10—15 pairs of linear somewhat falcate leaflets, acute, tipped with a minute point, subsessile, light green, glabrous, 1/20′—1/16′ long. Flowers minute, bright yellow, very fragrant, in the axils of clavate pilose bracts, in heads ¼′—⅜′ in diameter, appearing in March with or just before the unfolding leaves, on clustered or solitary slender puberulous peduncles ½′—¾′ long, and furnished at apex with 2 minute connate bracts; calyx only about one third as long as the corolla, with short puberulous lobes; corolla puberulous at apex, less than half as long as the filaments; ovary covered with short close pubescence. Fruit elongated, linear, slightly compressed, somewhat constricted between the seeds, dark red-brown and cinereo-puberulous, 3′—5′ long and about ¼′ wide; seeds in 1 series, obovoid, compressed, dark red-brown, lustrous, about ¼′ long, faintly marked by large oval rings.

A tree, occasionally 15°—20° high, with a straight trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches forming an open irregular head, and slender somewhat zigzag slightly angled reddish brown branchlets roughened by numerous minute round lenticels, villose with short pale hairs, and armed with thin terete puberulous spines occasionally ¾′ long; in Texas usually shrubby, with numerous stems forming a symmetric round-topped bush only a few feet high. Bark dark brown or nearly black, and deeply furrowed.

Distribution. Valley of the Rio Cibolo to Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande, Maverick County, Texas; and in northern and southern Mexico, the West Indies, Venezuela, and on the Galapagos Islands; in Texas probably arborescent only on the plains of the Rio Grande near Spofford, Kinney County.

3. Acacia Emoriana Benth.

Leaves 3½′—4′ long, with a slender petiole and rachis, villose-pubescent early in the season, becoming nearly glabrous; and 4 or 5 pairs of pinnæ; falling late in the autumn; pinnæ on slender stalks ¼′ in length, with 5—7 pairs of oblong leaflets rounded and apiculate at apex, obliquely rounded at base, short-petiolulate, pointing forward, when they unfold densely villose above and on the margins, and hoary-tomentose below, becoming glabrous, gray-green rather darker above than below, ⅓′ long. Flowers subsessile, puberulous, in interrupted spikes, ¾′—1′ in length, densely hoary-tomentose when they first appear late in March, on villose peduncles ½′—1′ in length, and furnished near the apex with lanceolate caducous bracts; calyx about half the length of the ovate acute petals ciliate on the margins, about 1/12′ long and much shorter than the stamens; ovary stipitate, glabrous. Fruit fully grown in July, stipitate much compressed, rounded and sometimes slightly emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed and obliquely cuneate at base, with much thickened revolute undulate margins, densely pubescent early in the season, becoming puberulous, 5′ or 6′ long, 1¼′—1½′ wide and many-seeded, or nearly orbicular and 1 or 2-seeded; seeds in one series, oval, the two sides unsymmetric, obliquely pointed at base, rounded at apex, compressed, dark chestnut-brown and lustrous, ½′ long and ¼′ wide.

A tree, sometimes 25° high, usually smaller, with slender red-brown branchlets pubescent or puberulous when they first appear, becoming glabrous in their second year, and armed with small curved stipular spines; often a shrub.

Distribution. Texas; creek banks and cañons, near Montell and Uvalde, Uvalde County, and rocky banks of Devil’s River, Valverde County (_E. J. Palmer_).

4. Acacia Wrightii Benth. Cat’s Claw.

Leaves 1′—2′ long, slightly pubescent, especially on the petiole and rachis, with 1—3 pairs of pinnæ, slender petioles 1⅓′ in length, and eglandular or glandular with small convex glands, and linear acute caducous stipules 1/16′ long; pinnæ short-stalked, with 2—5 pairs of obovate-oblong leaflets, obliquely rounded and often apiculate at apex, sessile or short-petiolulate, 2 or sometimes 3-nerved, glabrous, or rarely pubescent, reticulate-veined, rigid, bright green and rather paler on the lower surface than on the upper surface, ¼′—⅚′ long. Flowers light yellow, fragrant, appearing from the end of March to the end of May, on slender pubescent pedicels from the axils of minute caducous bracts, in narrow spikes 1½′ long, often interrupted below the middle, on slender fascicled pubescent or sometimes glabrous peduncles; calyx obscurely 5-lobed, pubescent on the outer surface, half as long as the spatulate petals slightly united at base, and ciliate on the margins; stamens ¼′ long; ovary long-stalked, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit fully grown early in the summer, deciduous in the autumn, slightly falcate, compressed, stipitate, oblique at base, rounded and short-pointed at apex, 2′—4′ long, 1′—1¼′ wide, with thick straight or irregularly contracted margins and thin papery walls conspicuously marked by narrow horizontal reticulate veins; seeds narrow-obovoid, compressed, ¼′ long, suspended transversely on a long slender funicle, light brown, marked by large oval depressions.

A tree, occasionally 25°—30° high, with a short trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, spreading branches forming a low wide or irregular head, and branchlets when they first appear somewhat striately angled, glabrous, pale yellow-brown or dark red-brown, turning pale gray in their second year, and armed with occasional stout recurved infrastipular chestnut-brown spines ¼′ long, compressed toward the broad base and sharp-pointed, or rarely unarmed. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, divided by shallow furrows into broad ridges separating on the surface into thin narrow scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, bright clear brown streaked with red and yellow, with thin clear yellow sapwood of 6 or 7 layers of annual growth; valued and largely used as fuel.

Distribution. Valley of the Guadalupe River in the neighborhood of New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas, to the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon; most abundant and of its largest size south of the Rio Grande on dry gravelly mesas and foothills.

5. Acacia Greggii A. Gray. Cat’s Claw. Una de Gato.

Leaves 1′—3′ long, pubescent or puberulous, with 1—3 pairs of pinnæ, a short slender petiole furnished near the middle with a minute oblong chestnut-brown gland, and linear caducous stipules 1/16′ long; pinnæ short-stalked, with 4—5 pairs of obovate oblique leaflets rounded or truncate at apex and unequally contracted at base into a short petiolule, thick and rigid, 2—3-nerved, inconspicuously reticulate-veined, hoary-pubescent, 1/16′—¼′ long. Flowers fragrant, bright creamy yellow, in dense oblong pubescent spikes, on a peduncle ½′—⅔′ long, and fascicled usually 2 or 3 together toward the end of the branches; calyx obscurely 5-lobed, puberulous on the outer surface, half as long as the petals slightly united at base and pale-tomentose on the margins; stamens ¼′ long; ovary long-stalked, covered with long pale hairs. Fruit fully grown at midsummer and hanging unopened on the branches until winter or the following spring, compressed, straight or slightly falcate, obliquely narrowed at base into a short stalk, acute or rounded at apex, more or less contracted between the seeds, 2′—4′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, curling and often contorted when fully ripe, the valves thin and membranaceous, thick-margined, light brown, conspicuously transversely reticulate-veined; seeds nearly orbicular, compressed, dark brown and lustrous, ¼′ in diameter, marked by small oval depressions.

A tree, rarely 30° high, with a trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, numerous spreading branches, and striately angled puberulous or in Texas glabrous pale brown branchlets faintly tinged with red and armed with stout recurved infrastipular spines flat at base, and ¼′ long and broad. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, furrowed, the surface separating into thin narrow scales. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, close-grained, durable, rich brown or red, with thin light yellow sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Dry gravelly mesas, the sides of low cañons and the banks of mountain streams; valley of the Rio Grande, western Texas, through southern New Mexico and Arizona to southern California, ranging northward in Arizona to the rim of the Grand Cañon of the Colorado River, and to Clark County, Nevada; in northern Mexico, and in Lower California to the eastern base of the San Pedro Mártir Mountains.

4. LEUCÆNA Benth.

Trees or shrubs, with slender unarmed branches. Leaves persistent, abruptly bipinnate, with numerous pinnæ and small leaflets in many pairs, petiolate, the petioles often furnished with a conspicuous gland below the lower pair of pinnæ; stipules minute and caducous, or becoming spinescent and persistent. Flowers minute, white, mostly perfect, sessile or short-pedicellate, in the axils of small peltate bracts villose at apex, in globose many-flowered pedunculate heads, the peduncles in axillary fascicles or in leafless terminal racemes; calyx tubular-campanulate, minutely 5-toothed; petals 5, free, acute or rounded at apex, narrowed at base; stamens 10, free, inserted under the ovary, exserted; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, versatile; ovary stipitate, contracted into a long slender style, with a minute terminal slightly dilated stigma. Legume many-seeded, stipitate, linear, compressed, dehiscent, the valves thickened on the margins, rigid, thin, continuous within, their outer coat thin and papery, dark-colored, the inner rather thicker, woody, pale brown. Seeds obovoid, compressed, transverse, the hilum near the base, suspended on a long slender funicle; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, brown and lustrous; embryo inclosed on its two sides by a thin layer of horny albumen; radicle slightly exserted.

Leucæna with nine or ten species is confined to the warmer parts of America from western Texas to Venezuela and Peru, and to the islands of the Pacific Ocean from New Caledonia to Tahiti, where one species has been recognized. Of the indigenous species found in the territory of the United States, three are arborescent. Leucæna glauca L., a small tree or shrub, cultivated in all warm countries, and a native probably of tropical America, is now naturalized on Key West, Florida.

The generic name, from λευχαίνω, refers to the color of the flowers.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Peduncles bibracteolate at apex; stipules becoming spinescent. Leaves 10—14-pinnate; pinnæ with 15—30 pairs of leaflets; blade of the bract of the flower produced into a short point. 1. L. Greggii (E). Leaves 2—4-pinnate; pinnæ with 4—8 pairs of leaflets; blade of the bract of the flower produced into a long slender villose tip. 2. L. retusa (E). Peduncles without bracts; stipules minute, caducous; leaves 30—36-pinnate; pinnæ with 30—60 pairs of leaflets. 3. L. pulverulenta (E).

1. Leucæna Greggii S. Wats.

Leaves 6′—7′ long and broad, with a slender rachis furnished on the upper side with a single elongated bottle-shaped gland between the stalks of each pair of pinnæ; pinnæ 10—14, remote, short-stalked, with 15—30 pairs of leaflets; stipules gradually narrowed into a long slender point, becoming rigid and spinescent, ⅓′ to nearly ½′ long and persistent for two or three years; leaflets lanceolate, acute or acuminate, often somewhat falcate, nearly sessile or short-petiolulate, full and rounded toward the base on the lower margin, nearly straight on the upper margin, gray-green, ultimately nearly glabrous, ¼′—⅓′ long, about ⅛′ wide, with a narrow midvein and obscure lateral nerves. Flowers on slender pedicels, in heads ¾′—1′ in diameter, on stout peduncles 2′—3′ long furnished at apex with 2 irregularly 3-lobed bracts, and solitary or in pairs; calyx coated with hairs only near the apex, much shorter than the spatulate glabrous more or less boat-shaped petals; ovary villose with a few short scattered hairs. Fruit 6′-8′ long, ⅓′—½′ wide, narrowed below into a short stout stipe, acuminate and crowned at apex with the thickened style, ⅓′—¾′ long, cinereo-pubescent until nearly fully grown, becoming nearly glabrous at maturity, much compressed, with narrow wing-like margins; seeds conspicuously notched by the hilum, ½′ long and ⅓′ wide.

A tree, 15°-20° high, with a stem 4′—5′ in diameter, and stout zigzag red-brown branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels, coated at first with short spreading lustrous yellow deciduous hairs found also on the young petioles and lower surface of the unfolding leaflets, the peduncles of the flower-heads and their bracts. Bark about ⅜′ thick, dark brown, divided into low ridges and broken on the surface into small closely appressed persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich brown streaked with red, with thin clear sapwood.

Distribution. Mountain ravines and the steep banks of streams; western Texas from the valley of the upper San Saba River to that of Devil’s River; and southward into Mexico.

2. Leucæna retusa Benth.

Leaves 3′ or 4′ long and 4′ or 5′ wide, with a slender petiole and rachis and 2-4 pairs of pinnæ 6′-10′ long, remote, long-stalked, with 4-8 pairs of short-stalked leaflets furnished between their stems with a single globose white gland found also occasionally on the upper side of the rachis between the stems of the pinnæ; stipules ovate, gradually narrowed into a long slender tip, ½′ in length, often persistent through the season; leaflets obliquely obovate or elliptic, rounded and apiculate at apex, obliquely rounded or cuneate at the unsymmetric base, entire, short-petiolulate, villose-pubescent like the rachis and petiole when they first appear, soon, glabrous, and at maturity thin, blue-green, ¾′—1′ long and ⅓′—½′ wide, with a slender midrib, and prominent veins extending obliquely toward the apex of the leaflet, those of the lowest pair more prominent and starting from near its base. Flowers short-stalked in the axil of a peltate bract, its blade produced into a long slender villose tip, appearing continuously from April until October in dense globose heads ¾′ in diameter, on villose bibracteolate axillary, single or fascicled peduncles 1½′—3′ in length; calyx thin, tubular, 5-toothed at apex; petals narrow-oblong, hardly longer than the calyx; stamens 10, shorter than the bract of the flower; anthers glabrous. Fruit solitary or clustered, on a puberulous peduncle 3′-5′ in length, 6′-10′ long, ⅓′—½′ wide, gradually narrowed below into a stout stipe, the acuminate apex terminating in the thickened persistent style, glabrous and dark reddish brown; seeds ⅓′ long and ¼′ wide.

A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk 6′-8′ in diameter, and slender branchlets pubescent when they first appear, becoming puberulous and orange-brown or reddish brown at the end of their first season; more often a shrub.

Distribution. Texas; steep rocky hillsides, and on the summits of limestone bluffs; (Uvalde, Valverde, Kemble, Real and Jeff Davis Counties).

3. Leucæna pulverulenta Benth. Mimosa.

Leaves 4′-7′ long and 3′-4′ wide, with a slender petiole usually marked by a large dark oblong gland between the somewhat enlarged base and the lowest pair of the 30-36 nearly sessile crowded pinnæ, each with 30-60 pairs of leaflets, and minute caducous stipules, when they unfold covered like the peduncles and flower-buds with dense hoary tomentum, and at maturity puberulous on the petiole and rachis; leaflets linear, acute, rather oblique at base by the greater development of the upper side, sessile or very short-petiolulate, pale bright green, ⅙′—¼′ long. Flowers sessile, fragrant, in heads ½′ in diameter, appearing in succession as the branches grow from early spring to midsummer, on slender peduncles 1′—1½′ long and fascicled in the axils of upper leaves; calyx one fourth as long as the acute petals and like them pilose on the outer surface; stamens twice as long as the petals; ovary coated with long pale hairs. Fruit conspicuously thick-margined, 4′-14′ long, long-stalked, tipped with a short straight or recurved point, usually in pairs on a peduncle thickened at apex; seeds 5/16′ long.

A tree, 50°-60° high, with a straight trunk 18′-20′ in diameter, separating 20°-30° from the ground into slender spreading branches forming a loose round head, and branchlets at first more or less striately grooved and thickly coated with pulverulent caducous tomentum, becoming at the end of a few weeks terete, pale cinnamon-brown and puberulous. Bark about ¼′ thick, bright cinnamon-brown, and roughened by thick persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, rich dark brown, with thin clear yellow sapwood of 2 or 3 layers of annual growth; considered valuable, and sometimes manufactured into lumber.

Distribution. Rich moist soil of river banks and the borders of lagoons and small streams; valley of the lower Rio Grande; in Texas only for a few miles near its mouth; more abundant from Matamoras to Monterey in Nuevo Leon; and southward to the neighborhood of the City of Mexico.

Occasionally planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the towns of the lower Rio Grande valley and in New Orleans, Louisiana.

5. PROSOPIS L. Mesquite.

Trees or shrubs, with branches without a terminal bud and armed with geminate supra-axillary persistent spines, and small obtuse axillary buds covered with acute apiculate dark brown scales. Leaves alternate on branches of the year and fascicled in earlier axils, deciduous, usually 2 rarely 3-4-pinnate, with many-foliolate pinnæ; petioles glandular at apex with a minute gland, and tipped with the small spinescent rachis; stipules linear, membranaceous or spinescent, deciduous. Flowers greenish white, nearly sessile, in axillary pedunculate spikes; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, or slightly 5-lobed, deciduous; petals 5, connate below the middle or ultimately free, glabrous or tomentose on the inner surface toward the apex, sometimes puberulous on the outer surface; stamens 10, free, inserted with the petals on the margin of a minute disk adnate to the calyx-tube, those opposite the lobes of the calyx rather longer than the others; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, versatile, their connective tipped with a minute deciduous gland, the cells opening by marginal sutures; ovary stipitate, villose; style filiform, with a minute terminal stigma. Legume linear, compressed, or subterete, straight or falcate, or contorted or twisted into a more or less regular spiral, indehiscent; the outer coat thin, woody, pale yellow, inclosing a thick spongy inner coat of sweet pulp containing the seeds placed obliquely and separately inclosed, their envelopes forming nut-like joints. Seeds oblong, compressed, the hilum near the base; seed-coat crustaceous, light brown, lustrous; embryo surrounded by a layer of horny albumen; radicle short, slightly exserted.

Prosopis is distributed in the New World from southern Kansas to Patagonia, and in the Old World is confined to tropical Africa, and to southwestern and tropical Asia. Sixteen or seventeen species have been distinguished. Of the three species found in the territory of the United States two are small trees.

Prosopis produces hard durable wood, particularly valuable as fuel, and the pods are used as fodder.

The generic name is from προσωπίς, employed by Dioscorides as a name of the Burdock.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Legume compressed or ultimately convex; pinnæ 12—22-foliolate. 1. P. juliflora (C, E, G, H). Legume thick, spirally twisted; pinnæ 10—16-foliolate. 2. P. pubescens (E, F, G, H).

1. Prosopis juliflora DC. Mesquite. Honey Locust.

Leaves with 2 or rarely 4 pinnæ, and slender terete petioles abruptly enlarged and glandular at base; stipules linear, acute, membranaceous, deciduous. Flowers appearing in successive crops from May to the middle of July, fragrant, about 1/12′ long, on short pedicels, in slender cylindric spikes 1½′—4′ long, on stout peduncles ½′—¾′ in length; calyx glabrous or puberulous, about one fourth as long as the narrowly oblong acute petals, glabrous or puberulous on the outer surface and covered on the inner surface toward the apex with hoary tomentum; stamens twice as long as the corolla, the dark-colored connective of the anther-cells furnished at apex with a stalked gland; ovary short-stalked, clothed with silky hairs. Fruit in drooping clusters, linear, at first flat, becoming subterete at maturity, constricted between the 10-20 seeds, straight or falcate, contracted at the ends, 4′—9′ long, ¼′—½′ wide; seeds about ¼′ long.

A low tree, with a large thick taproot descending frequently to the depth of 40°-50°, and furnished with radiating horizontal roots spreading in all directions and forming a dense mat, a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, divided a short distance above the ground into many irregularly arranged crooked branches forming a loose straggling head, and slender branchlets at first pale yellow-green, turning darker in their second year, furnished in the axils of the leaves of their first season with short spur-like excrescences covered with chaffy scales, and armed with stout straight terete supra-axillary persistent spines ½′—2′ long, or rarely unarmed; more often a shrub, with numerous stems only a few feet high. Bark of the trunk thick, dark reddish brown, divided by shallow fissures, the surface separating into short thick scales. Wood heavy, close-grained, rich dark brown or sometimes red, with thin clear yellow sapwood; almost indestructible in contact with the soil, and largely used for fence-posts, railway-ties, the underpinnings of buildings, and occasionally in the manufacture of furniture, the fellies of wheels, and the pavements of city streets; the best fuel of the region, and largely made into charcoal. The ripe pods supply Mexicans and Indians with a nutritious food, and are devoured by most herbivorous animals. A gum, resembling gum-arabic, exudes from the stems.

Distribution. Western Texas and eastern New Mexico, and on the island of Jamaica; eastward and westward diverging into two extreme forms. These are

Prosopis juliflora var. glandulosa Cock.

Leaves 8′—10′ long, 2-pinnate, with long slender petioles, the pinnæ 12—20-foliolate; leaflets distant, linear, mostly acute, glabrous, dark green, often 2′ long and ⅛′—¼′ wide. Flowers with a usually glabrous calyx. Fruit occasionally conspicuously constricted between the seeds (f. constricta Sarg.).

A round-topped tree, often 20° high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, and long gracefully drooping branches forming a symmetrical round-topped head.

Distribution. Eastern Texas to western Louisiana (near Shreveport, Caddo Parish), western Oklahoma and southern Kansas, and southward into northern Mexico. The common Mesquite of eastern Texas; reappearing with rather shorter and more crowded leaflets in Arizona, southern California, and Lower California.

Prosopis juliflora var. velutina Sarg.

Leaves 5′—6′ long, often fascicled, 2—4-pinnate, cinereo-pubescent, with short petioles, the pinnæ 12-22-foliolate; leaflets oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, crowded, pale green, ¼′—½′ long. Flowers in densely-flowered spikes 2′—3′ long; calyx villose.

A tree, often 50° high, with a trunk 2° in diameter, covered with rough dark brown bark, and heavy irregularly arranged usually crooked branches.

Distribution. Dry valleys of southern Arizona and of Sonora.

2. Prosopis pubescens Benth. Screw Bean. Screw Pod Mesquite.

Leaves canescently pubescent, 2′—3′ long, with a slender petiole ⅓′—⅔′ in length, and pinnæ 1½′—2′ long and 10—16-foliolate; stipules spinescent, deciduous; leaflets oblong or somewhat falcate, acute, sessile or short-petiolulate, often apiculate, conspicuously reticulate-veined, ⅓′—⅔′ long, ⅛′ wide. Flowers beginning to open in early spring, and produced in successive crops from the axils of minute scarious bracts, in dense or interrupted cylindric spikes 2′—3′ long; calyx obscurely 5-lobed, pubescent on the outer surface, one third to one fourth as long as the narrow acute petals coated on the inner surface near the apex with thick white tomentum, and slightly puberulous on the outer surface; ovary and young fruit hoary-tomentose. Fruit ripening throughout the summer and falling in the autumn, in dense racemes, sessile, twisted with from 12—20 turns into a narrow straight spiral 1′—2′ long; seeds 1/16′ long.

A tree, 25°-30° high, with a slender trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, and terete branches canescently pubescent or glabrate when they first appear, becoming glabrous and light red-brown in their third year, and armed with stout spines ⅓′—½′ long. Bark of the trunk thick, light brown tinged with red, separating in long thin persistent ribbon-like scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 6 or 7 layers of annual growth; used as fuel and occasionally for fencing. The sweet, nutritious legumes are valued as fodder.

Distribution. Sandy or gravelly bottom-lands; valley of the Rio Grande in western Texas, and through New Mexico and Arizona to southern Utah and Nevada, and to San Diego County, California, and northern Mexico; attaining its largest size in the United States in the valleys of the lower Colorado and Gila Rivers, Arizona.

6. CERCIS L.

Trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, slender unarmed branchlets prolonged by an upper axillary bud, marked by numerous minute pale lenticels, and in their first winter by small elevated horizontal leaf-scars showing the ends of two large fibro-vascular bundles, and small scaly obtuse axillary buds covered by imbricated ovate chestnut-brown scales. Leaves simple, entire, 5—7-nerved with prominent nerves, long-petiolate, deciduous; petioles slender, terete, abruptly enlarged at apex; stipules ovate, acute, small, membranaceous, caducous. Flowers appearing in early spring before or with the leaves on thin jointed pedicels, in simple fascicles or racemose clusters produced on branches of the previous or earlier years, or on the trunk, with small scale-like bracts often imbricated at the base of the inflorescence, and minute bractlets; calyx disciferous, short-turbinate, purplish, persistent, the tube oblique at base, campanulate, enlarged on the lower side, 5-toothed, the short broad teeth imbricated in the bud; corolla subpapilionaceous; petals nearly equal, rose color, oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, unguiculate, slightly auricled on one side of the base of the blade, the upper petal slightly smaller and inclosed in the bud by the wing-petals encircled by the broader slightly imbricated keel-petals; stamens 10, inserted in 2 rows on the margin of the thin disk, free, declinate, those of the inner row opposite the petals and rather shorter than the others; filaments enlarged and pilose below the middle, persistent until the fruit is grown; anthers uniform, oblong, attached on the back near the base; ovary short-stalked, inserted obliquely in the bottom of the calyx-tube; style filiform, fleshy, incurved, with a stout obtuse terminal stigma; ovules 2-ranked, attached to the inner angle of the ovary. Legume stalked, oblong or broad-linear, straight on the upper edge, curved on the lower edge, acute at the ends, compressed, tipped with the thickened remnants of the style, many-seeded, 2-valved, the valves coriaceo-membranaceous, many-veined, tardily dehiscent by the dorsal and often by the wing-margined ventral suture, dark red-purple and lustrous at maturity. Seeds suspended transversely on a slender funicle, ovoid or oblong, compressed, the small depressed hilum near the apex; seed-coat crustaceous, bright reddish brown; embryo surrounded by a thin layer of horny albumen, compressed; cotyledons oval, flat, the radicle short, straight or obliquely incurved, slightly exserted.

Cercis is confined to eastern and western North America, southern Europe, and to southwestern, central and eastern Asia. Of the eight species now distinguished, three occur in North America. Two of these are arborescent.

The generic name is from κερκίς, the Greek name of the European species, from a fancied resemblance of the fruit to the weaver’s implement of that name.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Flowers in sessile clusters; leaves ovate, acute, cordate or truncate at base. 1. C. canadensis (A, C). Flowers fascicled or slightly racemose; leaves reniform. 2. C. reniformis (C).

1. Cercis canadensis L. Redbud. Judas-tree.

Leaves broad-ovate, acute or acuminate and often abruptly contracted at apex into a short broad point, truncate or more or less cordate at base, entire, glabrous with the exception of axillary tufts of white hairs, or sometimes more or less pubescent below, 3′—5′ long and broad; turning in the autumn before falling bright clear yellow; petioles 2′—5′ in length. Flowers ½′ long, on pedicels ⅓′—½′ in length and fascicled 4-8 together; rarely white (var. alba Rehdr.). Fruit fully grown in the south by the end of May and at the north at midsummer, and then pink or rose color, 2½′—3½′ long, falling late in the autumn or in early winter; seeds about ¼′ long.

A tree, sometimes 40°-50° high, with a straight trunk usually separating 10°-12° from the ground into stout branches covered with smooth light brown or gray bark, and forming an upright or often a wide flat head, and slender glabrous somewhat angled branchlets, brown and lustrous during their first season, becoming dull and darker the following year and ultimately dark or grayish brown. Bark of the trunk about ½′ thick and divided by deep longitudinal fissures into long narrow plates, the bright red-brown surface separating into thin scales. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, close-grained, rich dark brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 8-10 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Borders of streams and rich bottom-lands, forming, especially west of the Alleghany Mountains, an abundant undergrowth to the forest; valley of the Delaware River, New Jersey, central and southern Pennsylvania southward to northern Florida, northern Alabama and southern Mississippi (Crystal Springs, Copiah County), and westward to southwestern Ontario (Point Pelee, Essex County), and through southern Michigan to southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, western Oklahoma (Major and Dewey Counties), Louisiana, and the valley of the Brazos River, Texas; and on the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon; common and of its largest size in southwestern Arkansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas, and in early spring a conspicuous feature of the landscape.

Often cultivated as an ornamental tree in the northeastern states, and occasionally in western Europe.

2. Cercis reniformis Engl. Redbud.

Cercis texensis Sarg.

Leaves reniform, when they unfold light green and slightly pilose, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler, glabrous or pubescent on the lower surface, and 2′—3′ in diameter; petioles 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers about ½′ long, on slender pedicels ½′—¾′ in length and fascicled in sessile clusters, or occasionally racemose. Fruit 2′—4′ long, ½′—1′ wide; seeds ¼′ long.

A slender tree, occasionally 20° or rarely 40° high, with a trunk 6′-12′ in diameter, and glabrous branchlets marked by numerous minute white lenticels, light reddish brown during their first and second years, becoming dark brown in their third season; more often a shrub, sending up numerous stems and forming dense thickets only a few feet high. Bark of the trunk and branches thin, smooth, light gray. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained brown streaked with yellow, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Limestone hills and ridges; neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas to the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon; common in the valley of the upper Colorado River, Texas; of its largest size on the mountains of northeastern Mexico.

7. GYMNOCLADUS Lam.

Trees, with stout unarmed blunt branchlets with a thick pith, prolonged by axillary buds, rough deeply fissured bark, thick fleshy roots, and minute buds depressed in pubescent cavities of the bark, 2 in the axil of each leaf, superposed, remote, the lower and smaller sterile and nearly surrounded by the enlarged base of the petiole, their scales 2, ovate, rounded at apex, coated with thick dark brown tomentum, infolded one over the other, accrescent with the young shoots. Leaves deciduous, unequally bipinnate; pinnæ many-foliolulate, with 1 or 2 pairs of the lowest pinnæ reduced to single leaflets; pinnæ and leaflets usually alternate; leaflets thin, ovate, entire, petiolulate; stipules foliaceous, early deciduous. Flowers regular, diœcious, greenish white, long-pedicellate, the slender pedicels from the axils of long lanceolate scarious caducous bracts, bibracteolate near the middle; staminate flowers in a short terminal racemose corymb; pistillate flowers in elongated terminal racemes, on pedicels much longer than those of the staminate flowers; calyx tubular, elongated, 10-ribbed, lined with a thin glandular disk, 5-lobed, the lobes, lanceolate, acute, nearly equal, erect; petals 4 or 5, oblong, rounded or acute at apex, pubescent, as long as the calyx-lobes or rather longer and twice as broad, inserted on the margin of the disk, spreading or reflexed; stamens 10, free, inserted with the petals, erect, included; filaments filiform, pilose, those opposite the petals shorter than the others; anthers oblong, uniform, small and sterile in the pistillate flower; ovary sessile or slightly stipitate, acute; styles short, erect, obliquely dilated into 2 broad lobes stigmatic on their inner surface, rudimentary or 0 in the sterile flower; ovules numerous, suspended from the angle opposite the posterior petals. Legume oblong, subfalcate, turgid or slightly compressed, several-seeded, 2-valved, tardily dehiscent, the thin tough woody valves thickened on the margins into narrow wings, pulpy between the seeds. Seeds ovoid or slightly obovoid, suspended by a long slender funicle; seed-coat thick, bony, brown and opaque, of 3 layers; embryo surrounded by a thin layer of horny albumen; cotyledons ovate, orange-colored, thick and fleshy, the radicle short, erect.

Gymnocladus, with two species, is confined to eastern North America and to central China.

Gymnocladus is slightly astringent and purgative, and the detersive pulp surrounding the seeds of the Asiatic species is used in China as a substitute for soap.

The generic name, from γυµνός and κλάδος, relates to the stout branchlets destitute of spray.

1. Gymnocladus dioicus K. Koch. Kentucky Coffee-tree. Mahogany.

Leaves 1°—3° long, 18′—24′ wide, obovate, 5—9 pinnate, the pinnæ 6—14-foliolate, covered when they unfold with hoary tomentum except on the upper surface of the ovate acute leaflets, often mucronate, especially while young, cuneate or irregularly rounded at base, pink at first, soon becoming bronze-green and lustrous, glabrous on the upper surface with the exception of a few scattered hairs along the midrib, and at maturity thin, obscurely veined, dark green above, pale yellow-green and glabrous below, with the exception of a few short hairs scattered along the narrow midrib, 2′—2½′ long and 1′ wide, or those replacing the lowest or occasionally the 2 lower pairs of pinnæ sometimes twice as large; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles abruptly and conspicuously enlarged at base, at first hoary-tomentose, becoming glabrous at maturity; stipules lanceolate or slightly obovate, glandular-serrate toward the apex, ⅓′ long. Flowers: inflorescence of the staminate tree 3′—4′ long, the lower branches usually 3 or 4-flowered; inflorescence of the pistillate tree 10′—12′ long, the flowers on stout pedicels 1′—2½′ long or twice to five times as long as those of the staminate flowers; flowers hoary-tomentose in the bud; calyx ⅔′ long, covered on the outer surface when the flowers open with pale hairs and on the inner surface with hoary tomentum; petals keeled, pilose on the back, slightly grooved, tomentose on the inner surface; anthers bright orange color; ovary hairy. Fruit 6′—10′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, dark red-brown, covered with a glaucous bloom, on stout stalks 1′—2′ in length, remaining unopened on the branches through the winter; seeds separated by a thick layer of dark-colored sweet pulp, ¾′ long.

A tree, 75°—110° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, usually dividing 10°—15° from the ground into 3 or 4 principal stems spreading slightly and forming a narrow round-topped head, or occasionally sending up a tall straight shaft destitute of branches for 70°—80°, and branchlets coated when they first appear with short dense pubescence faintly tinged with red, bearing at their base the conspicuous orange-green obovate pubescent bud-scales, ¼′—⅓′ thick at the end of their first season, very blunt, dark brown, often slightly pilose, marked by orange-colored lenticels, and roughened by the large pale broadly heart-shaped leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 or 4 conspicuous fibro-vascular bundles. Bark of the trunk ¾′—1′ thick, deeply fissured, dark gray tinged with red, and roughened by small persistent scales. Wood heavy although not hard, strong, coarse-grained, very durable in contact with the soil, rich light brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth; occasionally used in cabinet-making and for fence-posts, rails, and in construction. The seeds were formerly used as a substitute for coffee; a decoction of the fresh green pulp of the unripe fruit is used in homœopathic practice.

Distribution. Bottom-lands in rich soil; central and western New York and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, through southern Ontario and southern Michigan to southeastern Minnesota, northeastern and southern Iowa, southeastern South Dakota, eastern and northeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, southwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma (with isolated stations in Woods and Custer Counties and in the western parts of Cimarron County); in Eastern Kentucky, and western and middle Tennessee; nowhere common.

Occasionally cultivated in the gardens and parks of the eastern United States, and of northern and central Europe.

8. GLEDITSIA L.

Trees, with furrowed bark, slender terete slightly zigzag branchlets thickened at the apex and prolonged by axillary buds, thick fibrous roots, the trunk and branches often armed with stout simple or branched spines or abortive branchlets developed from supra-axillary or adventitious buds imbedded in the bark. Winter-buds minute, 3 or 4 together, superposed, the 2 or 3 lower without scales and covered by the scar left by the falling of the petiole, the upper larger, nearly surrounded by the base of the petiole and covered by small scurfy scales. Leaves long-petiolate, often fascicled in earlier axils, abruptly pinnate or bipinnate, the pinnæ increasing in length from the base to the apex of the leaf, the lowest sometimes reduced to single leaflets; deciduous; leaflets thin, their margins irregularly crenate, without stipels; stipules minute, caducous. Flowers regular, polygamous, minute, green or white on short pedicels, in axillary or lateral simple or fascicled racemes, with minute scale-like caducous bracts; calyx campanulate, lined with the disk, 3—5-lobed, the narrow lobes nearly equal; petals as many as the lobes of the calyx, nearly equal; stamens 6—10, inserted with the petals on the margin of the disk, exserted; filaments free, filiform, erect; anthers uniform, much smaller and abortive in the pistillate flower; ovary subsessile, rarely bicarpellary, rudimentary or 0 in the staminate flower; styles short; stigma terminal, more or less dilated, often oblique; ovules 2 or many, suspended from the angle opposite the posterior petal. Legume compressed, many-seeded, elongated, straight and indehiscent, or 1—3-seeded, ovoid and tardily dehiscent. Seeds transverse, ovoid to suborbicular, flattened, attached by a long slender funicle; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, light brown; embryo surrounded by a layer of horny orange-colored albumen; cotyledons subfoliaceous, compressed; radicle short, erect, slightly exserted.

Gleditsia is confined to eastern North America, where three species occur, southwestern Asia, China, Formosa, Japan, and west tropical Africa. It produces strong, durable, coarse-grained wood. In Japan the pods are used as a substitute for soap.

The generic name is in honor of Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch (1714—1786), professor of botany at Berlin.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Legume linear-oblong, elongated, many-seeded, indehiscent. Legume 12′—18′ long, with pulp between the seeds; ovary hoary-tomentose. 1. G. triacanthos (A, C). Legume 4′—5′ long, without pulp between the seeds. 2. G. texana (C). Legume oval, oblique, 1—3-seeded, without pulp, tardily dehiscent; ovary glabrous. 3. G. aquatica (A, C).

1. Gleditsia triacanthos L. Honey Locust.

Leaves 7′—8′ long, 18—28-foliolulate or sometimes bipinnate, with 4—7 pairs of pinnæ, those of the upper pair 4′—5′ long, when they unfold hoary-tomentose, and at maturity pubescent on the petiole and rachis, the short stout petiolules, and the under surface of the midrib of the oblong-lanceolate leaflets, unequal at base, acute or slightly rounded at apex, remotely crenulate-serrate, dark green and lustrous above, dull yellow-green below, 1′—1½′ long and ½′ wide; turning in the autumn pale clear yellow. Flowers appearing in June when the leaves are nearly fully grown from the axils of leaves of previous years; the staminate in short many-flowered pubescent racemes 2′—2½′ long and often clustered; the pistillate in slender graceful few-flowered usually solitary racemes 2½′—3½′ long; calyx campanulate, narrowed at base, the acute lobes thickened, revolute and ciliate on the margins, villose with pale hairs, rather shorter than and half as wide as the erect acute petals; filaments pilose toward the base; anthers green; pistil rarely of 2 carpels, hoary-tomentose. Fruit 12′—18′ long, dark brown, pilose and slightly falcate, with straight thickened margins, 2 or 3 together in short racemes on stalks 1′—1½′ long, their walls thin and tough, contracting in drying by a number of corkscrew twists, and falling late in the autumn or early in winter; seeds oval, ⅓′ long, separated by thick succulent pulp.

A tree, 75°—140° high, with a trunk 2°—3° or occasionally 5°—6° in diameter, slender spreading somewhat pendulous branches forming a broad open rather flat-topped head, and branchlets marked by minute lenticels, at first light reddish brown and slightly puberulous, soon becoming lustrous and red tinged with green, and in their second year greenish brown and armed with stout rigid long-pointed simple or 3-forked spines at first red, and bright chestnut-brown when fully grown, or rarely unarmed (var. inermis Pursh.). Bark of the trunk ½′—¾′ thick, divided by deep fissures into long narrow longitudinal ridges and roughened on the surface by small persistent scales. Wood hard, strong, coarse-grained, very durable in contact with the ground, red or bright red-brown, with thin pale sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth; largely used for fence-posts and rails, for the hubs of wheels, and in construction.

Distribution. Borders of streams and intervale lands, in moist fertile soil, usually growing singly or occasionally covering almost exclusively considerable areas; less commonly on dry sterile gravelly hills; western slope of the Alleghany Mountains of Pennsylvania, westward through southern Ontario and southern Michigan to southeastern Minnesota, southern Iowa, southeastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and Oklahoma to the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River (near Alva, Woods County) and to creek valleys near Cache, Comanche County (G. W. Stevens), and southward to northern Alabama, Mississippi and western Florida and to the valley of the Brazos River, eastern Texas; and in the cañon of Paloduro Creek near Canyon, Randall County, northwestern Texas (E. J. Palmer); in Pennsylvania and West Virginia occasionally on the eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains; attaining its largest size in the valleys of small streams in southern Indiana and Illinois; now often naturalized in the region east of the Alleghany Mountains. The var. inermis, the prevailing form in Taney County, southern Missouri.

Often cultivated as an ornamental and shade tree in all countries of temperate climates.

2. Gleditsia texana Sarg. Locust.

Leaves 6′—7′ long, 12—22-foliolulate, with a slender rachis at first puberulous, ultimately glabrous, or often bipinnate, usually with 6 or 7 pairs of pinnæ, the lower pairs frequently reduced to single large leaflets; leaflets oblong-ovate, often somewhat falcate, rounded or acute or apiculate at apex, obliquely rounded at base, finely crenately serrate, thick and firm in texture, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, ½′—1′ long, with a short petiolule coated while young, like the base of the slender orange-colored midrib, with soft pale hairs. Flowers appearing toward the end of April, the staminate dark orange-yellow, in slender glabrous often clustered racemes lengthening after the flowers begin to open and finally 3′—4′ in length; calyx campanulate, with acute lobes thickened on the margins, villose-pubescent and rather shorter and narrower than the puberulous petals; stamens with slender filaments villose near the base and green anthers; pistillate flowers unknown. Fruit 4′—5′ long, 1′ wide, straight, much compressed, rounded and short-pointed at apex, full and rounded at the broad base, thin-walled, dark chestnut-brown, puberulous, slightly thickened on the margins, many-seeded, without pulp; seeds oval, compressed, dark chestnut-brown, very lustrous, ½′ long.

A tree, 100°—120° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 2½° in diameter, ascending and spreading branches forming a narrow head, and comparatively slender more or less zigzag branchlets roughened by numerous small round lenticels, light orange-brown when they first appear, gray or orange-brown during their first year, ashy gray the following season, and unarmed. Bark thin and smooth.

Distribution. Only in a single grove on the bottom-lands of the Brazos River, near the town of Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas.

3. Gleditsia aquatica Marsh. Water Locust.

Leaves 5′—8′ long, 12—20-foliolate, or bipinnate, with 3 or 4 pairs of pinnæ; leaflets ovate-oblong, usually rounded or rarely emarginate at apex, unequally cuneate at base, slightly and remotely crenate or often entire below the middle, glabrous with the exception of a few hairs on the short stout petiolule, dull yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, dark green on the lower surface, about 1′ long and ⅓′—½′ wide. Flowers appearing in May and June after the leaves are fully grown on short stout purple puberulous pedicels, in slender racemes 3′—4′ long; calyx-tube covered with orange-brown pubescence, the lobes narrow, acute, slightly pilose on the two surfaces, as long as but narrower than the green erect petals rounded at apex; filaments hairy toward the base; anthers large, green; ovary long-stipitate, glabrous. Fruit fully grown in August, pendent in graceful racemes, obliquely ovoid, long-stalked, crowned with a short stout tip, thin, 1′—2′ long, 1′ broad, without pulp, its valves thin, tough, papery, bright chestnut-brown, lustrous and somewhat thickened on the margins; seeds 1 or rarely 2 or 3, flat, nearly orbicular, orange-brown, ½′ in diameter.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a short trunk 2°—2½° in diameter, usually dividing a few feet from the ground into stout spreading often contorted branches forming a wide irregular flat-topped head, and glabrous orange-brown branchlets becoming in their second year gray or reddish brown, marked by occasional large pale lenticels, and armed with usually flattened simple or short-branched straight or falcate sharp rigid spines 3′—5′ long, about ½′ broad at the base, and dark red-brown and lustrous. Bark ⅛′—¼′ thick, smooth, dull gray or reddish brown, and divided by shallow fissures into small plate-like scales. Wood heavy, very hard and strong, coarse-grained, rich bright brown tinged with red, with thick light clear yellow sapwood of about 40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Eastern South Carolina to Florida, through the coast region of the Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, and northward through western Louisiana and southern Arkansas to northwestern Mississippi, middle Kentucky and Tennessee, the bottoms of the Mississippi at La Pointe, Saint Charles County, Missouri, western and southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana; rare east of the Mississippi River and only in deep river swamps; very abundant and of its largest size westward on rich bottom-lands; in Louisiana and Arkansas often occupying extensive tracts submerged during a considerable part of the year.

9. PARKINSONIA L.

Trees or shrubs, with smooth thin bark and terete branches often armed with simple or 3-forked spines. Leaves abruptly bipinnate, alternate or fascicled from earlier axils, short-petiolate, the rachis short and spinescent, with 2—4 secondary elongated rachises bearing numerous minute opposite entire leaflets without stipels; stipules short, persistent and spinescent, or caducous. Flowers perfect on thin elongated jointed pedicels from the axils of minute caducous bracts, in slender axillary solitary or fascicled racemes; calyx short-campanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes slightly imbricated or subvalvate in the bud, narrow, membranaceous, nearly equal, becoming reflexed, deciduous; petals bright yellow, unguiculate, much longer than the lobes of the calyx, spreading, the upper petal rather broader than the others and glandular at the base of the claw; stamens 10, inserted in 2 rows on the margin of the thin disk, free, slightly declinate, those of the outer row opposite the sepals and rather longer than the others; filaments villose below the middle, the upper filament enlarged at base and gibbous on the upper side; anthers uniform, versatile; ovary short-stipitate, pilose, contracted into a slender filiform incurved style infolded in the bud and tipped with a minute stigma; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary. Legume linear, torulose, acuminate at the ends, 2-valved, the valves thin, convex by the growth of the seeds, contracted between and beyond them, longitudinally striate. Seeds oblong, suspended longitudinally on a slender funicle; hilum minute, near the apex; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, light brown; embryo inclosed on the sides only by thick layers of horny albumen; cotyledons oval, flat, slightly fleshy, the radicle very short and straight.

Parkinsonia, with four species, is confined to the warm parts of America and to southern Africa. Two species occur within the limits of the United States.

The genus is named for John Parkinson (1567—1650), an English botanical author, and herbalist to James I.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Flowers in long slender racemes; petals imbricated in the bud; stamens shorter than the petals; legume 1—8-seeded, 12′—18′ long; leaves 7′—8′ long; rachis of the pinnæ flat, wing-margined, 50—60-foliolate; branches with spines. 1. P. aculeata (G, H). Flowers in short racemes; petals valvate in the bud; stamens longer than the petals; legume 1—2-seeded; leaves about 1′ long; rachis of the pinnæ terete, 8—12-foliolate; branches without spines. 2. P. microphylla (G, H).

1. Parkinsonia aculeata L. Retama. Horse Bean.

Leaves of two forms, short-petiolate, persistent, light green and glabrous, except for a few hairs on the lower part of the young secondary rachis, 12′—18′ long; primary leaves on young branches, with 2—4 pinnæ, and a spinescent rachis developing into a stout ridged persistent short-pointed chestnut-brown spine 1′—1½′ long and marked near the base by the prominent scars left by the fall of the pinnæ; stipules persistent, appearing as lateral spiny branches on the spines; secondary leaves fascicled from the axils of the primary leaves, nearly sessile with a short terete spinescent rachis and 2 pinnæ; pinnæ flat, 12′—18′ in length, wing-margined, acute at apex, with 25—30 pairs of ovate or obovate petiolulate leaflets, 1/16′—⅛′ long. Flowers appearing on the growing branches during the spring and summer, and in the tropics throughout the year, on slender pedicels ⅓′—½′ in length, in slender erect racemes 5′—6′ long; petals bright yellow, the upper one marked near the base on the inner surface with conspicuous red spots; stamens shorter than the petals. Fruit hanging on pedicels ½′—¾′ in length, in graceful racemes, 2′—4′ long, long-pointed, dark orange-brown, slightly pilose, compressed between the remote seeds; seeds ⅓′ long, nearly terete, with thick albumen and a bright yellow embryo.

A tree, 18°—30° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, usually separating 6°—8° from the ground into slender spreading somewhat pendulous branches forming a wide graceful head, and slightly zigzag branchlets puberulous and yellow-green during their first season, becoming glabrous, gray or light orange color and roughened by lenticels in their second and third years. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, brown tinged with red, the generally smooth surface broken into small persistent plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, with very thick lighter colored sapwood tinged with yellow.

Distribution. Low moist soil, valley of the lower Rio Grande, Texas; common in northern Mexico and in the valley of the lower Colorado River, Arizona; widely distributed in Lower California; naturalized on Key West, the Bahamas, the West Indian islands, and in many other tropical countries.

Cultivated in most warm countries as an ornament of gardens, and to form hedges.

2. Parkinsonia microphylla Torr.

Leaves 1′ long, pale, densely tomentose when they unfold, pubescent at maturity, deciduous at the end of a few weeks; petiole ¼′ long; rachis short, rarely spinescent; leaflets in 4—6 pairs, distant, entire, sessile, broad-oblong or nearly orbicular, obtuse or somewhat acute at apex, oblique at base, ⅙′ long; stipules caducous. Flowers opening in May or early June before the leaves, on slender pedicels, in racemes 1′ or less long from the axils of leaves of the previous year, pale yellow; stamens longer than the petals. Fruit persistent on the branches for at least a year, frequently 1 or 2, rarely 3-seeded, 2′—3′ long, slightly puberulous, especially toward the base, with a long acuminate often falcate apex; seeds compressed, ⅓′ long, with a bright green embryo.

An intricately branched tree, occasionally 20°—25° high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, and stout pale yellow-green rigid branchlets terminating in a stout spine, covered at first with deciduous tomentum, slightly puberulous during their first and second seasons, and often marked by the persistent scales of undeveloped buds. Bark dark orange color, generally smooth, although sometimes roughened by scattered clusters of short pale gray horizontal ridges, becoming on old trees ¼′ thick; more often a shrub, frequently only a few feet tall. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, dark orange-brown streaked with red, with thick light brown or yellow sapwood of 25—30 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Deserts of southern Arizona and adjacent regions of California and Sonora, and in northern Lower California; known to attain the size and habits of a tree only in the neighborhood of Wickenburg, Maricopa County, Arizona.

10. CERCIDIUM Tul.

Trees or shrubs, with stout tortuous branches, covered with bright green bark and armed with slender straight axillary spines, and minute obtuse buds. Leaves alternate, abruptly pinnate, petiolate, early deciduous; pinnæ 2 or occasionally 3, 6—8-foliolate; stipules inconspicuous or 0; leaflets ovate or obovate, without stipels. Flowers perfect in short few-flowered axillary racemes, solitary or fascicled, with minute membranaceous early deciduous bracts; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes equal, acute, reflexed at maturity, their margins scarious, slightly revolute; petals orbicular or short-oblong, unguiculate, bright yellow, the upper petal broader and longer clawed than the others, slightly auriculate at base of the blade, the claw conspicuously glandular at base; stamens 10, inserted with the petals on the margin of the disk, free, slightly declinate, exserted; filaments filiform, pilose below, the upper filament enlarged at base and gibbous on the upper side; anthers uniform, ovoid, versatile; ovary short-stalked, inserted at the base of the calyx-tube; styles slender, involute, infolded in the bud, with a minute terminal stigma; ovules suspended from the angle of the ovary opposite the posterior petal. Legume linear-oblong, compressed or somewhat turgid, straight or slightly contracted between the seeds, thickened on the margins, the ventral suture acute, or slightly grooved, tipped with the remnants of the style, tardily dehiscent, 2-valved, the valves membranaceous or subcoriaceous, obliquely veined. Seeds suspended longitudinally on a long slender funicle, ovoid, compressed, the minute hilum near the apex; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; embryo compressed, light green, covered on the sides only by a thin layer of horny albumen; cotyledons oval, flat, rather fleshy; radicle very short, erect, near the hilum.

Cercidium is confined to the warmer parts of the New World, where it is distributed with four or five species from the southern borders of the United States through Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela to Mendoza. Of the three species found within the territory of the United States two are small trees.

Cercidium produces hard wood sometimes used as fuel.

The generic name, from κερκίδιον, refers to the fancied resemblance of the legume to the weaver’s instrument of that name.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Legume compressed, with straight margins; leaflets green, slightly glandular. 1. C. floridum (E). Legume somewhat turgid, the margins often slightly contracted between the seeds; leaflets glaucous. 2. C. Torreyanum (G, H).

1. Cercidium floridum Benth. Green-barked Acacia.

Leaves 1′—1½′ long, with 2 or rarely 3 pinnæ, a broad pubescent petiole and rachis, and oval or somewhat obovate dull green puberulous minutely glandular leaflets about 1/16′ in length, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, and when they unfold covered on the lower surface with scattered white hairs; petiolules short, stout, pubescent; appearing in April and deciduous in October. Flowers opening with the leaves, and produced in successive crops during three or four months, ¾′ in diameter, on slender pedicels, in 4 or 5-flowered racemes 1½′—2′ long, with small acute minute membranaceous caducous bracts. Fruit compressed, oblong, straight or slightly falcate, acute, narrowly and acutely margined on the ventral suture, glabrous, 2 or 3-seeded, 2′—2½′ long, ½′ broad, tardily dehiscent, the valves papery, yellow tinged with brown on the outer surface, and bright orange color within; seeds ⅓′ long.

A tree, 18°—20° high, with a short crooked trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, stout spreading branches covered with thin smooth bright green bark, forming a low wide head, and branchlets light or dark olive-green, slightly puberulous at first, soon glabrous, marked by occasional black lenticels, and armed with slender spines 1′ or less in length. Bark 1/16′ thick, light brown tinged with red, with numerous short horizontal light gray ridge-like excrescences. Wood light, soft, close-grained, pale yellow tinged with green, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Shores of Matagorda Bay to Hidalgo and Valverde Counties, Texas, and in northern Mexico; not common in Texas; very abundant and a conspicuous feature of vegetation in Mexico from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the foothills of the Sierra Madre.

2. Cercidium Torreyanum Sarg. Green-barked Acacia. Palo Verde.

Leaves few and scattered, 1′ long, hoary-tomentose when they first appear, puberulous at maturity, with a slender petiole and 2 pinnæ, with 2 or 3 pairs of oblong obtuse glaucous leaflets narrowed toward the somewhat oblique base, 1/12′—⅙′ long; unfolding in March and April and falling almost immediately when fully grown. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on slender pedicels ¾′—1′ long, in 4 or 5-flowered racemes about 1′ in length, with small acute membranaceous caducous bracts. Fruit ripening and falling in July, 3′—4′ long, ¼′—⅓′ wide, 2—8-seeded, slightly turgid, often somewhat contracted between the seeds, frequently grooved on the ventral suture; seeds turgid, ⅓′ long.

A low intricately branched tree, leafless for most of the year, 25°—30° high, with a short often inclining trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, stout spreading branches covered with yellow or olive-green bark, forming a wide open irregular head, and glabrous slightly zigzag light yellow or pale olive-green and glaucous branchlets armed with thin straight or curved spines ¼′ long. Bark thin, smooth, pale olive-green, becoming near the base of old trunks reddish brown, ⅛′ thick, furrowed and separating into thick plate-like scales. Wood heavy, not strong, soft, close-grained, light brown, with clear light yellow sapwood.

Distribution. Sides of low cañons and depressions, and sandhills of the desert; valley of the lower Gila River, Arizona, to the Colorado Desert of southern California, and southward into Sonora and Lower California; when in flower in early spring the conspicuous and most beautiful feature of the vegetation of the Colorado Desert.

11. SOPHORA L.

Trees or shrubs, with minute scaly buds, unarmed terete branches prolonged by an upper axillary bud, and fibrous roots. Leaves unequally pinnate, with numerous small or few and ample thin or coriaceous leaflets; stipules minute, deciduous; stipels often 0. Flowers in terminal or axillary racemes, with linear minute deciduous bracts and bractlets; calyx broad-campanulate, often slightly turbinate or obconic at base, obliquely truncate, the short teeth nearly equal or the 2 upper subconnate and often somewhat larger than the others; disk cupuliform, glandular, adnate to the calyx-tube; corolla papilionaceous; petals white or violet blue, unguiculate; standard obovate or orbicular, usually shorter than the oblong, suberect keel-petals, as long or rather longer than the oblong-oblique wings, overlapping each other at the back, barely united; stamens free, or 9 of them slightly united at base, uniform; anthers attached on the back near the middle; ovary short-stipitate, contracted into an incurved style, with a minute truncate or slightly rounded capitate stigma; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary, superposed, amphitropous. Legume terete, much contracted between the seeds, woody or fleshy, usually many-seeded, each seed inclosed in a separate cell, indehiscent. Seed oblong or oval, sometimes somewhat compressed; seed-coat thick, membranaceous or crustaceous; cotyledons thick and fleshy; radicle short and straight or more or less elongated and incurved.

Sophora is scattered over the warmer parts of the two hemispheres, with about twenty species of trees, shrubs or herbs; of the six North American species two are small trees. Several of the species produce valuable wood, and from the pods and flower-buds of the Chinese Sophora japonica L., a dye is obtained used to dye white cloth yellow and blue cloth green. This tree is often cultivated as an ornament of parks and gardens in northern China, Japan, the eastern United States, and in western, central, and southern Europe.

The generic name is from Sophera, the Arabic name of some tree with pea-shaped flowers.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Flowers violet blue, in terminal racemes; the upper calyx-lobes larger than the others and united; legume woody; seeds without albumen; leaves coriaceous, persistent. 1. S. secundiflora (C, E, H). Flowers white, in axillary racemes; calyx-lobes equal; legume fleshy; seeds with albumen; leaves thin, deciduous. 2. S. affinis (C).

1. Sophora secundiflora DC. Frijolito. Coral Bean.

Leaves persistent, covered when they unfold, especially on the lower surface of the leaflets, with silky white hairs, and at maturity 4′—6′ long, with a stout puberulous petiole slightly enlarged at base, and 7—9 oblong-elliptic leaflets rounded, emarginate or sometimes mucronate at apex, gradually contracted at base into a short thick petiolule, coriaceous, lustrous and dark yellow-green above, rather paler below, glabrous or sometimes slightly puberulous along the under side of the stout midrib, entire, with thickened margins, conspicuously reticulate-veined, 1′—2½′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, without stipels. Flowers with a powerful and delicious fragrance, appearing with the young leaves in very early spring, 1′ long, on stout pedicels sometimes 1′ in length, from the axils of subulate deciduous bracts ½′ or more long, and bibracteolate with 2 acute bractlets, in terminal 1-sided canescent racemes 2′—3′ in length; calyx campanulate, slightly enlarged on the upper side, the 3 lower teeth triangular and nearly equal, the 2 upper rather larger and united almost throughout; petals shortly unguiculate, violet blue or rarely white, the broad erect standard marked on the inner surface near the base with a few darker spots; ovary coated with long silky white hairs. Fruit terete, 1′—7′ long, ½′ thick, stalked, crowned with the thickened remnants of the style, covered with thick hoary tomentum, indehiscent, 1—8-seeded, with hard woody walls ¼′ thick; seeds short-oblong, rounded, ½′ long, bright scarlet, with a small pale hilum and a bony seed-coat; albumen 0; cotyledons thick, orange-colored, filling the cavity of the seed; radicle short and straight.

A tree, 25°—35° high, with a straight trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, separating several feet from the ground into a number of upright branches forming a narrow head, and branchlets coated when they first appear with fine hairy tomentum, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous in their second year and pale orange-brown; more often a shrub, with low clustered stems. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, orange-colored, streaked with red, with thick bright yellow sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth. The seeds contain a poisonous alkaloid, sophorin, with strong narcotic properties.

Distribution. Borders of streams, forming thickets or small groves, in low rather moist limestone soil; shores of Matagorda Bay, Texas, to the mountain cañons of New Mexico, and to those of Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosí; of its largest size in the neighborhood of Matagorda Bay; south and west, especially west of the Pecos River, rarely more than a shrub.

Occasionally cultivated in the gardens of the southern states.

2. Sophora affinis T. & G.

Leaves deciduous, coated when they unfold with hoary pubescence, 6′—9′ long, with a slender puberulous petiole, and 13—19 elliptic, acute or obtuse slightly mucronate leaflets contracted into short stout pubescent petiolules, entire or with slightly wavy thickened margins, thin, pale yellow-green and glabrous above, paler and covered with scattered hairs or nearly glabrous below, 1′—1½′ long and ½′ wide, with a prominent orange-colored midrib, slender primary veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets. Flowers ½′ long, appearing in early spring with the young leaves, on slender canescent pedicels nearly ½′ long, from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, in slender pubescent semipendent racemes, 3′—5′ long, from the axils of the leaves at the end of the branches; calyx short-campanulate, abruptly narrowed at base, somewhat enlarged on the upper side, slightly pubescent, especially on the margins of the short nearly triangular teeth; petals short-unguiculate, white tinged with rose color; standard nearly orbicular, slightly emarginate, reflexed, as long and twice as broad as the ovate auriculate wing-petals and the keel-petals; ovary conspicuously stipitate, villose. Fruit ½′—3′ long, indehiscent, black, more or less pubescent, crowned with the thickened remnants of the style, 4—8-seeded, or rarely 1-seeded and then subglobose, with thin fleshy rather sweet walls; persistent on the branches during the winter; seeds oval, slightly compressed, with a thin crustaceous bright chestnut-brown seed-coat; cotyledons surrounded by a thin layer of horny albumen, bright green; radicle long and incurved.

A tree, 18°—20° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, dividing into a number of stout spreading branches forming a handsome round-topped head, and slender terete slightly zigzag branchlets, orange-brown or dark brown and slightly puberulous when they first appear, becoming bright green marked by narrow brown ridges, and in their second year by the elevated tomentose leaf-scars. Winter-buds depressed, almost surrounded by the base of the petiole, with broad scales coated on the outer surface with dark brown tomentum and on the inner surface with thicker pale tomentum, and persistent on the base of the growing shoot. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, dark reddish brown, and broken into numerous oblong scales, the surface exfoliating in thin layers. Wood heavy, very hard and strong, light red in color, with thick bright clear yellow sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Usually on limestone hills, or on the borders of streams, ravines, or depressions in the prairie, often forming small groves; valley of the Red River at Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, to the valley of the Arkansas River, Arkansas, and to southern Oklahoma (Choctaw and Love Counties), and southward in Texas to the valley of the San Antonio and upper Guadalupe Rivers (Kerrville, Kerr County).

12. CLADRASTIS Raf.

A tree, with copious watery juice, smooth gray bark, slender slightly zigzag terete branchlets without a terminal bud, fibrous roots, and naked axillary buds 4 together, superposed, flattened by mutual pressure into an acuminate cone, and inclosed collectively in the hollow base of the petiole, the largest and upper one only developing, the lowest minute and rudimentary. Leaves unequally pinnate, petiolate, with a stout terete petiole abruptly enlarged at base, 7—11-foliolate, deciduous; leaflets usually alternate, broadly oval, the terminal one rhombic-ovate, contracted at apex into a short broad point, cuneate at base, entire, petiolulate, without stipels, covered at first like the young shoots with fine silvery pubescence, and on the midrib with lustrous brown tomentum, at maturity thin, glabrous, dark yellow-green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, the midrib and numerous primary veins conspicuous, light yellow below; stipules 0. Flowers on slender puberulous pedicels, bibracteolate near the middle, with scarious caducous bractlets, in long gracefully nodding stalked terminal panicles, the lower branches racemose, and often springing from the axils of 1-flowered pedicels, the main axis slightly zigzag, and, like the branches, covered at first with a glaucous bloom and slightly pilose; bracts lanceolate, scarious, pale, caducous; calyx cylindric-campanulate, enlarged on the upper side, and obliquely obconic at base, puberulous, 5-toothed, the teeth imbricated in the bud, nearly equal, short and obtuse, the 2 upper slightly united; disk cupuliform, adnate to the interior of the calyx-tube; corolla papilionaceous; petals white, unguiculate; standard nearly orbicular, entire or slightly emarginate, reflexed above the middle, barely longer than the straight oblong wing-petals, slightly biauriculate at the base of the blade, marked on the inner surface with a pale yellow blotch; keel-petals free, oblong, nearly straight, obtuse, slightly subcordate or biauriculate at base; stamens 10, free; filaments filiform, slightly incurved near the apex, glabrous; anthers versatile; ovary linear, stipitate, bright red, villose with long pale hairs, contracted into a long slender glabrous slightly incurved subulate style; stigma terminal, minute; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary, superposed. Legume glabrous, short-stalked, linear-compressed, the upper margin slightly thickened, tipped with the remnants of the persistent style, 4—6-seeded, ultimately dehiscent, the valves thin and membranaceous. Seeds short-oblong, compressed, attached by a slender funicle; without albumen; seed-coat thin, membranaceous, dark brown; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons fleshy, oblong, flat; radicle short, inflexed.

Four species are now known. One inhabits the southern United States, two occur in western China and one in Japan.

Cladrastis, from κλάδος and θραυστός, relates to the brittleness of the branches.

1. Cladrastis lutea K. Koch. Yellow Wood. Virgilia.

Leaves 8′-12′ in length, with leaflets 3′—4′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, the terminal leaflet rather shorter than the others and 3′—3½′ wide; turning bright clear yellow rather late in the autumn some time before falling. Flowers appearing about the middle of June, slightly fragrant, in panicles 12′—14′ long and 5′—6′ wide. Fruit fully grown by the middle of August, ripening in September and soon falling.

A tree, sometimes 50°-60° high, with a trunk 1½°—2° or exceptionally 4° in diameter, usually divided 6°—7° from the ground into 2 or 3 stems, slender wide-spreading more or less pendulous brittle branches forming a wide graceful head, and zigzag branchlets clothed with pubescence when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, during their first season light brown tinged more or less with green, very smooth and lustrous, and covered by numerous darker colored lenticels, bright red-brown in their first winter and marked by large elevated leaf-scars surrounding the buds, and dark dull brown the following year. Bark of the trunk ⅛′—¼′ thick, with a silvery gray or light brown surface and rather darker colored than that of the branches. Wood heavy, very hard, strong and close-grained, with a smooth satiny surface, bright clear yellow changing to light brown on exposure, with thin nearly white sapwood; used for fuel, occasionally for gun-stocks, and yielding a clear yellow dye.

Distribution. Limestone cliffs and ridges generally in rich soil, and often overhanging the banks of mountain streams; Cherokee County, North Carolina, and the western slopes of the high mountains of eastern Tennessee; central Tennessee and Kentucky; near Florence, Lauderdale County, and cliffs of the Warrior River, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama; Forsythe, Taney County, and Eagle Rock, Barry County, Missouri; rare and local; most abundant in the neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, and in Missouri.

Often planted in the eastern United States as an ornamental tree, and hardy as far north as New England; and rarely in western and southern Europe; usually only flowering in alternate years.

13. EYSENHARDTIA H. B. K.

Small glandular-punctate trees or shrubs, with slender terete branchlets. Leaves alternate, equally pinnate, petiolate; leaflets oblong, mucronate or emarginate at apex, short-petiolulate, numerous, stipellate; stipules subulate, caducous. Flowers short-pedicellate, in long spicate racemes, terminal or axillary, with subulate caducous bracts; calyx-tube campanulate, conspicuously glandular-punctate, 5-toothed, the acute teeth nearly equal, persistent; disk cupuliform, adnate to the base of the calyx-tube; corolla subpapilionaceous; petals erect, free, nearly equal, oblong-spatulate, rounded at apex, unguiculate, creamy white; standard concave, slightly broader than the wing and keel-petals; stamens 10, inserted with the petals, the superior stamen free, shorter than the others united to above the middle into a tube; anthers uniform, oblong; ovary subsessile, contracted into a long slender uncinate style geniculate and conspicuously glandular below the apex; stigma introrse, oblique; ovules 2 or 3, rarely 4, attached to the inner angle of the ovary, superposed. Legume small, oblong or linear-falcate, compressed, tipped with the remnants of the style, indehiscent, pendent. Seeds usually solitary, rarely 2, oblong-reniform, without albumen; seed-coat coriaceous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons flat, fleshy; radicle superior, short and erect.

Eysenhardtia is confined to the warmer parts of the New World, and is distributed from western Texas and southern New Mexico and Arizona to southern Mexico, Lower California, and Guatemala. Four species are distinguished; of these three species occur within the territory of the United States, and in northern Mexico, and one species is found only in Guatemala. Lignum nephriticum formerly celebrated in Europe for its reputed medical properties and for the fluorescence of its infusion in spring water is the wood of the shrubby Eysenhardtia polystachya Sarg. of western Texas and Mexico.

Of the North American species one is a small tree.

The generic name is in honor of Karl Wilhelm Eysenhardt (1794—1825), Professor of Botany in the University of Königsberg.

1. Eysenhardtia orthocarpa S. Wats.

Leaves 4′—5′ long, with a pubescent rachis grooved on the upper side, 10—23 pairs of leaflets, and small scarious deciduous stipules; leaflets oval, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, with a stout petiolule and minute scarious deciduous stipels, pale gray-green, glabrous or slightly puberulous on the upper surface, conspicuously glandular, with chestnut-brown glands, and pubescent especially on the prominent midrib on the lower surface, reticulate-veined, ½′—⅔′ long, ⅛′—¼′ wide, with thickened slightly revolute margins. Flowers opening in May, nearly ½′ long, on slender pubescent pedicels, in axillary pubescent spikes 3′—4′ long; calyx many-ribbed, pubescent, conspicuously glandular, half as long as the white petals ciliate on the margins, and of nearly equal size and shape. Fruit ½′ long, pendent, nearly straight or slightly falcate, thickened on the edges, with usually a single seed near the apex; seed compressed, light reddish brown, ¼′ long.

A tree, occasionally 18°—20° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, separating 3° or 4° above the ground into a number of slender branches, and branchlets coated when they first appear with ashy gray pubescence disappearing during the second year, and then reddish brown and roughened by numerous glandular excrescences; or more often a low rigid shrub. Bark of the trunk about 1/16′ thick, light gray, and broken into large plate-like scales, exfoliating on the surface into thin layers. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light reddish brown, with thin clear yellow sapwood of 7 or 8 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Dry gravelly soil, on arid slopes and dry ridges; valley of the upper Guadalupe River, western Texas, to the Santa Catalina and Santa Rita Mountains, southern Arizona, and southward into northern Mexico; arborescent in the United States only near the summit of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

14. DALEA L.

Glandular-punctate herbs, small shrubs, or rarely trees. Leaves alternate, unequally pinnate, or simple in the arborescent species; stipules generally minute, subulate, deciduous. Flowers in racemes, their bracts membranaceous or setaceous, broad, concave above, glandular-dentate; calyx 5-toothed or lobed, persistent, the divisions nearly equal; corolla papilionaceous; petals unguiculate; standard cordate, free, inserted in the bottom of the tubular disk connate to the calyx-tube, rather shorter than the wing- and keel-petals, the claws adnate to and jointed upon the staminal tube; stamens 10, sometimes 9 through the suppression of the superior stamen, united into a tube cleft above and cup-shaped toward the base; anthers uniform, often surmounted by a gland; ovary sessile or short-stalked, contracted into a slender subulate style, with a minute terminal stigma; ovules 4—6 attached to the inner angle of the ovary, superposed. Legume ovoid, sometimes conspicuously ribbed, more or less inclosed in the calyx, membranaceous, indehiscent, 1-seeded; seed reniform, without albumen; testa coriaceous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons broad and flat; radicle superior, accumbently reflexed.

Dalea is confined to the New World, where it is distributed from the central, western, and southwestern regions of the United States through Mexico and Central America to Peru, Chile, and the Galapagos Islands; usually herbs or low undershrubs, one species of the United States occasionally assumes the habit and attains the size of a small tree.

The generic name is in honor of Samuel Dale (1659—1739), an English botanist and writer on the materia medica.

1. Dalea spinosa A. Gray. Smoke Tree.

Leaves few, simple, irregularly scattered near the base of the spinose branchlets, cuneate or linear-oblong, sessile or nearly sessile, marked by few large glands, especially on the entire wavy margins, hoary-pubescent, ¾′—1′ long, ⅛′—½′ wide, with a broad midrib and three pairs of lateral ribs, on vigorous young shoots or seedling plants remotely and coarsely serrate; remaining only for a few weeks on the branches; stipules minute, ovate, acute, pubescent. Flowers ½′ long, appearing in June on short pedicels from the axils of minute bracts, in racemes 1′—1½′ long, their rachis slender, spinescent, hoary-pubescent; calyx-tube 10-ribbed, with usually 5 glands between the dorsal ribs, the lobes short, ovate, rounded or more or less ciliate on the margins, reflexed at maturity; petals dark violet blue, standard cordate, reflexed, furnished at base of the blade with two conspicuous glands, wing- and keel-petals attached to the staminal tube by their base only and nearly equal in size, rounded at apex, more or less irregularly lobed at base; ovary pubescent, glandular punctate. Fruit ovoid, pubescent, glandular, twice as long as the calyx, tipped with the remnants of the recurved style; seed ⅛′ long, pale brown irregularly marked with dark spots.

A tree, 18°—20° high, with a short stout contorted trunk sometimes 20′ in diameter and divided near the ground into several upright branches, and branchlets reduced to slender sharp spines coated with fine pubescence, bearing minute nearly triangular scarious caducous bracts, marked by occasional glandular fistules, and developed from stouter branches hoary-pubescent when young, becoming glabrous in their third year and covered with pale brown bark roughened with lenticels and as it exfoliates showing the pale green inner bark; more often a low rigid intricately branched shrub. Bark of the trunk dark gray-brown, nearly ¼′ thick, deeply furrowed, and roughened on the surface by small persistent scales. Wood light, soft, rather close-grained, walnut-brown in color, with nearly white sapwood of 12—15 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Valley of the lower Gila River, Arizona, through the Colorado Desert to San Felipe and Palm Springs, Riverside County, California, and southward into Sonora and Lower California.

15. ROBINIA L. Locust.

Trees or shrubs, with slender terete or slightly many-angled zigzag branchlets, without a terminal bud, minute naked subpetiolar depressed-globose axillary buds 3 or 4 together, superposed, protected collectively in a depression by a scale-like covering lined on the inner surface with a thick coat of tomentum and opening in early spring, its divisions persistent during the season on the base of the branchlet developed usually from the upper bud. Leaves unequally pinnate, petiolate, deciduous; leaflets entire, penniveined, stipellate, reticulate-venulose, petiolulate; stipules setaceous, becoming spinescent at maturity, persistent. Flowers on long pedicels, in short pendulous racemes from the axils of leaves of the year, with small acuminate caducous bracts and bractlets; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed or cut, the upper lobes shorter than the others, cohering for part of their length; corolla papilionaceous, petals shortly unguiculate, inserted on a tubular disk glandular on the inner surface and connate with the base of the calyx-tube; standard large, reflexed, barely longer than the wing- and keel-petals, naked on the inner surface, obcordate, reflexed; wings oblong-falcate, free; keel-petals incurved, obtuse, united below; stamens 10, inserted with the petals, the 9 inferior united into a tube often enlarged at base and cleft on the upper side, the superior stamen free at the base and connate in the middle with the staminal tube, or finally free; anthers ovoid; ovary inserted at the base of the calyx, linear-oblong, stipitate; style subulate, inflexed, bearded along the inner side near the apex, with a small terminal stigma; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary, in two ranks, superposed. Legumes in drooping many-fruited racemes, many-seeded, linear, compressed, almost sessile, 2-valved, the seed-bearing suture narrow-winged; valves thin and membranaceous. Seed oblong-oblique, transverse, attached by a stout persistent incurved funicle enlarged at the point of attachment to the placenta; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; albumen thin, membranaceous; cotyledons oval, fleshy; radicle short, much reflexed, accumbent.

Robinia with seven or eight species is confined to the United States and Mexico; of the species found in the United States three are arborescent.

The generic name commemorates the botanical labors of Jean and Vespasien Robin, arborists and herbalists of the kings of France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Legume without glandular hairs; flowers white. 1. R. Pseudoacacia (A, C). Legume glandular-hispid (in the arborescent form of No. 2); flowers rose color. Glands not viscid. 2. R. neo-Mexicana (F, H). Glands exuding a clammy sticky substance. 3. R. viscosa (A).

1. Robinia Pseudoacacia L. Locust. Acacia. Yellow Locust.

Leaves 8′—14′ long, with a slender puberulous petiole, and 7—19 leaflets; turning pale clear yellow late in the autumn just before falling; stipules ½′ long, linear, subulate, membranaceous, at first pubescent and tipped with small tufts of caducous brown hairs, becoming straight or slightly recurved spines persistent for many years and ultimately often more than 1′ in length; leaflets oval, rounded or slightly truncate and minutely apiculate at apex, when they unfold covered with caducous silvery pubescence, at maturity very thin, dull dark blue-green above, pale below, glabrous with the exception of the slight pubescence on the under side of the slender midrib, 1½′—2′ long and ½′—¾′ wide; petiolules stout, ⅛′—¼′ in length; stipules minute, linear, membranaceous, early deciduous. Flowers opening in May or early in June, filled with nectar, very fragrant, on slender pedicels ½′ long and dark red or red tinged with green, in loose puberulous racemes 4′—5′ long; calyx conspicuously gibbous on the upper side, ciliate on the margins, dark green blotched with red, especially on the upper side, the lower lobe acuminate and much longer than the nearly triangular lateral and upper lobes; petals pure white, with a large pale yellow blotch marking the inner surface of the standard. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, 3′—4′ long and ½′ wide, with bright red-brown valves, usually 4—8-seeded, mostly persistent until the end of winter or early spring; seeds 3/16′ long, dark orange-brown, with irregular darker markings.

A tree, 70°—80° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, small brittle usually erect branches forming a narrow oblong head, and slender terete or sometimes slightly many-angled branchlets marked by small pale scattered lenticels, coated at first with short appressed silvery white deciduous pubescence, pale green and puberulous during their first summer, becoming light reddish brown and glabrous or nearly glabrous toward autumn. Bark of the trunk 1′—1½′ thick, deeply furrowed, dark brown tinged with red, and covered by small square persistent scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard and strong, close-grained, very durable in contact with the ground, brown or rarely light green, with pale yellow sapwood of 2 or 3 layers of annual growth; formerly extensively used in shipbuilding, for all sorts of posts, in construction and turnery; preferred for treenails, and valued as fuel.

Distribution. Slopes of the Appalachian Mountains, central and southern Pennsylvania, to northern Georgia; in southern Illinois; now widely naturalized in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and perhaps indigenous as a low shrub in northeastern and western Arkansas and in Oklahoma; nowhere common; in the Appalachian forest growing singly or in small groups up to altitudes of 3500°; most abundant and of its largest size on the western slopes of the Alleghanies of West Virginia; often spreading by underground stems into broad thickets of small and often stunted trees.

Formerly much planted as an ornamental and timber tree in the eastern states; very frequently used in Europe, with numerous seminal varieties of peculiar foliage or habit, for the decoration of parks and gardens, and to shade the streets of cities.

2. Robinia neo-mexicana A. Gray. Locust.

In its typical form a shrub only a few feet high. The hairs on the fruit not glandular-hispid.

Distribution. Mountain cañons and plains, Grant County, New Mexico. Passing into

Robinia neo-mexicana var. luxurians Dieck.

Leaves 6′—12′ long, with a stout pubescent petiole, and 15—21 leaflets; stipules chartaceous, covered with long silky brown hairs, becoming at maturity stout slightly recurved flat brown or bright red spines sometimes 1′ or more long; leaflets elliptic-oblong, rounded or sometimes slightly emarginate at the mucronate apex, cuneate or sometimes rounded at base, 1½′ long, and 1′ broad, coated at first on the lower surface and on the margins with soft brown hairs, and silvery-pubescent on the upper surface, and at maturity thin, pale blue-green, conspicuously reticulate-veined, and glabrous with the exception of the slightly puberulous lower side of the slender midrib and stout petiolule; stipels membranaceous, ¼′ long, often recurved, sometimes persistent through the season. Flowers appearing in May, 1′ long, on slender pedicels ½′ in length and covered with stout glandular hairs, in short compact many-flowered glandular-hispid long-stemmed racemes; corolla pale rose color or sometimes almost white (f. albiflora Kusche), with a broad standard and wing-petals. Fruit 3′—4′ long, about ⅓′ wide, glandular-hispid, with a narrow wing; seeds dark brown, slightly mottled, 1/16′ long.

A tree, sometimes 20°—25° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, and branchlets at first pale and coated with rusty brown glandular hairs increasing in length during the summer, and slightly puberulous, bright reddish brown, often covered with a glaucous bloom, and marked by a few small scattered pale lenticels during their first winter. Bark of the trunk thin, slightly furrowed, light brown, the surface separating into small plate-like scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, yellow streaked with brown, with light yellow sapwood of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Banks of mountain streams; valley of the Purgatory River, Colorado, through northern New Mexico and Arizona to southern Utah; on the Santa Catalina and Santa Rita Mountains, southern Arizona up to altitudes of 7000°; probably of its largest size near Trinidad, Las Animas County, Colorado.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in the eastern states, and in western Europe.

× Robinia Holdtii Beiss, a hybrid of Robinia neo-mexicana var. luxurians and R. Pseudoacacia, has appeared in a Colorado nursery and is occasionally cultivated.

3. Robinia viscosa Vent. Clammy Locust.

Leaves 7′—12′ long, with a stout nearly terete dark glandular-hispid clammy petiole, and 13—21 leaflets; stipules subulate, chartaceous, often deciduous or developing into short slender spines; leaflets ovate, sometimes acuminate, mucronate, rounded or pointed at apex, and cuneate at base, when they unfold covered below with soft white pubescence, and slightly puberulous above, and at maturity dark green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface, especially on the slender yellow midrib and primary veins and on the stout glandular-hispid petiolule, 1½′—2′ long and ⅔′ wide; stipels slender, deciduous. Flowers ⅔′ long, almost inodorous, appearing in June, on slender hairy pedicels from the axils of large lanceolate acuminate dark-red bracts contracted at apex into a long setaceous point exserted beyond the flower-buds and mostly deciduous before the flowers open, in short crowded glandular-hispid racemes; calyx dark red, coated on the outer surface and on the margins of the subulate lobes with long pale hairs; corolla pale rose or flesh color, with a narrow standard marked on the inner face by a pale yellow blotch, and broad wing-petals. Fruit narrow-winged, glandular-hispid, 2′—3½′ long; seeds ⅛′ long, dark reddish brown and mottled.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, slender spreading branches, and dark reddish brown branchlets covered with conspicuous dark glandular hairs exuding, like those on the petioles and legumes, a clammy, sticky substance, during the first winter bright red-brown, covered with small black lenticels and very sticky, becoming in their second year light brown and dry; or a shrub, often only 5°—6° tall. Bark of the trunk ⅛′ thick, smooth, dark brown tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, brown, with light yellow sapwood of 2 or 3 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Mountains of North and South Carolina up to altitudes of 3000°, and now naturalized in many parts of the United States east of the Mississippi River and as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

Often planted as an ornament of parks and gardens in all countries with a temperate climate.

16. OLNEYA A. Gray.

A tree, with thin scaly bark, and stout terete hoary-canescent slightly angled branchlets armed with stout infrastipular spines. Leaves equally or unequally pinnate, hoary-canescent, persistent, 10—15-foliolulate, destitute of stipules and stipels, short-petiolate, often fascicled in earlier axils; leaflets oblong or obovate, entire, obtuse, often mucronate at apex, cuneate at base, rigid, short-petiolulate, reticulate-veined, with a broad conspicuous midrib. Flowers on stout pedicels rather longer than the calyx, in short axillary few-flowered hoary-canescent racemes, with acute minute bracts and bractlets deciduous before the expansion of the flowers; calyx hoary-canescent, the lobes ovate, obtuse, almost equal, the two upper lobes connate nearly throughout; disk cupuliform, adnate to the tube of the calyx; corolla papilionaceous; petals unguiculate, purple or violet, inserted on the disk; standard orbicular, deeply emarginate, reflexed, furnished at base of the blade with two infolded ear-shaped appendages covering 2 prominent callosites; wing-petals oblique, oblong, slightly auriculate at base of blade on the upper side, free, as long as the broad obtuse incurved keel-petals; stamens 10, the superior stamen free, filling the slit in the tube formed by the union of the others; filaments filiform; anthers of the same length, oblong, uniform; ovary sessile or slightly stipitate, pilose; style inflexed, bearded above the middle; stigma thick and fleshy, depressed-capitate; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary, superposed. Legume oblique, compressed, glandular-hairy, light brown, 2-valved, often tipped with the remnants of the long persistent style, 1—5-seeded, the valves thick and coriaceous, becoming unequally and interruptedly convex at maturity. Seeds broad-ovoid, slightly angled on the ventral side, suspended by a short thick funicle, without albumen; seed-coat thin, membranaceous, bright chestnut-brown and lustrous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons thick and fleshy, accumbent on the short incurved radicle.

The genus is represented by a single species of southern Arizona, California, and northwestern Mexico.

Olneya is in memory of Stephen T. Olney (1812—1878), author of a catalogue of the plants of Rhode Island.

1. Olneya tesota A. Gray. Ironwood.

Leaves 1′—2½′ long, with leaflets ½′—¾′ in length, appearing in June and persistent until the following spring. Flowers unfolding with the leaves, nearly ½′ long. Fruit light brown, very glandular, fully grown at midsummer, ripening before the end of August, 2′—2½′ long.

A tree, sometimes 25°—30° high, with a short trunk occasionally 18′ in diameter and usually divided 4°—6° above the ground into a number of stout upright branches, and slender branchlets thickly coated at first with hoary-canescent pubescence disappearing early in their second year, and then pale green and more or less spotted and streaked with red, becoming pale brown in their third season, their spines straight or slightly curved, very sharp and rigid, ⅛′—¼′ long, and persistent at least during two years. Bark of the trunk thin, exfoliating in long longitudinal dark red-brown scales. Wood very heavy, hard and strong, although brittle, rich dark brown striped with red, with thin clear yellow sapwood; valued as fuel and sometimes manufactured into canes and other small objects.

Distribution. Sides of low depressions and arroyos in the desert; valley of the Colorado River south of the Mohave Mountains, California, to southwestern Arizona, and to Sonora and Lower California; most abundant and of its largest size in Sonora.

17. ERYTHRINA L.

Trees or shrubs with erect terete stems and branches, often armed with recurved prickles, or rarely herbaceous. Leaves alternate, pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules small, the stipels gland-like. Flowers papilionaceous, showy, in pairs or fascicled on the rachis of axillary leafless racemes, or in terminal racemes furnished at base with leaf-like bracts; calyx oblique, truncate or 5-toothed; corolla usually scarlet; petals free; standard broad or elongated, erect or spreading, nearly sessile or raised on a long stalk; wing-petals small or wanting, longer or shorter than the keel-petals; stamens 10, united into a tube split on the upper side, the tenth and upper stamen separate or all 10 united; anthers uniform; ovary stipitate, 1-celled; styles subulate, incurved, naked; stigmas small, terminal; ovules numerous, amphitropous, the micropyle superior. Fruit a stipitate linear-falcate pod narrowed at ends, compressed or subterete, constricted or undulate between the seeds, 2-valved; seeds reniform, attached by an oblong basal hilum, exalbuminous.

From twenty-five to thirty species are recognized, all inhabitants of tropical and semitropical regions. In the gardens of warm countries several of the species are cultivated for the beauty of their large and brilliant flowers.

The name is from ἐρυθρός, in allusion to the color of the flowers.

1. Erythrina herbacea var. arborea Chapm.

Leaves persistent, usually 6′—8′ long, with a slender petiole and rachis occasionally armed with small recurved prickles; leaflets thin, deltoid to hastate, concave-cuneate at the broad base, the lateral lobes broad and rounded and much shorter than the elongated terminal lobe gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, thin, yellow-green, smooth and glabrous, 2¼′—3½′ long and 1½′—2¼′ wide; petiolules slender, about ¼′ in length, with minute gland-like stipels. Flowers 2′—2¼′ long on short slender pedicels, in narrow leafless racemes 8′—13′ long, the lower flowers fading before those at the apex of the raceme open; calyx dark red, truncate and ciliate at the mouth, ¼′ in length; corolla scarlet; the standard narrow, oblanceolate, gradually narrowed into the long base, about ¼′ long, closely infolded and then more or less falcate; wing-petals slightly longer than the calyx and longer than the keel-petals; stamens diadelphous. Fruit compressed, constricted between the seeds, apiculate at apex, from 4′—6′ long, gradually narrowed into a stout stipitate base often ¾′ in length; seeds compressed, bright scarlet, lustrous, 5/12′ long and about ⅙′ wide, with a dark hilum.

A tree, rarely 25°—30° high, with a tall trunk occasionally a foot in diameter, small erect and spreading branches, and slender yellow-green branchlets armed with short broad recurved spines; more often shrubby and, except in size and habit, not distinguishable from Erythrina herbacea L., an herb with slender spreading stems occasionally 3° long, and common in sandy soil from the coast region of North Carolina to Florida, western Mississippi and Louisiana, and in the valley of the lower Rio Grande, Texas. Bark thin red-brown marked by longitudinal rows of large circular elevated lenticle-like excrescences.

Distribution. Florida, coast region from Miami, Dade County, to the southern shores of Tampa Bay, and on the southern keys.

18. ICHTHYOMETHIA P. Brown.

Trees or shrubs with thin scaly bark and stout terete branchlets without a terminal bud. Leaves unequally pinnate, long-petiolate; leaflets opposite. Flowers papilionaceous, on slender pedicels enlarged at the end, bibracteolate, in lateral panicles, appearing before the leaves; bracts and bractlets minute, scarious; calyx campanulate, 2-lipped, the upper lip emarginate, the lower 3-lobed, persistent, the lobes imbricated in the bud, short and broad; petals inserted on an annular glandular disk adnate to the interior of the calyx-tube, unguiculate, white tinged with red, rarely yellowish white; stamens 10, the filament of the upper stamen free at base only, united above with the others into a long tube; anthers oblong, uniform, versatile; ovary sessile, contracted into a filiform incurved style, with a capitate stigma; ovules numerous, suspended from the inner angle of the ovary, 2-ranked. Legume linear, compressed, raised on a stalk longer than the calyx, slightly contracted between the numerous seeds, tomentose-canescent or glabrate, thin-walled, indehiscent, longitudinally 4-winged, the wings developed from the dorsal and ventral sutures, broad or narrow, continuous or interrupted by the abortion of some of the ovules, membranaceous, their margins undulate or irregularly cut; seeds oval, compressed, without albumen, laterally attached by a short thick funicle; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, red-brown, not lustrous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons plano-convex, oval, fleshy; radicle short, inflexed.

Seven or eight species are now recognized, inhabitants of tropical America where they are distributed from southern Florida, through the West Indies to southern Mexico and Guatemala. Piscidia from the bark of the roots of Ichthyomethia is sometimes used medicinally.

The generic name, from ἰχθύς and µέθυ, indicates the Carib use of one of the species.

1. Ichthyomethia piscipula A. S. Hitch. Jamaica Dogwood.

Leaves 4′—9′ long, 5—11-foliolate, with stout petioles; leaflets oval, obovate or broad-oblong, obtuse or short-acuminate at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, with thick pubescent petiolules, when they first appear coated like the petioles with rufous hairs, at maturity coriaceous, glabrous and dark green above, pale and more or less clothed below with rufous or canescent pubescence along the elevated conspicuous midrib, and numerous thin veins arching and united at the entire undulate thickened margins, or covered with soft pubescence below; deciduous in spring. Flowers opening in May, ¾′ long, on slender pedicels sometimes 1½′ in length, in canescent ovoid densely flowered or elongated thyrsoid panicles, with short 3—12-flowered branches, from the axils of the fallen leaves of the previous year; calyx canescent, 5-lobed; petals white tinged with red, the standard hoary-canescent on the outer surface, marked with a green blotch on the inner surface, its claw as long as the calyx; ovary sericeous. Fruit ripening in July and August, broad-winged, light brown, 3′—4′ long and 1′—1½′ across the wings.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk often 2°—3° in diameter, stout erect sometimes contorted branches forming an irregular head, and branches coated when they first appear with thick rufous pubescence disappearing during their first summer, becoming glabrous or glabrate, bright reddish brown, conspicuously marked by oblong longitudinal lenticels, and large elevated horizontal slightly obcordate leaf-scars marked by the ends of numerous small scattered fibro-vascular bundles. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with thin hoary-pubescent scales. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, gray more or less blotched with olive and covered with small square scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, clear yellow-brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood, very durable in contact with the ground; largely used in Florida in boat-building, and for firewood and charcoal. In the West Indies the bark of the roots, young branches and powdered leaves were used by the Caribs to stupefy fish and facilitate their capture.

Distribution. One of the commonest of the tropical trees of Florida from the shores of Bay Biscayne to the southern keys, and on the west coast from the neighborhood of Peace Creek to Cape Sable; on many of the Antilles and in southern Mexico. Sterile branches collected by C. T. Simpson in the neighborhood of Cape Sable indicate that a second species occurs in Florida.

XXIV. ZYGOPHYLLACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with hard resinous wood, and opposite pinnate leaves, with stipules. Flowers perfect, regular; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals as many as the calyx-lobes, imbricated in the bud, hypogynous; stamens twice as many as the petals, hypogynous; filaments distinct; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 5-celled; styles united, terminating in a minute 5-lobed or entire stigma; ovules numerous, suspended, anatropous; raphe ventral. Fruit capsular, angled or winged, separating at maturity into 5 indehiscent carpels. Seeds solitary or in pairs in each cell; seed-coat thick and fleshy; embryo straight or nearly so; cotyledons oval, foliaceous; radicle short, superior.

Of the fourteen genera of this family, mostly confined to the warmer parts of the northern hemisphere, one only, Guaiacum, has an arborescent representative in the United States.

1. GUAIACUM L. Lignum-vitæ.

Trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, and stout terete alternate branchlets often with swollen nodes. Leaves petiolate, abruptly pinnate, with 2—14 entire reticulate-veined leaflets, and minute mostly deciduous stipules. Flowers terminal, solitary or umbellate-fascicled, pedicellate, from the axils of minute deciduous bracts; calyx-lobes slightly united at base, unequal, deciduous; petals broad-obovate, more or less unguiculate; stamens inserted on the inconspicuous elevated disk opposite to and alternate with the petals; filaments filiform, naked or bearing at base on the inner surface a minute membranaceous scale; anthers oblong; ovary raised on a short thick stalk, obovoid or clavate, 5-lobed, contracted into a slender subulate acute style; ovules 8—10 in each cell, suspended in pairs from the inner angle. Fruit fleshy, 5-celled, smooth, coriaceous, narrowed at base into a short stem, with 5 wing-like angles, ventrally and sometimes dorsally dehiscent. Seeds suspended, ovoid; seed-coat easily separable from the hard bony nucleus closely invested with a thin indistinct tegumen.

Guaiacum is confined to the New World, and is distributed from southern Florida through the Antilles, Mexico, and Central America to the Andes of Peru. Seven or eight species are distinguished.

Guaiacum produces heavy close-grained wood, the cells of the heartwood filled with dark-colored resin. The lignum-vitæ of commerce, largely used for the sheaths of ship-blocks, mallets, skittle-balls, ten-pin balls, etc., is produced principally by Guaiacum officinale L., of the Antilles and South America, and by Guaiacum sanctum L. Guaiacum resin is a stimulating diaphoretic sometimes used in the treatment of gout and rheumatism.

The generic name is from the Carib Guaiaco or Guayacon, the aboriginal name of the Lignum-vitæ.

1. Guaiacum sanctum L.

Leaves 3′ or 4′ long, with 3 or 4 pairs of obliquely oblong or obovate mucronate subsessile leaflets, membranaceous, light green and puberulous below when they first appear, becoming subcoriaceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous on both surfaces, 1′ long and nearly ½′ wide, persistent until the appearance of the new growth in March or early April of the following year; stipules acuminate, tipped with a short mucro, pubescent, ⅛′ long, usually caducous, but sometimes persistent during the season. Flowers ⅔′ in diameter, opening almost immediately after the appearance of the new growth, and continuing to open during several weeks, solitary on a slender pubescent pedicel shorter than the leaves and usually produced 3 or 4 together at the end of the branches from the axils of the upper leaves, their bracts acuminate, minute, the 2 lateral rather smaller than the others; calyx-lobes obovate, slightly pubescent, especially on the outer surface near the base, and smaller than the blue petals twisted below from left to right, and thus appearing to be obliquely inserted; filaments naked; ovary obovoid, prominently 5-angled, glabrous, contracted at base into a short stout stalk. Fruit broad-obovoid, ¾′ long, ½′ wide, bright orange color, opening at maturity by the splitting of the thick rather fleshy valves; seeds black, with a thick fleshy scarlet aril-like outer coat.

A gnarled round-headed tree, sometimes 25°—30° high, with a short stout trunk occasionally 2½°—3° in diameter, slender pendulous branches, and branchlets conspicuously enlarged at the nodes, slightly angled, pubescent when they first appear, becoming in their second year glabrous, nearly white, and roughened by numerous small excrescences. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ⅛′ thick, separating on the surface into thin white scales. Wood dark green or yellow-brown, with thin clear yellow sapwood.

Distribution. Keys of southern Florida from Key West eastward; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

XXV. MALPIGIACEÆ.

Trees, shrubs or vines with opposite simple entire often stipulate persistent leaves; stipules deciduous or 0. Flowers usually perfect or dimorphous, on pedicels articulate near their base from the axils of a bract and furnished below the articulation with two bractlets, in terminal racemes, corymbs or umbels; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes generally imbricated in the bud, usually glandular; petals 5, convolute in the bud, unguiculate; disk inconspicuous; stamens usually 10; filaments generally united at base; anthers short, 2-celled, introrse; ovary of 3 rarely of 2 carpels more or less united into a 3-celled ovary; styles usually 3, distinct, rarely united; stigma terminal or sublateral, inconspicuous; ovule solitary, between orthotropous and anatropous, often uncinate, ascending on the pendulous funicle; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit drupaceous or samaroid; seeds without albumen, suspended from below the apex of the cell; testa thin; embryo curved or coiled, rarely straight; cotyledons often unequal; radicle short, superior.

This family of nearly sixty genera is confined to tropical and subtropical America, with one arborescent species in the United States.

1. BYRSONIMA Rich.

Trees, or shrubs often scandent, with astringent bark and leaves; stipules usually connate, rarely partly connate or free. Flowers in terminal racemes; lobes of the calyx furnished on the back with two glands; petals unguiculate, their slender claws reflexed in anthesis, the limb concave, penniveined; stamens 10, filaments short, united and bearded at base; ovary 3-celled; styles 3, distinct, oblong or subulate, gradually narrowed into the acute stigma. Fruit a 3-celled drupe; endocarp bony or woody, angled; seeds ovoid to subglobose; embryo circinate, with slender coiled cotyledons; radicle oblong.

Byrsonima with nearly one hundred species is widely distributed in tropical America from southern Florida, where one species occurs, and the Bahama Islands through the West Indies, Mexico, Brazil and Bolivia.

The generic name is from βύρς, a hide, in allusion to the use of the bark in tanning.

1. Byrsonima lucida DC.

Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded or occasionally abruptly short-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, coriaceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler, dull and reticulate-venulose beneath, 1′—1½′ long and ¼′—½′ wide, with thickened revolute margins, a slender midrib and obscure primary veins; petioles stout, ⅛′—¼′ in length; stipules free, minute, acute, deciduous. Flowers ¼′ in diameter, appearing throughout the year on slender puberulous pedicels ¼′ to nearly ½′ long from the axils of acuminate caducous bracts a third longer than their acuminate bractlets, in terminal 5—12-flowered erect racemes ¾′—1½′ in length; calyx cup-shaped, persistent under the fruit, with short nearly triangular lobes much shorter than the white petals turning yellow, pink or rose color; styles elongated and persistent on the fruit. Fruit subglobose, greenish, about ¼′ in diameter, the flesh thin and dry; stone woody, rugose, thick-walled, lustrous on the inner surface; seed ovoid, acute, filling the cavity of the stone, pale yellow.

A small tree, rarely 20° high with a trunk 10′ in diameter, covered with pale bark, spreading branches forming a flat-topped head and slender terete pale gray branchlets; more often a many-stemmed shrub.

Distribution. Florida, in sandy soil on the Everglade Keys, Dade County, and on several of the southern keys; on the Bahamas and many of the Antilles; in Florida arborescent on Long Key in the Everglades, and on Big Pine Key.

XXVI. RUTACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, abounding in a pungent or bitter aromatic volatile oil, with simple or compound usually glandular-punctate leaves, without stipules or rarely with stipular spines. Flowers regular, perfect or unisexual, in paniculate or corymbose cymes; calyx 3—5-lobed, the lobes more or less united at base, imbricated in the bud; petals 3—5, imbricated in the bud; stamens as many or twice as many as the petals; filaments distinct or united below; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; pistils 1—4, separate or united into a compound ovary sessile or stipitate on a glandular disk; styles mostly united; ovules usually 2 in each cell of the ovary, pendulous, anatropous or amphitropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit of 2-valved carpels, a samara, drupe or capsule. Seeds solitary or several; seed-coat bony or crustaceous, furrowed or punctate; embryo axile in fleshy albumen; radicle short, superior.

Of this large family, widely distributed over the warm and temperate parts of the earth’s surface, four genera only have arborescent representatives in the United States. Citrus Aurantium L., the Bitter-sweet Orange, a native of Asia, has long been naturalized in the peninsula of Florida, where other species of this genus have escaped from cultivation and are now growing spontaneously.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Fruit of 1—5, 2-valved 1-seeded carpels; flowers diœcious or polygamous. 1. Xanthoxylum. Fruit of 3 or 4-winged indehiscent 1-seeded carpels; flowers perfect. 2. Helietta. Fruit a winged samara; flowers polygamous. 3. Ptelea. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe; flowers perfect or polygamous. 4. Amyris.

1. XANTHOXYLUM L.

Trees or shrubs, with acrid aromatic bark, pellucid aromatic-punctate fruit and foliage, scaly buds, and usually stipular spines. Leaves alternate, unequally or rarely equally pinnate; leaflets generally opposite, often oblique at the base, entire or crenulate. Flowers small, diœcious or polygamous, in axillary or terminal broad or contracted pedunculate cymes; calyx and petals hypogynous; disk small or obscure; stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them, hypogynous, effete, rudimentary or wanting in the female flower; filaments filiform or subulate; pistils 1—5, oblique, raised on the summit of a fleshy gynophore, connivent, sometimes slightly united below, rudimentary, simple or 2—5-parted in the sterile flower; ovaries 1-celled; styles short and slender, more or less united toward the summit; stigmas capitate; ovules collateral, pendulous from the inner angle of the cell. Fruit of 1—5 coriaceous or fleshy 1-seeded carpels, broad-obovoid, sessile or stipitate, ventrally dehiscent. Seed solitary oblong or globose, suspended on a slender funicle, often hanging from the carpel at maturity; seed-coat black, shining, conspicuously marked by the broad hilum; cotyledons oval or orbicular, foliaceous.

Xanthoxylum is widely distributed through tropical and extratropical regions and is most abundant in tropical America. It is represented in North America by one shrub and by four arborescent species of the southern states. The resin contained in the bark, especially in that of the roots, is a powerful stimulant and tonic occasionally used in medicine.

The generic name is from ξανθός and ξύλον.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Flowers in axillary contracted cymes; branches armed with stipular spines. 1. X. Fagara (D, E). Flowers in terminal cymes. Calyx-lobes and petals 5; leaves unequally pinnate. Leaves deciduous; branches armed with stout spines. 2. X. clava-Herculis (C). Leaves persistent; branches without spines. 3. X. flavum (D). Calyx-lobes and petals 3; leaves equally pinnate, persistent. 4. X. coriaceum (D).

1. Xanthoxylum Fagara Sarg. Wild Lime.

Fagara Fagara Small.

Leaves persistent, 3′—4′ long, with a broad-winged jointed petiole, and 7—9 obovate leaflets rounded or emarginate at apex, minutely crenulate-toothed above the middle, sessile, ½′ long or less, coriaceous, glandular-punctate, bright green and lustrous, with minute hooked deciduous stipular prickles. Flowers on short pedicels from the axils of minute ovate obtuse deciduous bracts, in short axillary contracted cymes, appearing singly or in pairs from April until June, on branches of the previous year, from minute dark brown globular buds, the staminate and pistillate flowers on different trees; sepals 4, membranaceous, much shorter than the 4 ovate yellow-green petals; stamens 4, with slender exserted filaments, 0 in the pistillate flower; pistils 2, with ovate sessile ovaries gradually contracted into long slender subulate exserted styles united near apex and crowned with obliquely spreading stigmas, rudimentary in the staminate flower. Fruit ripening in September, obovoid, rusty brown and rugose, ⅛′—¼′ long; seed dark and lustrous.

A tree, occasionally 25°—30° high, with a slender often inclining trunk, fastigiate branches, and more or less zigzag slender dark gray branchlets armed with sharp hooked stipular spines; more frequently a tall or low shrub. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, the smooth light gray surface broken into small appressed persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, brown tinged with red, with thin yellow sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Coast and islands of southern Florida, and Texas from Matagorda Bay to the Rio Grande and in San Saba, Bandera, and Brown Counties; one of the commonest of the south Florida plants, and arborescent on the rich hummock soil of Elliott’s Key and the shores of Bay Biscayne; in Texas generally shrubby; common in northern Mexico, and widely distributed through the Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central and South America to Brazil and Peru.

2. Xanthoxylum clava-Herculis L. Prickly Ash. Toothache-tree.

Fagara clava-Herculis Small.

Leaves 5′—8′ long, with a stout pubescent or glabrous spiny petiole, and 3—9 pairs of ovate or ovate-lanceolate sometimes slightly falcate subcoriaceous leaflets usually oblique at base, crenulate-serrate, sessile or short-stalked, 1′—2½′ long, green and lustrous above, paler and often somewhat pubescent below, especially when they unfold; persistent until late in the winter or until the appearance of the new leaves in the early spring. Flowers on slender pedicels ⅓′—¼′ long, from the axils of minute lanceolate deciduous bracts, in ample wide-branched cymes 4′—5′ long and 2′—3′ wide, appearing in very early spring, when the leaves are about half grown, the staminate and pistillate flowers on different individuals; sepals minute, membranaceous, persistent, barely one fourth the length of the oval green petals ⅛′—¼′ long; stamens 5, with slender filiform filaments, conspicuously exserted from the male flowers, rudimentary or wanting in the female flowers; pistils 3, rarely 2, with sessile ovaries and short styles crowned by a slightly 2-lobed stigma. Fruit ripening in May and June, in dense often nearly globose clusters; mature carpels obliquely ovoid, 1-seeded, chestnut-brown, ¼′ long, with a rugose or pitted surface; seeds hanging at maturity outside the carpels.

A round-headed tree, 25°—30°, or exceptionally 50° high, with a short trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, numerous branches spreading nearly at right angles, and stout branchlets covered when they first appear with brown pubescence, becoming glabrous and light gray in their second year, and marked by small glandular spots and by large elevated obcordate leaf-scars displaying a row of large fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and armed with stout straight or sometimes slightly curved sharp chestnut-brown spines ½′ or more long, with a flattened enlarged base; or often a low shrub. Winter-buds short, obtuse, dark brown or nearly black. Bark of the trunk barely 1/16′ thick, light gray, and roughened by corky tubercles, with ovoid dilated bases sometimes 1′ or more across and thick and rounded at apex. Wood light, soft, close-grained, and light brown, with yellow sapwood. The bark, which is collected in large quantities by negroes in the southern states, is used as a cure for toothache and in the treatment of rheumatism.

Distribution. Southeastern Virginia southward near the coast to the shores of Bay Biscayne and Bocagrande, Lee County, Florida, and westward through the Gulf states to northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas (near Arkadelphia, Clark County), and eastern Oklahoma, and through Texas to the valley of the Colorado River ranging northward to Tarrant and Dallas Counties; in the Atlantic states not abundant, and confined to the immediate neighborhood of the coast, growing in light sandy soil and often on the low bluffs of islands or on river banks; from the Gulf coast ranging farther inland, especially west of the Mississippi River; most abundant in eastern Texas, and of its largest size on the rich intervale lands of the streams flowing into the Trinity River. In western Texas a form occurs (var. fruticosum Gray), with short sometimes 3-foliolate more or less pubescent leaves, with small ovate or oblong blunt and conspicuous crenulate rather coriaceous leaflets; this is the common form of western Texas, growing usually as a low shrub.

3. Xanthoxylum flavum Vahl. Satinwood.

Fagara flava Kr. & Urb.

Leaves unequally pinnate, persistent, usually 6′—9′ long, with a stout glandular petiole enlarged at base, and usually 5, sometimes 3, or rarely 1 leaflet, unfolding in Florida during the month of June, and then densely covered with tomentum, and at maturity sparingly hairy on the petiole and on the midrib of the ovate-lanceolate or elliptic, obtuse, often slightly falcate leaflets, sometimes oblique at base, nearly sessile or long-stalked, 2′—3′ long, 1½′—2′ broad, entire or slightly crenulate, coriaceous, pale yellow-green and conspicuously marked by large pellucid glands. Flowers appearing in Florida in June, on a slender pubescent pedicel ¼′ or more long, in wide-spreading pubescent sessile cymes, the male and female on different trees; calyx-lobes 5, minute, acuminate, ciliate on the margins, barely one eighth of the length of the ovate greenish white petals reflexed when the flowers are fully expanded; stamens 5, with slender filaments much longer than the petals, 0 in the pistillate flower; pistils 2 or sometimes 1, with a stipitate obovate ovary and a short style with a spreading entire stigma, minute and depressed in the staminate flower. Fruit ripening in autumn and early winter and sometimes persistent until the spring of the following year; mature carpels obliquely obovoid, short-stalked, 1-seeded, pale chestnut-brown at maturity, about ⅓′ long, faintly marked by minute glands.

A round-headed tree, 30°—35° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, and stout brittle branchlets coated at first with thick silky pubescence, becoming light gray, rugose, conspicuously marked by large triangular leaf-scars, and puberulous during their second and third years. Winter-buds narrow-acuminate, ½′ long, coated with short thick pale tomentum. Bark of the trunk ¼′ thick, with a smooth light gray surface divided by shallow furrows and broken into numerous short appressed scales. Wood very heavy, exceedingly hard, brittle, not strong, light orange-colored, with thin rather lighter colored sapwood; occasionally used in southern Florida in the manufacture of furniture, for the handles of tools, and other objects of domestic use.

Distribution. Florida, on the Marquesas Keys and on South Bahia Honda and Boca Chica Keys; on Bermuda, the Bahama Islands, San Domingo, and Porto Rico.

4. Xanthoxylum coriaceum A. Richard.

Fagara coriacea Kr. & Urb.

Leaves equally pinnate, persistent, 2′—3′ long, with a stout grooved petiole, and 6—8 oblong-obovate stalked coriaceous dark yellow-green lustrous leaflets rounded or rarely emarginate at apex, 1′—1¾′ long and ⅝′—¾′ wide, with much-thickened revolute entire margins, a stout midrib, slender obscure spreading primary veins, and reticulate veinlets. Flowers yellow, appearing in March on short stout pedicels, in densely flowered terminal cymes; sepals 3, minute, united below, free above, much shorter than the 3 oval or obovate petals rounded at apex; stamens 3; filaments about as long as the petals; anthers ovoid or oval; ovary 3-celled, globose-ovoid; styles thick, 3 (teste Urban). Fruit: mature fruit not seen.

A glabrous tree, sometimes 18°—20° high, with a slender stem, and stout red-brown branches unarmed in Florida specimens, or in the West Indies furnished with short recurved spines; more often shrubby.

Distribution. Florida, shores of Bay Biscayne and near Fort Lauderdale, Dade County; rare; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.

2. HELIETTA Tul.

Trees or shrubs, with slender terete branchlets. Leaves opposite, long-petiolate, trifoliolate, persistent; leaflets sessile, obovate-oblong, obtuse, entire or crenate, subcoriaceous, grandular-punctate, the terminal the largest. Flowers regular, perfect, on slender bibracteolate pedicels, in terminal or axillary panicles; calyx 3 or 4-parted, the divisions imbricated in the bud, slightly united at base, persistent; petals 3 or 4, imbricated in the bud, hypogynous, oblong, concave, glandular-punctate, reflexed at maturity; stamens as many as the petals inserted under the disk; filaments shorter than the petals, slightly flattened, glabrous; anthers ovoid, cordate at base, attached on the back below the middle; disk free, cup-shaped, erect, subcorrugated, with a sinuate margin, 4-lobed, the lobes entire or crenate and opposite the petals; ovary minute, sessile, depressed, 3 or 4-lobed, glandular-verrucose or minutely pilose, the lateral lobes slightly compressed, 4-celled; styles united into a single slender column crowned by the globose 3—4-lobed stigma; ovules collateral, anatropous. Fruit obconic, composed of 3 or 4 dry woody 1-seeded indehiscent carpels with a cartilaginous endocarp and with a prominent horizontal wing, separating at maturity. Seed linear-oblong, seed-coat crustaceous, fragile, black; cotyledons straight, obtuse.

Helietta is distributed from the valley of the lower Rio Grande in Texas to Brazil and Paraguay. Four species are recognized, one species extending across the Rio Grande into western Texas.

The generic name is in honor of Lewis Théodore Hélie (1804—1867), a distinguished French physician.

1. Helietta parvifolia Benth.

Leaves 1½′—2′ long, with a stout slightly club-shaped petiole, at first puberulent, soon becoming glabrous, and oblong or narrow-obovate leaflets rounded or sometimes slightly emarginate at apex, gradually and regularly contracted at base, entire or slightly and remotely crenulate-serrate, yellow-green and lustrous above, paler below, conspicuously marked by black glandular dots, the terminal leaflet ½′—1½′ long, sometimes ½′ wide, and nearly twice as large as the others; persistent on the branches until early spring. Flowers appearing in April and May, on slender pedicels covered at first like the petioles and calyx with short dense pubescence, with minute acuminate early deciduous bracts, in dichotymously branched subsessile panicles on branchlets of the year from the axils of the upper leaves; petals 4, white, ovate, ⅛′ long, with scattered hairs on the outer surface, and thin scabrous margins, and four or five times longer than the 4 calyx-lobes; stamens 4; ovary 4-lobed, glandular-punctate like the slender style. Fruit ripening in October, oblong, ¼′—⅓′ long, with a rigid broad-ovate sometimes slightly falcate wing rounded at apex, ½′ long, and conspicuously reticulate-veined.

A slender tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, rather erect branches forming a small irregular head, and slender pale branchlets covered with minute wart-like excrescences, slightly puberulous when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, and marked during their second year by small inconspicuous leaf-scars; or a low shrub. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, covered with dark brown closely appressed scales separating in large irregular patches and leaving when they fall a smooth pale yellow surface. Wood hard, very heavy, close-grained, light orange-brown, with rather lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Often forming thickets of considerable extent and abundant near Rio Grande, Starr County, Texas; mesas south of the lower Rio Grande; of its largest size and tree-like in habit on the limestone ridges of the Sierra Madre of Nuevo Leon.

3. PTELEA L.

Small unarmed trees or shrubs, with smooth bitter bark, slender terete branchlets, without terminal buds, small depressed lateral buds covered with pale tomentum, and nearly inclosed by the narrow obcordate leaf-scars marked by the ends of 2 or 3 small fibro-vascular bundles, and thick fleshy acrid roots. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, without stipules, long-petiolate, usually trifoliolate, the leaflets conduplicate in the bud, ovate or oblong, entire or crenulate-serrate, punctate with pellucid dots. Flowers polygamous, on slender bracteolate pedicels, in terminal or compound cymes, greenish white; calyx 4 or 5-parted; petals 4 or 5, hypogynous; stamens 3 or 4, alternate with and as long as the petals, hypogynous, much shorter in the pistillate flower with imperfect or rudimentary anthers; filaments subulate, more or less pilose, especially toward the base; anthers ovoid or cordate; pistil raised on a short gynophore, abortive and nearly sessile in the staminate flower; ovary compressed, 2—3-celled; style short; stigma 2—3-lobed; ovules superposed, amphitropous, the upper ovule only fertilized. Fruit a 2 or 3-celled broad-winged indehiscent samara surrounded by a reticulate wing or rarely wingless. Seed oblong, acute at apex, rounded at base, ascending; seed-coat smooth or slightly wrinkled, coriaceous; cotyledons ovate-oblong.

Ptelea is confined to the United States and Mexico, where four or five species are known; of these one is a small tree. The bark and foliage of Ptelea is bitter and strong-scented and possesses tonic properties.

The generic name is from πτελέα, a classical name of the Elm-tree.

1. Ptelea trifoliata L. Hop-tree. Wafer Ash.

Leaves rarely 5-foliolate on vigorous shoots; leaflets sessile, ovate or oblong, pointed, the terminal leaflet generally larger and more gradually contracted at base than the others, entire or finely serrate, covered at first with short close pubescence, becoming glabrous and rather coriaceous at maturity, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, 4′—6′ long, 2½′—3′ wide, with a prominent midrib and primary veins; turning clear yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles stout, thickened at base, 2½′—3′ in length. Flowers appearing in early spring on slender pubescent pedicels 1′—1½′ long, the pistillate and staminate flowers produced together, the staminate usually less numerous and falling soon after the opening of the anther-cells; calyx and petals pubescent; ovary puberulous. Fruit with a thin almost orbicular sometimes slightly obovate wing, nearly 1′ across, on a long slender reflexed pedicel, in dense drooping clusters remaining on the branches through the winter; seeds ⅓′ long, dark red-brown.

A round-headed tree, rarely 20°—25° high, with a straight slender trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, small spreading or erect branches, and slender branchlets covered at first with short fine pubescence, becoming glabrous, dark brown and lustrous, and marked by wart-like excrescences and by the conspicuous leaf-scars; more often a low spreading shrub. Winter-buds depressed, nearly round, pale or almost white. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, yellow-brown, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood of 6—8 layers of annual growth. The bitter bark of the roots is sometimes used in the form of tinctures and fluid extracts as a tonic, and the fruit is occasionally employed domestically as a substitute for hops in brewing beer.

Distribution. Generally on rocky slopes near the borders of the forest, often in the shade of other trees; Long Island, New York, Pennsylvania, and westward through southwestern Ontario (Point Pelee) and southern Michigan to southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, and southward to Georgia, Alabama, eastern Louisiana and through Missouri and Arkansas to southeastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas. A form with leaflets soft-pubescent on the lower surface (var. mollis T. & G.) occurs in the south Atlantic states from North Carolina to Florida.

Often planted as an ornament of parks and gardens.

4. AMYRIS L.

Glabrous glandular-punctate trees or shrubs, with balsamic resinous juices. Leaves opposite or rarely opposite and alternate, 3-foliolate, without stipules, persistent; leaflets opposite, petiolulate, entire or crenate. Flowers white, minute, on slender bibracteolate pedicels, usually in 3-flowered corymbs in terminal or axillary branched panicles; calyx 4-toothed, persistent; petals 4, hypogynous, much larger than the calyx-lobes, spreading at maturity; disk of the staminate flower inconspicuous, that of the pistillate and perfect flowers thickened and pulvinate; stamens 8, hypogynous, opposite and alternate with the petals; filaments filiform, exserted; anthers ovoid, attached on the back below the middle; ovary ellipsoid or ovoid, 1-celled, rudimentary in the staminate flower; style short, terminal, or wanting; stigma capitate; ovules collateral, suspended near the apex of the ovary, anatropous. Fruit a globose or ovoid aromatic drupe; stone 1-seeded by abortion, chartaceous. Seed pendulous, without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous; cotyledons plano-convex, fleshy, glandular-punctate.

Amyris is confined to tropical America and northern Mexico. Of the twelve or fourteen species which have been distinguished two extend into the territory of the United States; one of these is a small West Indian tree common on the shores of southern Florida, and the other, Amyris parvifolia A. Gray, a Mexican shrub, grows in Texas near Corpus Christi, Neuces County, and near the mouth of the Rio Grande. Amyris is fragrant and yields a balsamic aromatic and stimulant resin, and heavy hard close-grained wood valuable as fuel and sometimes used in cabinet-making.

The generic name, from µύῤῥα, relates to the balsamic properties of the plants of this genus.

1. Amyris elemifera L. Torch Wood.

Leaves 3-foliolate, with slender petioles 1′—1½′ long, and broad-ovate or rounded obtuse acute or acuminate leaflets cuneate at base, or sometimes ovate-lanceolate or rhombic-lanceolate, entire or remotely crenulate, coriaceous, lustrous, dark yellow-green, conspicuously reticulate-veined, covered below with minute glandular dots, 1′—2½′ long, with slender petiolules, that of the terminal leaflet often 1′ or more long and twice as long as those of the lateral leaflets. Flowers in terminal pedunculate or nearly sessile panicles appearing in Florida from August to December. Fruit ripening in the spring, ovoid, often nearly ½′ long, black covered with a glaucous bloom, with thin flesh filled with an aromatic oil and of rather agreeable flavor.

A slender tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk sometimes, although rarely, a foot in diameter, and slender terete branchlets covered with wart-like excrescences, at first light brown, becoming gray during their second season. Bark of the trunk thin, gray-brown, slightly furrowed and broken into short appressed scales. Winter-buds acute, flattened, ⅛′ long, with broad-ovate scales slightly keeled on the back. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, very resinous, extremely durable, light orange color, with thin rather lighter colored sapwood of 12—15 layers of annual growth; often used as fuel.

Distribution. Florida, Mosquito Inlet, Volusia County, to the southern keys; common in the immediate neighborhood of the coast to the rich hummocks of the interior, and of its largest size on Umbrella Key; on the Bahama Islands and on many of the Antilles.

XXVII. SIMAROUBACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with bitter juice. Leaves alternate, pinnate, persistent, without stipules. Flowers regular, diœcious; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 5, imbricated in the bud, hypogynous; stamens 10, inserted under the disk; pistil of 5 united carpels; ovary 5-celled; ovule solitary in each cell, anatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit a drupe.

Of the thirty genera of this family, confined chiefly to the tropics and to the warmer parts of the northern hemisphere, three have arborescent representatives in the flora of North America. Ailanthus altissima Swing., the so-called Tree of Heaven, a native of northern China, has been largely planted as an ornament and shade tree in the eastern United States, and is now sparingly naturalized southward.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Fruit a drupe or berry. Ovary deeply 5-lobed; fruit drupaceous. 1. Simarouba. (D). Ovary not lobed; fruit baccate. 2. Picramnia. (D). Fruit a 3-winged samara. 3. Alvaradoa. (D).

1. SIMAROUBA Aubl.

Trees, with resinous juice and tonic properties. Leaves long-petiolate, abruptly pinnate; leaflets usually alternate, long-petiolulate, conduplicate in the bud, entire, coriaceous, glabrous or slightly puberulous below, feather-veined. Flowers in elongated widely branched axillary and terminal panicles; disk cup-shaped, depressed in the sterile flower, pubescent; stamens as long as the petals, in the pistillate flower reduced to minute scales; filaments free, filiform, thickened toward the base, inserted on the back of a minute ciliate scale; anthers oblong, slightly emarginate, introrse, attached on the back below the middle, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary sessile on the disk, deeply lobed, the lobes opposite the petals, rudimentary, lobulate, minute or wanting in the staminate flower; styles united into a short column, with a 3—5-lobed spreading stigma. Fruit composed of 1—5 sessile spreading drupes; flesh thin; stone crustaceous. Seeds inverse, without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous; cotyledons plano-convex, fleshy, the radicle very short, partly included between the cotyledons, superior.

Simarouba with four species is confined to tropical America, and is distributed from the coast of southern Florida to Brazil and Guatemala. The plants of this genus contain a small amount of resin, a volatile oil, and an exceedingly bitter principle, quasin, with tonic properties.

The generic name is formed from Simarouba, the Carib name of one of the species.

1. Simarouba glauca DC. Paradise-tree.

Leaves 6′—10′ long, glabrous, with a stout petiole 2′—3′ in length, and usually 6 pairs of opposite or alternate oblong-obovate or oval leaflets, rounded or slightly mucronate at apex, usually oblique at base, membranaceous and dark red when they first unfold, soon becoming coriaceous, dark green and very lustrous above, pale and glaucous below, 2′—3′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with revolute margins, a prominent midrib, remote conspicuous primary veins, and stout petiolules ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers appearing in early spring, ⅛′—¼′ long, on short stout club-shaped pedicels, in panicles 12′—18′ long, and 18′—24′ broad, with a stout pale glaucous stem and spreading branches from the axils of small acute scarious deciduous bracts; petals fleshy, oval, often acute, pale yellow, and four or five times as long as the glaucous calyx. Fruit nearly fully grown by the end of April and then bright scarlet, about 1′ long, ovoid, sometimes falcate, and slightly angled on the ventral suture, becoming dark purple when fully ripe; seeds papillose, orange-brown, about ¾′ long.

A round-headed tree, growing occasionally in Florida to the height of 50°, with a straight trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, slender spreading branches, and stout glabrous branchlets pale green when they first appear, becoming light brown before the end of the summer, rugose and conspicuously marked during their second season by the large oval leaf-scars. Bark of the trunk ½′—¾′ thick, light red-brown and broken on the surface into broad thick appressed scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thick rather darker colored sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, from Cape Canaveral and the shores of Bay Biscayne to the southern keys; in Cuba, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Brazil.

2. PICRAMNIA Sw.

Trees or shrubs, with bitter principles and slender terete branchlets. Leaves alternate, unequally pinnate, persistent, the leaflets subopposite to alternate, entire. Flowers diœcious, occasionally perfect, small, glomerate on long pendulous spikes or racemes opposite the leaves; calyx 3—5-parted, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 3—5, imbricated in the bud, rarely wanting; stamens 3—5, opposite the petals, inserted under the lobed depressed disk, in the pistillate flower reduced to linear scales or wanting; filaments naked; anthers 2-celled, introrse, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary inserted on the disk, 2 or 3-celled, rudimentary in the staminate flower; style 2 or 3-lobed, the lobes recurved and stigmatic on the inner surface, or crowned by a 2 or 3-lobed sessile stigma; ovules 2 in each cell, collateral, attached at the inner angle of the cell near its apex, anatropous; raphe narrow; micropyle superior. Fruit baccate, oblong to oblong-obovoid, 2 or by abortion 1-celled, the cells 1-seeded. Seeds filling the cavity of the cell, plano-convex, pendulous from the apex of the cell; hilum minute, apical, the raphe conspicuous; testa membranaceous, adherent to the exalbuminous undivided embryo; radicle superior, inconspicuous.

Picramnia, with about twenty species, is confined to the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World, one species extending into southern Florida. The bitter principle in the plants of this genus makes the bark of several of them useful in domestic remedies.

The generic name, from πικρός and θάµνος, is in reference to this bitter principle.

1. Picramnia pentandra Sw.

Leaves 8′—12′ long, 5—9-foliolate, with a slender rachis and petiole; leaflets ovate-oblong, abruptly acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, coriaceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, 1½′—2½′ long and ¾′—1′ wide, with thickened slightly revolute margins, a prominent midrib, slender primary veins and thin reticulate veinlets; petiolules stout, 1/12′—⅙′ long, that of the terminal leaflet often ¾′ in length. Flowers green on short slender pedicels, in slender pubescent racemes 6′—8′ in length; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes oblong-ovate, acuminate, coated on the outer surface with pale hairs; petals 5, acuminate, hirsute, narrower and longer than the calyx-lobes; stamens 5 in the pistillate flower; filaments slender, glabrous, exserted; anthers short-oblong, obtuse; stigma sessile, 2 or 3-lobed. Fruit red becoming nearly black when fully ripe, ⅓′—½′ in length, about ¼′ in diameter; seeds light brown and lustrous.

A slender tree in Florida, occasionally 18°—20° high, with a straight trunk 4′ or 5′ in diameter, and slender light yellow-green or pale brown branchlets slightly pubescent during their first season; more often a shrub. Bark thin, close, yellowish brown.

Distribution. Florida, shores of Bay Biscayne to the Everglade Keys, Dade County, and on the southern keys; on the Bahama Islands and several of the Antilles, and in Colombia.

3. ALVARADOA Liebm.

Trees or shrubs, with bitter juices and slender terete pubescent branchlets. Leaves alternate, crowded at the end of the branches, unequally pinnate, long-petiolate, many-foliolulate, persistent; leaflets alternate, entire; stipules and stipels none. Flowers in many-flowered axillary or terminal racemes. Fruit a 2 or 3-winged samara, 3-celled below the middle, 2-celled above, crowned with remnants of the styles. Seed erect, compressed; testa membranaceous; albumen none; embryo oblong-compressed; cotyledons flat; radicle inferior, very short.

An anomalous genus, by several authors doubtfully referred to Sapindaceæ, but chiefly on account of its bitter properties now placed in Simaroubaceæ. It consists of three species; of these the widely distributed Alvaradoa amorphoides Liebmann, the type of the genus, occurs in southern Florida. The other species appear to be confined to the islands of Jamaica and Cuba.

1. Alvaradoa amorphoides Liebm.

Leaves 4′—12′ long, with 21—41 leaflets and slender petioles; leaflets oblong-obovate, obtuse or occasionally minutely mucronate at apex, gradually narrowed below into a short slender pubescent petiolule, slightly thickened and revolute on the margins, dark green above, pale pubescent below, ½′—¾′ long, about ¼′ wide, with a slender midrib and obscure primary veins. Flowers regular, minute, diœcious, on slender accrescent pubescent pedicels from the axils of ovate minute deciduous bracts, in many-flowered hoary-tomentose racemes 3′—4½′ long, the pistillate accrescent, becoming 4′—8′ in length; calyx campanulate, 5-parted, the lobes ovate, acute, hoary-tomentose on the outer surface; disk 5-lobed; staminate flowers appearing sessile in the bud; their pedicels only slightly accrescent; petals filiform; filaments slender, elongated, slightly villose toward the base, inserted between the lobes of the disk and alternate with the calyx-lobes; anthers introrse, 2-celled, united except at apex, opening longitudinally by marginal slits, their connective orbicular, conspicuous; pistillate flowers on short accrescent pedicels; petals 0 or very rarely present; stamens 0; ovary compressed, unequally 3-angled, villose-hirsute on the margins, 3-celled at base, with two small compressed empty cells, the third larger with two anatropous ovules; styles 2, subulate or recurved, often of unequal length, stigmatic above the middle. Fruit lanceolate, acuminate, narrowly 2-winged, ciliate on the margins with long spreading hairs, slightly tinged with red, ¾′ in length and about two-thirds as long as its slender hairy pedicel; seeds acute at ends, pale yellow, ¼′ long.

A slender tree, in Florida occasionally 30° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, and slender branchlets hoary-pubescent during their first year becoming dull red-brown, glabrous and marked by numerous small pale lenticels and by the large obovate obcordate scars of fallen leaves showing the ends of three conspicuous equidistant fibro-vascular bundles; in Florida more often a shrub.

Distribution. Florida, Everglade Keys (Timbo Hummock near Gozman’s Homestead, Caldwell’s Hummock and Long Key), Dade County; in the Bahama Islands, and in Cuba, southern Mexico, Central America and Argentina.

XXVIII. BURSERACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with resinous bark and wood. Leaves alternate, pinnate, without stipules. Flowers perfect or polygamous, in clustered racemes or panicles; calyx 4—5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, persistent; petals 4—5, imbricated in the bud, distinct or slightly united, deciduous; stamens twice as many as the petals, inserted under the annular or cup-shaped disk; filaments distinct, subulate; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; pistil of 2—5 united carpels; ovary 2—5-celled; styles united; stigma 2—5-lobed; ovules 2 in each cell, pendulous, collateral, anatropous; micropyle superior; raphe ventral. Fruit drupaceous. Seeds without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous; embryo straight; cotyledons foliaceous; radicle short, superior.

Of the sixteen genera of this family, which is widely distributed through the tropics of the two hemispheres, one only, Bursera, occurs in the United States, reaching the shores of southern Florida with an arborescent species, and southern California and Arizona with another species.

1. BURSERA Jacq.

Trees, with balsamic resinous juices. Leaves unequally pinnate; leaflets opposite, petiolulate, entire or subserrate, thin, or coriaceous. Flowers polygamous, small, on fascicled or rarely solitary pedicels, in short or elongated lateral simple or branched panicles; calyx minute, membranaceous; petals inserted on the base of an annular crenate disk, reflexed at maturity above the middle; stamens inserted on the base of the disk; anthers oblong, attached on the back above the base, usually effete in the pistillate flower; ovary sessile, ovoid, 3-celled, rudimentary in the staminate flower; style short; stigma capitate, obtuse, 3-lobed; ovules suspended below the apex from the central angle. Fruit with a valvate epicarp, globose or oblong-oblique, indistinctly 3-angled; flesh coriaceo-carnose, 2—3-valved; nutlets 1—3, usually solitary, adnate to a persistent fleshy axis, 1-celled, 1-seeded, covered with a thin membranaceous coat. Seed ovoid, without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous; hilum ventral, below the apex; embryo straight; cotyledons contortuplicate.

Bursera with about forty species is confined to southern Florida, the Antilles, the southwestern United States and to Mexico, and Central and South America.

The generic name is in honor of Joachim Burser (1593—1649), a German botanist and physician.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Leaves 5—7 rarely 3-foliolate, their rachis and petiole without wings; staminate flowers in elongated many-flowered racemes. 1. B. Simaruba (D). Leaves usually 10—22-foliolate, their rachis and petiole wing-margined; staminate flowers in short, usually 3-flowered clusters. 2. B. microphylla (G, H).

1. Bursera Simaruba Sarg. Gumbo Limbo. West Indian Birch.

Leaves confined to the end of the branchlets, 6′—8′ long, 4′—8′ wide, with a long slender petiole, and usually 5, rarely 3 or 7 leaflets coriaceous at maturity, oblong-ovate, oblique at base, contracted at apex into a long or short point, 2½′—3′ long, 1½′—2′ broad, with stout petiolules often ½′ long; deciduous in early winter or occasionally persistent until the following spring. Flowers about 3/16′ in diameter, appearing before the leaves or as they unfold, on slender pedicels ⅓′—½′ long, in slender raceme-like panicles, those of the staminate plant 4′—5′ long or nearly twice as long as those of the pistillate plant; calyx-lobes and petals 5; petals ovate-lanceolate, acute, revolute on the margins, and nearly four times as long as the slender acute calyx-lobes; stamens of the staminate flower as long as the petals and in the pistillate flower not more than half as long, with smaller often effete anthers. Fruit in short raceme-like clusters, ¼′—⅓′ long, 3-angled, with a thick dark red outer coat, separating readily into 3 broad-ovate valves, and containing 1 or rarely 2 bony triangular nutlets rounded at base, pointed at apex, and covered with a thin membranaceous light pink coat; seeds 1 or 2, triangular, rose color.

A glabrous tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 2½°—3° in diameter, massive primary branches spreading nearly at right angles, and stout terete branchlets light gray during their first season, becoming during their second year reddish brown, covered with lenticular spots and conspicuously marked by large elevated obcordate yellow leaf-scars. Winter-buds short, rounded, obtuse, with broad-ovate dark red scales slightly scarious on the margins. Bark of the trunk and large branches 1′ thick, glandular dotted, separating freely into thin papery bright red-brown scales exposing in falling the dark red-brown or gray inner bark. Wood spongy, very light, exceedingly soft and weak, light brown, with thick sapwood, soon becoming discolored by decay. Pieces of the trunk and large branches set in the ground soon produce roots and grow rapidly into large trees. The aromatic resin obtained by incisions cut in the trunk was formerly used in the treatment of gout, and in the West Indies is manufactured into varnish. An infusion of the leaves is sometimes used in Florida as a substitute for tea.

Distribution. Florida, from Cape Canaveral to the southern keys, and on the west coast from Terra Ceia Island, Manatee County, Plagida, De Sota County, and Gasparilla Island southward; one of the largest and most common of the south Florida trees, and the only one which sheds its foliage during the autumn and winter; on most of the West Indian islands, in tropical Mexico, Guatemala, New Granada, and Venezuela.

2. Bursera microphylla A. Gray.

Leaves glabrous, deciduous, 1′—1¼′ long, with a slender narrowly winged rachis and petiole and usually 10—20 oblong or oblong-obovate leaflets rounded at apex, obliquely cuneate at base, sessile, about ¼′ long and 1/12′ wide. Flowers appearing in June before the leaves, ⅙′ long on slender pedicels from the axils of minute acuminate caducous bracts, in mostly 3-flowered clusters ¼′ in length; staminate, calyx-lobes ovate, acute; petals 5, lanceolate, acuminate, revolute on the margins, 3 or 4 times longer than the calyx-lobes, white; stamens shorter than the petals; pistillate flower not seen. Fruit ripening in October, ellipsoid or slightly obovoid, solitary, drooping on the thickened pedicel ⅕′ in length, 3-angled, ¼′ long, red, glabrous, splitting into three valves; nutlets usually ovoid, acute, narrow at base, thin walled, 3-angled, gray with a deep depression at base.

A tree, rarely 10°—12° high, with a short trunk 2½′—3′ in diameter, stout erect and spreading branches, forming a wide round-topped head, and slender glabrous red branchlets, roughened during their first year by the crowded scars of fallen leaves; more often a low shrub. Bark of the trunk pale yellow, separating into membranaceous scales, the outer layer thin and firm, the inner layer corky, reddish brown, ½′ thick. Wood hard, close-grained, pale yellow.

Distribution. Colorado Desert, between Fish Creek and Carriso Creek about twenty-five miles from the Mexican Boundary, on “banks of dry washes, in hard sterile soil covered with boulders” (E. H. Davis), Imperial County, California; near Maricopa, Pinal County, Arizona, and in Lower California and Sonora; reported as a tree only from California.

XXIX. MELIACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with hard wood and alternate pinnate leaves, without stipules. Flowers in panicles, perfect, regular; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes contorted (in Swietenia) in the bud, persistent; petals 5, convolute in the bud; stamens inserted at the base of the disk; filaments united into a tube; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 3—5-celled, free, surrounded at base by an annular or cup-shaped disk; styles united, dilated into a 5-lobed stigma; ovules numerous in each cell, suspended, semianatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit a capsule (in Swietenia) or drupe. Seeds often winged; embryo with leafy cotyledons.

A family with about forty genera chiefly confined to the tropics, with a single representative, Swietenia, in southern Florida. Melia Azedarach L., of this family, the China-tree or Pride of India, with drupaceous fruits, has long been cultivated in the southern states, where it now often grows spontaneously.

1. SWIETENIA Jacq.

Trees, with heavy dark red wood. Leaves abruptly pinnate, glabrous, long-petiolate, persistent; leaflets opposite, petiolulate, usually oblique at base. Flowers small, in axillary or subterminal panicles produced near the end of the branches; calyx minute; petals spreading; staminal tube urn-shaped, connate with the petals, 10-lobed, the lobes convolute in the bud; anthers 10, fixed by the back below the sinuses of the staminal tube, included; ovary ovoid, 5-celled, the cells opposite the petals; style erect, longer than the tube of the stamens; stigma discoid, 5-rayed. Fruit a 5-celled 5-valved capsule septicidally dehiscent from the base, the valves separating from a persistent 5-angled axis thickened toward the apex and 5-winged toward the base. Seeds suspended from near the summit of the axis, imbricated in 2 ranks, compressed, emarginate, produced above into a long membranaceous wing with the hilum at its apex and transversed by the raphe; embryo transverse; cotyledons conferruminate with each other and with the thin fleshy albumen; radicle short, papillæform.

Swietenia with five species is confined to tropical America from southern Florida where one species occurs, to Venezuela, western and southwestern Mexico, and the east coast of Central America.

The generic name is in honor of Baron von Swieten (1700—1772), the distinguished Dutch physician, founder of the Botanic Garden and of the Medical School at Vienna.

1. Swietenia mahagoni Jacq. Mahogany.

Leaves 4′—6′ long, with a slender glabrous petiole thickened at base and 3 or 4 pairs of ovate-lanceolate leaflets rounded at base on the upper side, narrow-cuneate or nearly straight on the lower side, entire, coriaceous, pale yellow-green or slightly rufous on the under surface, 3′—4′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a prominent reddish brown midrib, conspicuous reticulate veins, and a stout grooved petiolule ¼′ long. Flowers appearing in July and August on slender puberulous pedicels, bibracteolate near the middle, 1 or 2 together at the end of the branches of slender panicles in the axils of leaves of the year; calyx glabrous, cup-shaped, much shorter than the ovate elliptic petals ⅛′ long and slightly emarginate at apex. Fruit ripening in the autumn or early winter, long-stalked, ovoid, rounded at apex narrowed at base, 4′—5′ long and 2½′ broad, with thick dark brown valves rugose and pitted on the surface, its axis obovoid 3′ or 4′ long, 1′—1½′ thick, dark red-brown, marked near the apex by the dark scars left by the falling seeds; seeds ¾′ long, almost square, thickened at base and nearly one fourth as long as their ovate rugose red-brown wings rounded or truncate at apex and gradually contracted below.

A tree, in Florida rarely more than 40°—50° high or with a trunk exceeding 2° in diameter, and slender glabrous angled branchlets covered during their first season with pale red-brown bark, becoming lighter or gray faintly tinged with red and thickly covered with lenticels during their second year; much larger in the West Indies. Winter-buds about ⅛′ long, with broad-ovate minutely apiculate loosely imbricated light red scales. Bark of the trunk in Florida ½′—⅔′ thick, with a dark red-brown surface broken into short broad rather thick scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard and strong, close-grained, very durable, rich red-brown, becoming darker with age and exposure, with thin yellow sapwood of about 20 layers of annual growth; the most esteemed of all woods for cabinet-making, and also largely used in the interior finish of houses and railroad cars, and formerly in ship and boat-building. The bark is bitter and astringent and has been used as a substitute for quinine in the treatment of intermittent fevers.

Distribution. Florida, hummocks, shores of Bay Biscayne on the Everglade Keys and near Flamingo on White Water Bay, Dade County, on Elliotts Key, Key Largo and Upper Matacombe Key; rare and now nearly exterminated except in the region of Cape Sable; on the Bahama and many of the West Indian islands.

XXX. EUPHORBIACEÆ.

Trees, shrubs, or herbs, with acrid juice, and alternate stipular leaves. Flowers monœcious or diœcious; calyx 3—6-lobed or parted, the divisions imbricated in the bud, or wanting; corolla 0; stamens 2 or 3, or as many or twice as many as the calyx-lobes; anthers 2-celled, opening longitudinally; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell, suspended, anatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit a drupe or capsule. Seeds albuminous; cotyledons flat, much longer than the superior radicle.

The Euphorbia family, widely distributed over tropical and temperate regions, with some one hundred and thirty genera and over three thousand species, is represented in the United States by three arborescent genera, with only five species, and by many shrubby herbaceous and annual plants.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Fruit drupaceous. Nutlets usually 1-celled and 1-seeded; stamens as many or twice as many as the calyx-lobes, free. 1. Drypetes. Nutlets 6—8-celled and 6—8-seeded; stamens 2 or 3, united into a column. 2. Hippomane. Fruit a 3-lobed capsule splitting into three 2-valved 1-seeded carpels.

1. DRYPETES Vahl.

Trees or shrubs, with thick juice, and terete branchlets. Leaves involute in the bud, petiolate, penniveined, coriaceous, persistent; stipules minute, caducous. Flowers axillary, sessile or pedicellate, their pedicels from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, ebracteolate, the males in many-flowered clusters, the females solitary or in few-flowered clusters; calyx divided nearly to the base into 4 or 5 lobes rounded or acute at apex, deciduous or persistent under the fruit; stamens inserted under the margin of a flat or concave slightly lobed disk, 0 in the pistillate flower; filaments filiform; anthers ovoid, emarginate, attached on the back near the base, extrorse or introrse, 2-celled, the cells affixed to a broad oblong connective; ovary sessile, ovoid, 1 or rarely 2-celled, with 1 or 2 sessile or subsessile peltate or reniform stigmas, rudimentary or wanting in the staminate flower; ovules collateral, descending, attached to the central angle of the cell, operculate, with a hood-like body developed from the placenta. Fruit drupaceous, ovoid or subglobose, tipped with the withered remnants of the stigmas; flesh thick and corky or thin and crustaceous; stone thick or thin, bony or crustaceous, 1-celled and 1-seeded, or rarely 2-celled and 2-seeded. Seed filling the cavity of the nut; seed-coat crustaceous or membranaceous; embryo erect in thin fleshy albumen.

Drypetes is confined to the tropical regions of the New World, and is distributed from southern Florida through the West Indies to eastern Brazil. Of the eleven species now distinguished, two inhabit the coast-region of southern Florida.

The generic name, from δρύππα, relates to the character of the fruit.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Calyx 5-lobed; stamens 8; ovary 1-celled; fruit oblong, ivory-white; outer coat thick and mealy; stone thick-walled. 1. D. diversifolia (D). Calyx 4-lobed; stamens 4; ovary 2-celled; fruit subglobose, bright red; outer coat thin, crustaceous; stone thin-walled. 2. D. lateriflora (D).

1. Drypetes diversifolia Krug & Urb. White Wood.

Drypetes keyensis Krug & Urb.

Leaves appearing in early spring and falling during their second year, entire, oval or oblong, often more or less falcate, acute, acuminate, rounded or rarely emarginate at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, on young plants often spinose-dentate, when they unfold thin and membranaceous, light green or green tinged with red and pilose with scattered pale hairs, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green and lustrous, rather paler on the lower surface than on the upper surface, 3′—5′ long and 1′—2′ wide, with a broad thick pale midrib raised and rounded on the upper side and obscure primary veins arcuate and united near the thick revolute cartilaginous margins and connected by conspicuous coarsely reticulated veinlets; petioles stout, yellow, grooved above, ½′ long; stipules nearly triangular, rather less than 1/16′ long, caducous. Flowers on pedicels rather shorter than the petioles, opening in early spring from the axils of leaves of the previous year, the staminate in many-flowered clusters, the pistillate usually solitary or occasionally in 2—3-flowered clusters; calyx yellow-green, hirsute on the outer surface, 1/16′ long, and divided nearly to the base into 5 ovate acute boat-shaped lobes deciduous from the fruit; stamens about 8, inserted on the borders of the slightly lobed pulvinate concave disk; filaments unequal in length, rather longer than the calyx-lobes and a little longer than the broad-ovoid emarginate pilose extrorse anthers, with broad ovate acute connectives; ovary sessile, hirsute, 1-celled, crowned with a broad sessile slightly stalked oblique pulvinate stigma, wanting in the staminate flower. Fruit ripening in the autumn, deciduous at maturity from its stout erect stalk much enlarged at apex and ⅓′ long, ovoid, 1′ long, ivory-white, with thick dry mealy flesh closely investing the light brown stone narrowed at base into a long point, with bony walls ⅛′ thick and penetrated longitudinally by large fibro-vascular bundle-channels; seed oblong, rounded at the ends, nearly ½′ long, covered with a thin membranaceous light brown coat marked by conspicuous veins radiating from the small hilum.

A tree, occasionally 30°—40° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, stout usually erect branches forming an oblong round-topped head, and stout branchlets light green tinged with red and covered with pale scattered caducous hairs when they first appear, becoming ashy gray and roughened by numerous elevated circular pale lenticels and later by the large prominent orbicular leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 conspicuous fibro-vascular bundles. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, partly immersed in the bark and coated with brown resin. Bark of the trunk about ½′ thick, smooth, milky white and often marked by large irregular gray or pale brown patches. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, brittle, close-grained, and brown streaked with bright yellow, with thick yellow-brown sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, Flamingo near Cape Sable (C. T. Simpson), Cocoanut Grove (Miss O. Rodham), Dade County, on Key West, Key Largo, Elliotts, Lower Metacombe and Umbrella Keys. One of the rarest of the tropical trees of Florida; on the Bahamas.

2. Drypetes lateriflora Urb. Guiana Plum.

Leaves appearing in Florida in early spring and falling during their second year, oblong, acute or acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed at base, and entire, when they unfold thin and covered with scattered pale hairs, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous, 3′—4′ long and ½′—1½′ wide, with a conspicuous light-colored midrib, rounded above, and pale obscure primary veins arcuate and united near the slightly thickened revolute margins and connected by slender reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, grooved, ¼′ in length. Flowers on pedicels shorter than the petioles, opening late in the autumn or in early winter on branches one or two years old, in the axils of leaves or from leafless nodes, in many or few-flowered clusters; calyx greenish white, hirsute on the outer surface, divided to the base into 4 ovate rounded lobes, persistent under the fruit; stamens 4, inserted under the margin and between the lobes of the flat tomentose disk; filaments slender, exserted; anthers introrse, emarginate, pilose, wanting in the pistillate flower; ovary ovoid, tomentose, 2-celled, with 2 nearly sessile oblique spreading cushion-like stigmas. Fruit ripening during the spring and early summer, subglobose, ⅓′ in diameter, tipped with the conspicuous blackened remnants of the stigmas, bright red, covered with soft pubescence, solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3, deciduous at maturity from its stout stalk enlarged at apex and ¼′ long; flesh thin and crustaceous, closely investing the thin-walled crustaceous stone; seed usually solitary by abortion, obovoid, gibbous, ⅛′ long, narrowed below, narrowed and marked at apex by the elevated pale hilum and on the inner surface of the seed-coat by the broad conspicuous raphe.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a short trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, small erect branches, and slender branchlets, light green tinged with red when they first appear, becoming in their first winter ashy gray and marked by scattered pale lenticels, and at the end of their second year by the small elevated oval leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 fibro-vascular bundles. Winter-buds minute, acute or obtuse, chestnut-brown, and covered with pale hairs. Bark of the trunk about 1/16′ thick, light brown tinged with red, the generally smooth surface separating into small irregular scales. Wood heavy, hard, brittle, close-grained, rich dark brown, with thick yellow sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, shores of Bay Biscayne, Dade County, and on many of the southern keys; common on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

2. HIPPOMANE L.

A glabrous tree, with thick acrid juice, scaly bark, and stout pithy branchlets marked by circular raised lenticels, and oblong or semiorbicular horizontal elevated leaf-scars displaying a row of obscure fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and nearly encircled at the nodes by ring-like scars left by the falling of the stipules. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, covered by many loosely imbricated long-pointed chestnut-brown scales. Leaves alternate, involute in the bud, tardily deciduous, broad-ovate, rounded and abruptly narrowed at apex into a broad point terminating in a slender mucro, rounded or subcordate at base, remotely crenulate-serrate with minute gland-tipped teeth, penniveined, long-petiolate, at first pilose with occasional long pale hairs, soon becoming glabrous, and at maturity thick and coriaceous, dark yellow-green and lustrous above, paler and dull below, with a stout light yellow midrib raised and rounded on the upper side, and slender primary veins remote, arcuate, and united at some distance from the margins and connected by conspicuous coarsely reticulate veinlets more prominent on the upper than on the lower side; their petioles elongated, slender, rigid, light yellow, rounded below, obscurely grooved above, marked at the apex by large orbicular dark red glands; stipules ovate-lanceolate, abruptly narrowed from a broad base, slightly laciniate near the apex, membranaceous, light chestnut-brown, caducous. Inflorescence terminal, spicate, appearing in early spring usually before the unfolding leaves, the stout fleshy rachis often bearing at the base acute sterile deciduous bracts, or 1 or 2 small leaves, the minute pistillate flowers solitary in their axils or in the axils of ovate acute lanceolate bracts furnished with 2 lateral glandular bractlets; staminate flowers minute, articulate on slender pedicels clustered in 8—15-flowered fascicles in the axils of simple bracts higher on the rachis and extending to its apex; calyx usually 3-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, that of the staminate flower yellow-green, membranaceous, divided below into 3 or sometimes into 2 acute lobes; calyx of the pistillate flower, ovoid, yellow-green, divided nearly to the base into 3 ovate acute concave divisions rounded on the back; stamens 2 or often 3, exserted, more or less connate by their filaments into a stout column, free and spreading at apex; anthers ovoid, light yellow, surmounted by the short prolonged connective, attached on the back below the middle, erect, extrorse; ovary 6—8-celled, narrowed at base, gradually contracted above into a short simple cylindric style separating into 6—8 long radiating flattened abruptly reflexed lobes stigmatic on the inner face; ovule solitary in each cell. Fruit drupaceous, pome-shaped, obscurely 6—8-lobed, raised on a thickened woody stem; skin thin, light yellow-green or yellow and red; flesh thick, lactescent, adherent to the thick-walled rugose deeply winged 6—8-celled, 6—8-seeded subglobose stone flattened at the ends, the cells divided throughout by thin dark radial plates, ultimately separable, penetrated near the summit by oblique canals filled by the funicles of the seeds. Seeds oblong-ovoid, marked by a minute slightly elevated hilum and on the ventral face by an obscure raphe; seed-coat membranaceous, separable into 2 layers, the outer dark, the inner thinner, light brown; embryo surrounded by thick fleshy albumen.

The genus is represented by a single species abounding in exceedingly poisonous caustic sap which produces cutaneous eruptions and when taken internally destroys the mucous membrane; formerly employed by the Caribs to poison arrows.

The generic name is from ἵππος and µανία, and was first used by the Greeks to distinguish some plant with properties excitant to horses.

1. Hippomane Mancinella L. Manchineel.

Leaves 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, unfolding in early spring and persistent in Florida until the spring of the following year; petioles 2½′—4′ in length. Flowers opening in March before the leaves of the year; rachis of the inflorescence 4′—6′ long, dark purple, more or less covered with a glaucous bloom. Fruit ripening in the autumn or early winter and often persistent on the branches until after the appearance of the flowers of the following year, 1′—1½′ in diameter, light yellow-green, with a bright red cheek; seeds about ¼′ long.

A tree, in Florida rarely more than 12°—15° high, with a short trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, long spreading pendulous branches forming a handsome round-topped head; in the West Indies often 50°—60° tall, with a trunk occasionally 3° in diameter. Bark of the trunk ¼′—½′ thick, dark brown and broken on the surface into small thick appressed irregularly shaped scales; in the West Indies sometimes smooth, light gray or nearly white. Wood light and soft, close-grained, dark brown, with thick light brown or yellow sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, sandy beaches and dry knolls in the immediate neighborhood of the ocean, shores of White Water Bay and on many of the southern keys; on the Bahama Islands, through the Antilles to the northern countries of South America, and to southern Mexico and the eastern and western coasts of Central America.

3. GYMNANTHES Sw.

Glabrous trees or shrubs, with milky juice and slender terete branchlets. Leaves conduplicate in the bud, petiolate, entire or crenulate-serrate, coriaceous, penniveined, persistent; stipules membranaceous, minute, caducous. Flowers monœcious or rarely diœcious; inflorescence buds covered with closely imbricated chestnut-brown scales, lengthening in anthesis, bearing in the upper axils numerous 3-branched clusters of staminate flowers, their branches furnished with minute ovate bracts, and in the lower axils 2 or 3 long-stalked pistillate flowers; calyx of the staminate flower minute or 0; stamens 2 or rarely 3; filaments filiform, inserted on the slightly enlarged torus, free or slightly connate at base; anthers attached on the back below the middle, erect, ovoid, 2-celled, the cells parallel; calyx of the pistillate flower reduced to 3 bract-like scales; ovary ovoid, 3-celled, narrowed into 3 recurved styles free or slightly united at base, stigmatic on their inner face; ovule solitary in each cell. Fruit a 3-lobed capsule separating from the persistent axis into three 2-valved 1-seeded carpels dehiscent on the dorsal suture and partly dehiscent on the ventral suture. Seed ovoid or subglobose, strophiolate; seed-coat crustaceous; embryo erect in fleshy albumen.

Gymnanthes with about ten species is confined to the tropics of the New World and is distributed from southern Florida, where one species occurs, through the West Indies to Mexico and Brazil.

The generic name, from γυµνός and ἄνθος, relates to the structure of the naked flowers.

1. Gymnanthes lucida Sw. Crab Wood.

Leaves oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, obscurely and remotely crenulate-serrate or often entire, when they unfold thin and membranaceous, deeply tinged with red, and glandular on the teeth with minute caducous dark glands, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface and pale and dull on the lower surface, 2′—3′ long, ⅔′—1½′ wide, with a broad pale midrib raised and rounded on the upper side, obscure primary veins arcuate and united near the margins and connected by prominent coarsely reticulate veinlets; appearing in Florida in early spring and remaining on the branches through their second summer; petioles broad, slightly grooved, about ¼′ in length; stipules ovate, acute, light brown, clothed on the margins with long pale hairs, about 1/16′ long. Flowers: inflorescence buds appearing in Florida late in the autumn in the axils of leaves of the year and beginning to lengthen in spring, the inflorescence becoming 1½′—2′ long, with a slender glabrous angled rachis, the scales broad-ovate, pointed, concave, rounded and thickened at apex, puberulous and ciliate on the margins, those inclosing the male flowers connate with the flowers and persistent under the calyx, those subtending the female flowers at the base of the inflorescence and not raised on their peduncle. Fruit produced in Florida sparingly, ripening in the autumn, slightly obovoid, dark reddish brown or nearly black, ⅓′ in diameter, covered with thin dry flesh, and pendent on a slender stem 1′ or more in length; seeds ovoid.

A tree, occasionally 20°—30° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter and often irregularly ridged, the rounded ridges spreading near the surface of the ground into broad buttresses, slender erect branches forming a narrow open oblong head, and slender upright branchlets light green more or less deeply shaded with red when they first appear, becoming in their first winter light gray-brown faintly tinged with red and roughened by numerous oblong pale lenticels, ultimately ashy gray and marked at the end of their second year by the semiorbicular elevated leaf-scars displaying the ends of 4 fibro-vascular bundle-scars superposed in pairs. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, covered with chestnut-brown scales, about 1/16′ long. Bark of the trunk dark red-brown, about 1/16′ thick, separating into large thin scales, in falling displaying the light brown inner bark. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, rich dark brown streaked with yellow, with thick bright yellow sapwood; in Florida occasionally manufactured into canes, and used as fuel.

Distribution. Florida, common in low woods from the shores of Bay Biscayne to the Everglade Keys, Dade County, and on many of the southern keys to those of the Marquesas group; on the Bahama Islands, and on many of the Antilles.

XXXI. ANACARDIACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with terete pithy branchlets, resinous juice, and alternate simple or pinnate leaves, without stipules, and scaly or naked buds. Flowers regular, minute, diœcious, polygamo-diœcious, or polygamo-monœcious; calyx-lobes and petals 5, imbricated in the bud or 0; stamens as many as the petals and alternate and inserted with them on the margin or under an hypogynous annular fleshy slightly 5-lobed disk; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 1-celled; styles 1—3; ovule solitary, suspended from the apex of a slender funicle rising from the base of the cell, anatropous; micropyle superior; styles 3, united or spreading; stigmas terminal. Fruit drupaceous. Seed without albumen; seed-coat thin and membranaceous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons flat, accumbent on the short radicle.

The Sumach family with some sixty genera is mostly confined to the warmer parts of the earth’s surface and contains the Mango, Pistacia, and other important trees. In the flora of the United States four genera have arborescent representatives.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Flowers without petals, and in the species of the United States, without a calyx. 1. Pistacia. Flowers with a calyx and petals. Flowers usually diœcious by abortion; styles lateral, spreading; pedicels of the abortive flowers becoming long and plumose at maturity; fruit compressed, very oblique; leaves simple, deciduous. 2. Cotinus. Flowers mostly diœcious; styles terminal, short, united; stigma 3-lobed; fruit ovoid, glabrous; leaves unequally pinnate, persistent. 3. Metopium. Flowers polygamo-diœcious or polygamo-monœcious; styles terminal, spreading; fruit usually globose, naked or clothed with acrid hairs; leaves unequally pinnate, trifoliolate or rarely simple, deciduous or rarely persistent. 4. Rhus.

1. PISTACIA L.

Balsamic trees or shrubs. Leaves 3-foliolate or equally or unequally pinnate, petiolate, deciduous or persistent. Flowers small, diœcious, subtended by a bract and 2 branchlets, short pedicellate in panicles or racemes; calyx 1 or 2-lobed or in the pistillate flower 3—5-lobed, or 0; petals 0, stamens 3—5, 0 in the pistillate flower; filaments short, their base connate with the disk; anthers large; ovary subglobose or short-ovoid, rudimentary or 0 in the staminate flower; style 3-lobed, shorter than the 3 obovate-oblong or oblong stigmas. Drupe ovoid, oblique, compressed; exocarpa thin; the stone bony, 1-seeded; seed compressed; cotyledons thick plano-convex.

Pistacia with eight or nine species is confined to the valley of the lower Rio Grande, southern Mexico; the Canary Islands, the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean, and northern and central China, with one species growing on the northern banks of the Rio Grande in Texas.

The Pistacio-nuts of commerce, the green or yellow seeds of P. vera L. are largely used in confectionery, and some of the species are valued for the decoration of parks and gardens.

Pistacia from πιστ and ἄκεοµαι, in reference to the healing properties of its resinous exudations.

1. Pistacia texana Swing.

Leaves persistent or tardily deciduous, 9—19-foliolate, with a slightly winged rachis pubescent above and a flattened narrow-winged petiole ½′—¾′ in length; leaflets spatulate, rounded and often mucronate at apex, gradually narrowed below into a deltoid or subcuneiform base, entire, more or less curved and unequilateral, wine-red when they unfold, and at maturity thin, dark green and sparingly pubescent along the midrib above, pale and glabrous below, nearly sessile or the terminal leaflet raised on a short petiolule, 5/12′—¾′ long and about ¼′ wide, with a slender midrib often near one side of the leaflet and reticulate veinlets. Flowers small, without a calyx, appearing just before or with the new leaves, in simple nearly glabrous panicles, their bracts and bractlets ciliate on the margins and wine-red at apex; staminate flowers more crowded than the pistillate, in compact panicles ¾′—1½′ long; anthers reddish yellow or wine color; pistillate flowers in loose panicles 1½′—2½′ in length; ovary ovoid or subglobose, two of the three styles with 2-lobed stigmas, the third with a 3-lobed stigma. Fruit oval, dark reddish brown and slightly glaucescent, about ¼′ long and ⅙′ broad, usually striate.

A small tree, occasionally 30° high with a short trunk 15′—18′ in diameter, with stout erect and spreading branches forming a head sometimes 30°—35° across, and slender slightly pubescent reddish branchlets becoming grayish brown by the end of their first year; more often a large shrub with numerous stout stems.

Distribution. Texas, limestone cliffs and the rocky bottoms of cañons periodically swept by floods, and in deep narrow ravines, along the lower Pecos River and in the neighborhood of its mouth, Valverde County; and in northeastern Mexico.

2. COTINUS L.

Small trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, small acute winter-buds, with numerous imbricated scales, fleshy roots, and strong-smelling juice. Leaves simple, petiolate, oval, obovate-oblong or nearly orbicular, glabrous or more or less pilose-pubescent, deciduous. Flowers regular, diœcious by abortion or rarely polygamo-diœcious, greenish yellow, on slender pedicels accrescent after the flowering period, mostly abortive and then becoming conspicuously tomentose-villose at maturity, in ample loose terminal or lateral pyramidal or thyrsoidal panicles, the branches from the axils of linear acute or spatulate deciduous bracts; calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, persistent; disk coherent with the base of the calyx and surrounding the base of the ovary; petals oblong, acute, twice as long as the calyx, inserted under the free margin of the disk opposite its lobes, deciduous; stamens shorter than the petals, usually rudimentary or wanting in the pistillate flower; ovary sessile, obovoid, compressed, rudimentary in the staminate flower; styles 3, short and spreading from the lateral apex of the ovary; stigmas large, obtuse. Fruit oblong-oblique, compressed, glabrous, conspicuously reticulate-veined, light red-brown, bearing on the side near the middle the remnants of the persistent styles, the outer coat thin and dry; stone thick and bony.

Cotinus is widely distributed through southern Europe and the Himalayas to central China with a single species, and is represented in the southern United States by one species.

The Old World Cotinus coggygria Scop., the Smoke-tree of gardens, is often cultivated in the United States.

The generic name is from Κότινος, the classical name of a tree with red wood.

1. Cotinus americanus Nutt. Chittam Wood.

Leaves oval or obovate, rounded or sometimes slightly emarginate at apex, gradually contracted at base, and entire, with slightly wavy revolute margins, when they unfold light purple and covered below with fine silky white hairs, and at maturity dark green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, and puberulous along the under side of the broad midrib and primary veins, 4′—6′ long and 2′—3′ wide; turning in the autumn brilliant shades of orange and scarlet; petioles stout, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers appearing late in April or early in May on pedicels ½′—¾′ long, and usually collected 3 or 4 together in loose umbels near the end of the principal branches of puberulous terminal slender long-branched few-flowered panicles 5′—6′ long and 2½′—3′ broad, the staminate and pistillate flowers on different individuals. Fruit produced very sparingly, about ⅛′ long, on stems 2′—3′ in length; the sterile pedicels becoming 1½′—2′ long at maturity and covered with short not very abundant rather inconspicuous pale purple or brown hairs; seed kidney-shaped, pale brown, about 1/16′ long.

A tree, 25°—35° high, with a straight trunk occasionally 12′—14′ in diameter, usually dividing 12°—14° from the ground into several erect stems separating into wide-spreading often slightly pendulous branches, and slender branchlets purple when they first appear, soon becoming green, bright red-brown and covered with small white lenticels and marked by large prominent leaf-scars during their first winter, and dark orange-colored in their second year. Winter-buds ⅛′ long, and covered with thin dark red-brown scales. Bark of the trunk ⅛′ thick, light gray, furrowed, and broken on the surface into thin oblong scales. Wood light, soft, rather coarse-grained, bright clear rich orange color, with thin nearly white sapwood; largely used locally for fence-posts and very durable in contact with the soil; yielding a clear orange-colored dye.

Distribution. Banks of the Ohio River, Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky (E. J. Palmer); on the Cheat Mountains, eastern Tennessee; near Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama; valley of White River in Stone and Taney Counties, southern Missouri; near Cotter, Baxter County, and Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma; valleys of the upper Guadalupe and Medina Rivers, western Texas; usually only in small isolated groves or thickets scattered along the sides of rocky ravines or dry slopes; very abundant as a small shrub and spreading over many thousand acres of the mountain cañons, and high hillsides in the neighborhood of Spanish Pass, Kendall County, Texas.

Occasionally cultivated in the eastern United States and rarely in Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

3. METOPIUM P. Br.

Trees or shrubs, with naked buds, fleshy roots, and milky exceedingly caustic juice. Leaves unequally pinnate, persistent; leaflets coriaceous, lustrous, long-petiolulate. Flowers diœcious, yellow-green, on short stout pedicels, in narrow erect axillary clusters at the ends of the branches, with minute acute deciduous bracts and bractlets, the males and females on different trees; calyx-lobes semiorbicular, about half as long as the ovate obtuse petals; stamens 5, inserted under the margin of the disk; filaments shorter than the anthers, minute and rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary ovoid, sessile, minute in the staminate flower; style terminal, short, undivided; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit ovoid, compressed, smooth and glabrous, crowned with the remnants of the style; outer coat thick and resinous; stone crustaceous. Seed nearly quadrangular, compressed; seed-coat smooth, dark brown and opaque, the broad funicle covering its margin.

Metopium with two species is confined to southern Florida and the West Indies.

The generic name, from ὄπος, was the classical name of an African tree now unknown.

1. Metopium toxiferum Kr. & Urb. Poison Wood. Hog Gum.

Metopium Metopium Small.

Leaves clustered near the end of the branches, 9′—10′ long, with stout petioles swollen and enlarged at base, and 5—7 leaflets, or often 3-foliolate; unfolding in March and persistent until the following spring; leaflets ovate, rounded or usually contracted toward the acute or sometimes slightly emarginate apex, rounded or sometimes cordate or cuneate at base, 3′—4′ long, 2′—3′ broad, with thickened slightly revolute margins, a prominent midrib, primary veins spreading at right angles, and numerous reticulate veinlets; petiolules stout, ½′—1′ long, that of the terminal leaflet often twice as long as the others. Flowers about ⅛′ in diameter, in clusters as long or rather longer than the leaves; petals yellow-green, marked on the inner surface by dark longitudinal lines; stamens rather shorter than the petals. Fruit ripening in November and December, pendent in long graceful clusters, orange-colored, rather lustrous, ¾′ in length; seed about ¼′ long.

A tree, frequently 35°—40° high, with a short trunk sometimes 2° in diameter, stout spreading often pendulous branches forming a low broad head, and reddish brown branchlets marked by prominent leaf-scars and numerous orange-colored lenticels. Winter-buds ⅓′—½′ in length, with acuminate scales ciliate on the margin with rufous hairs. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, light reddish brown tinged with orange, often marked by dark spots caused by the exuding of the resinous gum, and separating into large thin plate-like scales displaying the bright orange color of the inner bark. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, rich dark brown streaked with red, with thick light brown or yellow sapwood of 25—30 layers of annual growth. The resinous gum obtained from incisions made in the bark is emetic, purgative, and diuretic.

Distribution. Florida, shores of Bay Biscayne, on the Everglade Keys, and on Coot Bay in the rear of Cape Sable, Dade County, and on the southern keys; very abundant; in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and Honduras.

4. RHUS L.

Trees or shrubs, with pithy branchlets, fleshy roots, and milky sometimes caustic or watery juice. Leaves unequally pinnate, or rarely simple. Flowers mostly diœcious, rarely polygamous, white or greenish white, in more or less compound axillary or terminal panicles, the staminate and pistillate usually produced on separate plants; calyx-lobes united at base only, generally persistent; disk surrounding the base of the free ovary, coherent with the base of the calyx; petals longer than the calyx-lobes, inserted under the margin of the disk, opposite its lobes, deciduous; stamens 5, inserted on the margin of the disk alternate with the petals; filaments longer than the anthers; ovary ovoid or subglobose, sessile; styles 3, terminal, free or slightly connate at base, rising from the centre of the ovary. Fruit usually globose, smooth or covered with hairs; outer coat thin and dry, more or less resinous; stone crustaceous or bony. Seed ovoid or reniform, commonly transverse; cotyledons foliaceous, generally transverse; radicle long, uncinate, laterally accumbent.

Rhus is widely distributed, with more than one hundred species, in the extra-tropical regions of the northern and southern hemispheres. In North America the genus is widely and generally distributed from Canada to southern Mexico and from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific Ocean, with sixteen or seventeen species within the territory of the United States. Of these, four obtain the habit of small trees. The acrid poisonous juice of Rhus vernicifera DC., of China, furnishes the black varnish used in China and Japan in the manufacture of lacquer, and other species are valued for the tannin contained in their leaves or for the wax obtained from their fruit.

The name of the genus is from Ῥοῦς, the classical name of the European Sumach.

CONSPECTUS OF NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Flowers in terminal thyrsoid panicles; fruit globular, clothed with acrid hairs; leaves unequally pinnate, deciduous; Sumachs. Branches and leaf-stalks densely velvety hairy; leaflets 11—31, pale on the lower surface; fruit covered with long hairs; buds inclosed in the enlarged base of the petioles; juice milky. 1. R. typhina (A, C). Branches and leaf-stalks pubescent; rachis winged; leaflets 9—21, green on the lower surface; fruit pilose; buds not inclosed by the petioles; juice watery. 2. R. copallina (A, C). Flowers in axillary slender panicles; fruit glabrous, white; leaves unequally pinnate, deciduous; leaflets 7—13. 3. R. vernix (A, C). Flowers in short compact terminal panicled racemes; fruit pubescent; leaves ovate, entire or serrate, simple or rarely trifoliolate, persistent. 4. R. integrifolia (G).

1. Rhus typhina L. Staghorn Sumach.

Rhus hirta Sudw.

Leaves 16′—24′ long, with a stout petiole usually red on the upper side and covered with soft pale hairs, enlarged at base and surrounding and inclosing the bud developed in its axil, and 11—31 oblong often falcate rather remotely and sharply serrate or rarely laciniate long-pointed nearly sessile or short-stalked leaflets rounded or slightly heart-shaped at base, covered above like the petiole and young shoots when they first appear with red caducous hairs, bright yellow-green until half grown, and at maturity dark green and rather opaque on the upper surface, pale or often nearly white on the lower surface, glabrous with the exception of the short fine hairs on the under side of the stout midrib, and primary veins forked near the margins, opposite, or the lower leaflets slightly alternate, those of the 3 or 4 middle pairs considerably longer than those at the ends of the leaf, 2′—5′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide; turning in the autumn before falling bright scarlet with shades of crimson, purple, and orange. Flowers opening gradually and in succession in early summer, the pistillate a week or ten days later than the staminate, on slender pedicels from the axils of small acute pubescent bracts, in dense panicles, with a pubescent stem and branchlets, and acuminate bracts ½′ to nearly 2′ long and deciduous with the opening of the flowers; panicle of the staminate flowers 8′—12′ long and 5′—6′ broad, with wide-spreading branches and nearly one third larger than the more compact panicle of the pistillate plant; calyx-lobes acute, covered on the outer surface with long slender hairs, much shorter than the petals in the staminate flower, and almost as long in the pistillate flower; petals of the staminate flower yellow-green sometimes tinged with red, strap-shaped, rounded at apex, becoming reflexed above the middle at maturity; petals of the pistillate flower green, narrow and acuminate, with a thickened and slightly hooded apex, remaining erect; disk bright red and conspicuous; stamens slightly exserted, with slender filaments and large bright orange-colored anthers; ovary ovoid, pubescent, the 3 short styles slightly connate at base, with large capitate stigmas, in the staminate flower glabrous, much smaller, unusually rudimentary. Fruit fully grown and colored in August and ripening late in the autumn in dense panicles 6′—8′ long and 2′—3′ wide, depressed-globose, with a thin outer covering clothed with long acrid crimson hairs and a small pale brown bony stone; seed slightly reniform, orange-brown.

A tree, occasionally 35°—40° high, with copious white viscid juice turning black on exposure, a slender often slightly inclining trunk occasionally 12′—14′ in diameter, stout upright often contorted branches forming a low flat open head, and thick branchlets covered with long soft brown hairs gathered also in tufts in the axils of the leaflets, becoming glabrous after their third or fourth year, and in their second season marked by large narrow leaf-scars and by small orange-colored lenticels enlarging vertically and persistent for several years; more frequently a tall shrub, spreading by underground shoots into broad thickets. Winter-buds conic, thickly coated with long silky pale brown hairs, about ¼′ long. Bark of the trunk thin, dark brown, generally smooth, and occasionally separating into small square scales. Wood light, brittle, soft, coarse-grained, orange-colored, streaked with green, with thick nearly white sapwood. From the young shoots pipes are made for drawing the sap of the Sugar Maple. The bark, especially that of the roots, and the leaves are rich in tannin. A form with narrow deeply divided leaflets (f. dissecta Rehdr.) occasionally occurs.

Distribution. Usually on uplands in good soil, or less commonly on sterile gravelly banks and on the borders of streams and swamps, New Brunswick and through the valley of the St. Lawrence River to southern Ontario and westward to eastern North Dakota and eastern and northeastern Iowa, and southward through the northern states and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia and Mississippi; more abundant on the Atlantic seaboard than in the region west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the United States, and very commonly in central and northern Europe.

× Rhus hybrida Rehdr. a hybrid of R. typhina and R. glabra L. has been found in Massachusetts.

2. Rhus copallina L. Sumach.

Leaves 6′—8′ long, with a slender pubescent petiole and rachis more or less broadly wing-margined between the leaflets, the wings increasing in width toward the apex of the leaf, and 9—21 oblong or ovate-lanceolate leaflets entire or remotely serrate above the middle, sharp-pointed or rarely emarginate at apex, acute or obtuse and often unequal at base, those of the lower pairs short-petiolulate and smaller than those above the middle of the leaf, the others sessile with the exception of the terminal leaflet sometimes contracted into a long winged stalk, when they unfold dark green and slightly puberulous above, especially along the midrib, and covered below with fine silvery white pubescence, at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, pale and pubescent below, 1½′—2½′ long and about ¾′ wide, with slightly thickened revolute margins, a prominent midrib and primary veins; turning in the autumn before falling dark rich maroon color on the upper surface. Flowers appearing from June in the south to August in the north, those of the staminate plant opening in succession during nearly a month and continuing to unfold long after the petals of the pistillate plant have fallen, on stout pubescent pedicels ⅛′—¼′ long, in short compact pubescent panicles, the lower branches from the axils of the upper leaves, 4′—6′ long, 3′—4′ broad, and usually smaller on the female than on the male plant, their bracts and bractlets ovate or oblong, densely cinereo-pilose, deciduous before the expansion of the flowers; calyx puberulous on the outer surface, with ovate acute lobes one third as long as the ovate greenish yellow petals rounded at apex, becoming reflexed above the middle; disk red and conspicuous; stamens somewhat longer than the petals, with slender filaments and large orange-colored anthers, in the pistillate flower much shorter than the petals, with minute rudimentary anthers; ovary ovoid, pubescent, glabrous, much smaller in the staminate flower. Fruit ripening in five or six weeks and borne in stout compact often nodding pubescent clusters sometimes persistent on the branches until the beginning of the following summer, ⅛′ across, slightly obovoid, more or less flattened, with a thin bright red coat covered with short fine glandular hairs, and a smooth bony orange-brown stone; seed reniform, smooth, orange-colored, with a broad funicle.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with colorless watery juice, a short stout trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, erect spreading branches, and branchlets at first dark green tinged with red and more or less densely clothed with short fine or sometimes ferrugineous pubescence, appearing slightly zigzag at the end of their first season from the swellings formed by the prominent leaf-scars, and then pale reddish brown, slightly puberulous and marked by conspicuous dark-colored lenticels; or at the north usually a low shrub rarely more than 4°—5° tall. Winter-buds minute, nearly globose, and covered with dark rusty brown tomentum. Bark of the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and marked by large elevated dark red-brown circular excrescences, and separating into large thin papery scales. Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, light brown streaked with green and often tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth. The leaves are rich in tannin and are gathered in large quantities and ground for curing leather and for dyeing.

Distribution. Dry hillsides and ridges; widely and generally distributed from northern New England to southern Florida, and to southeastern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas and the valley of the San Antonio River, Texas; in Cuba; in the United States arborescent only southward; at the north rarely more than a few feet high and spreading by underground stems on gravelly sterile soil into broad thickets; varying considerably in the size and form of the leaflets. The most distinct and probably the most constant of these varieties is var. lanceolata A. Gray, a small tree growing on the prairies of eastern Texas to the valley of the Rio Grande and to southeastern New Mexico, often forming thickets on river bluffs or on the banks of small streams, and distinguished by its narrow acute often falcate leaflets and by its larger inflorescence and fruit. A tree sometimes 25°—30° high, with a trunk occasionally 8′ in diameter, covered by dark gray bark marked by lenticular excrescences. The flowers appear in July and August and the dull red or sometimes green fruit ripens in early autumn and falls before the beginning of winter.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the eastern United States, and in western and northern Europe.

3. Rhus vernix L. Poison Dogwood. Poison Sumach.

Leaves 7′—14′ long, with a slender usually light red or red and green petiole, and 7—13 obovate-oblong entire leaflets slightly unequal at base and narrowed at the acute or rounded apex, bright orange color and coated, especially on the margins and under surface, with fine pubescence when they unfold, soon becoming glabrous, and at maturity 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, with a prominent midrib scarlet above, primary veins forked near the margins, conspicuous reticulate veinlets, and revolute margins; turning early in the autumn before falling to brilliant shades of scarlet or orange and scarlet. Flowers about ⅛′ long, appearing in early summer on slender pubescent pedicels bibracteolate near the middle, in long narrow axillary pubescent panicles crowded near the end of the branches, with acute pubescent early deciduous bracts and bractlets; calyx-lobes acute, one third the length of the yellow-green acute petals erect and slightly reflexed toward the apex; stamens nearly twice as long as the petals, with slender filaments and large orange-colored anthers, in the fertile flower not more than half the length of the petals, with small rudimentary anthers; ovary ovoid-globose, with short thick spreading styles terminating in large capitate stigmas. Fruit ripening in September and often persistent on the branches until the following spring, in long graceful racemes, ovoid, acute, often flattened and slightly gibbous, tipped with the dark remnants of the styles, glabrous, striate, ivory-white or white tinged with yellow, very lustrous, and about ½′ long; stone conspicuously grooved, the wall thin, membranaceous; seed pale yellow.

A tree, with acrid poisonous juice turning black on exposure, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, slender rather pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets reddish brown and covered with minute orange-colored lenticels when they first appear, orange-brown at the end of their first season, becoming light gray and marked by large elevated conspicuous leaf-scars; more often a shrub, with several slender clustered stems. Winter-buds acute and covered with dark purple scales puberulous on the back, and ciliate on the margins with short pale hairs, the terminal ⅛′—¾′ long and two or three times larger than the axillary buds. Bark of the trunk thin, light gray, smooth or sometimes slightly striate. Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, light yellow streaked with brown, with lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Wet swamps often inundated during a portion of the year; northern New England to northern Florida and southern Alabama, and westward to Ontario and southeastern Minnesota, western Louisiana and the valley of the Neches River (San Augustine County) eastern Texas; common and one of the most dangerous plants of the North American flora. An infusion of the young branches and leaves is employed in homœopathic practice, and the juice can be used as a black lustrous durable varnish.

4. Rhus integrifolia B. & H. Mahogany.

Leaves simple or very rarely 3-foliolate, persistent, acute or rounded at apex, with thickened revolute, or spinosely toothed margins (var. serrata Engler), puberulous when young, and at maturity 1½′—3′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, thick and coriaceous, dark yellow-green above, paler below, and glabrous with the exception of the stout petiole, broad thick midrib, and prominent reticulate veins. Flowers appearing from February to April, ¼′ in diameter when expanded, on short stout pedicels, with 2—4 broad-ovate pointed persistent scarious ciliate pubescent bractlets, in short dense racemes forming hoary-pubescent terminal panicles 1′—3′ in length; sepals rose-colored, orbicular, concave, ciliate on the margins, rather less than half the length of the rounded ciliate reflexed rose-colored petals; stamens as long as the petals, with slender filaments and pale anthers, minute and rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary broad-ovoid, pubescent, with 3 short thick connate styles and very large 3-lobed capitate stigmas, rudimentary in the staminate flower. Fruit ½′ long, ovoid, flattened, more or less gibbous, thick, dark red, densely pubescent; stone kidney-shaped, smooth, light chestnut-brown, with thick walls; seed flattened, pale, with a broad dark-colored funicle covering its side.

A tree, rarely 30° high, with a short stout trunk 2°—3° in diameter, numerous spreading branches, and stout branchlets covered when they first appear with thick pale pubescence disappearing in their second and third years, and bright reddish brown and marked by numerous small elevated lenticels; or usually a small often almost prostrate shrub. Winter-buds small, obtuse, covered with a thick coat of pale tomentum. Bark of the trunk ¼′—½′ thick, bright reddish brown, exfoliating in large plate-like scales. Wood hard, heavy, bright clear red, with thin pale sapwood of 8—10 layers of annual growth; valued and largely used as fuel. The fruit is occasionally employed in the preparation of a cooling beverage.

Distribution. Sandy sterile soil along sea beaches, and bluffs in the immediate vicinity of the ocean; neighborhood of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California, to the shores of Magdalena Bay, Lower California, and on the Santa Barbara and Cedros islands; on the mainland usually shrubby, forming close impenetrable thickets; in more sheltered situations and on the islands becoming arborescent; probably of its largest size on the shores of Todos Santos Bay, Lower California.

XXXII. CYRILLACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with small scaly buds and watery juice. Leaves alternate, entire, subcoriaceous, without stipules, persistent or tardily deciduous. Flowers small, regular, perfect, on slender bibracteolate pedicels, in terminal or axillary racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed, persistent, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 5—8, hypogynous; stamens 5—10, hypogynous, those opposite the petals shorter than the others; anthers oblong, introrse, 2-celled, the cells laterally dehiscent, opening longitudinally; ovary 2—4-celled; ovules suspended, anatropous; raphe dorsal; micropyle superior. Fruit an indehiscent capsule. Seed suspended; seed-coat membranaceous; albumen fleshy, radicle superior.

A family confined to the warmer parts of America, with three genera, of which two are represented by small trees in the southern states.

CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Flowers in axillary racemes; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5 contorted in the bud; fruit without wings, 2-celled, with 2 seeds in each cell. 1. Cyrilla. Flowers in terminal racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed; petals 5—8 imbricated in the bud; fruit with 2—4 wings, 3 or rarely 4-celled, with 1 seed in each cell. 2. Cliftonia.

1. CYRILLA L.

A glabrous tree or shrub, with spongy bark, slender terete branchlets conspicuously marked by large leaf-scars, and narrow acute winter-buds covered with chestnut-brown scales. Leaves usually clustered near the end of the branches, oblong or oblong-obovate, pointed, rounded, or slightly emarginate at apex, conspicuously reticulate-veined, short-petiolate. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of narrow alternate persistent bracts, in slender racemes from the axils of fallen leaves or of small deciduous bracts near the end of the branches of the previous year; calyx minute, divided nearly to the base into 5 ovate-lanceolate acute coriaceous lobes; petals 5, contorted in the bud, white or rose color, inserted on an annular disk, three or four times longer than the calyx-lobes, oblong-lanceolate, acute, concave, subcoriaceous, furnished below the middle on the inner surface with a broad glandular nectary; stamens 5, opposite the divisions of the calyx, inserted with and shorter than the petals; filaments subulate, fleshy; anther-cells united above the point of attachment, free below; ovary ovoid, free, sessile, pointed, 2-celled; styles short, thick; stigma 2-lobed, with spreading lobes; ovules 3 in each cell, suspended from an elongated placental process developed from the apex of the cell. Fruit 2-celled, broad-ovoid, crowned with the remnants of the persistent style; pericarp spongy. Seeds 2 in each cell, elongated, acuminate; embryo minute, cylindric, 2-lobed.

Cyrilla is represented by a single species of the coast region of the south Atlantic and Gulf states and of the Antilles and eastern tropical South America.

The name commemorates the scientific labors of Dominico Cirillo (1734—1799), the distinguished Italian naturalist and patriot.

1. Cyrilla racemiflora L. Ironwood. Leather Wood.

Leaves 2′—3′ long and ¼′—1′ wide, with a stout petiole ⅛′—1′ in length; turning late in the autumn and early winter to brilliant shades of orange and scarlet and then deciduous, or southward persistent with little change of color until the beginning of the following summer. Flowers appearing late in June or early in July, in racemes usually 6—10 together and 4′—6′ long, at first erect, becoming pendulous before the fruit ripens. Fruit ripening in August and September, rarely more than 1/16′ long; seeds light brown.

A slender tree, occasionally 30°—35° high, with a stout often eccentric trunk 10′—14′ in diameter, dividing several feet above the ground into numerous wide-spreading branches, and slender branchlets bright brown during their first season and ultimately ashy gray; often a broad bush sending up many slender stems 15°—20° high. Winter-buds about ⅛′ long. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ½′ thick except near the base of old trees, and covered by large thin bright red-brown scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, not strong, brown tinged with red, with rather lighter colored sapwood. The spongy bark at the base of the trunk is pliable, absorbent, and astringent, and has been recommended as a styptic.

Distribution. Rich shaded river-bottoms, the borders of sandy swamps and shallow ponds of the coast Pine-belt, or on high sandy exposed ridges rising above streams near the Gulf coast; southeastern Virginia southward near the coast to northern Florida and westward along the Gulf coast to the valley of the Neches River, Texas; in Lake County, Florida, and ranging northward in Mississippi to Forrest County (near Hattiesburg, T. G. Harbison), and in Alabama to Dallas County; in swamps near the coast of western Florida often a low shrub with smaller leaves and shorter racemes (var. parviflora Sarg.); in Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, Demarara, and Brazil (var. racemifera Sarg.).

2. CLIFTONIA Gærtn. f.

A glabrous tree or shrub, with thick dark brown scaly bark, slender terete branchlets marked by conspicuous leaf-scars, and small acuminate buds covered by chestnut-brown scales. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, glandular-punctate, short-petiolate, persistent. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of large acuminate membranaceous alternate bracts deciduous before the opening of the flowers, in short terminal erect racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed, equal or unequal, broad-ovoid, rounded or acuminate at apex, much shorter than the 5—8 obovate unguiculate concave white or rose-colored sepals; stamens 10, opposite and alternate with the sepals, inserted with and shorter than the petals, 2-ranked, those of the outer rank longer than the others; filaments laterally enlarged near the middle, flattened below, subulate above; disk cup-shaped, surrounding the base of the oblong 2—4-winged 2—4-celled ovary; stigma subsessile, obscurely 2—4-lobed; ovules 2 in each cell, suspended from its apex. Fruit oblong, 2—4-winged, crowned with the remnants of the persistent style, 3 or rarely 4-celled; pericarp spongy, the wings thin and membranaceous. Seed 1 in each cell, terete, tapering to the ends, suspended; cotyledons very short.

Cliftonia is represented by a single species of the south Atlantic and Gulf states.

The generic name is in honor of Dr. Francis Clifton (d. 1736), an English physician.

1. Cliftonia monophylla Britt. Titi. Ironwood.

Leaves 1½′—2′ long, ½′—1′ wide, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface; persistent until the autumn of their second year. Flowers fragrant, appearing in February and March, in racemes at first nodding, and conspicuous from the long exserted dark red-brown caducous bracts, becoming erect as the flowers open. Fruit about ¼′ long, ripening in August and September; seeds 1/16′—⅛′ long, light brown.

A tree, occasionally 40°—50° high, with a stout often crooked or inclining trunk, occasionally 15′—18′ in diameter, and usually divided 12°—15° from the ground into a number of stout ascending branches, and slender rigid bright red-brown branchlets, becoming paler during their second and third seasons; or sometimes a shrub, with numerous straggling stout or slender stems frequently only a few feet high or occasionally 30°—40° high. Winter-buds about ¼′ long. Bark of young stems and of large branches thin, the surface separating into small persistent scales 1′—2′ long, becoming near the base of old trees deeply furrowed, dark red-brown, ¼′ thick, and broken on the surface into short broad scales. Wood heavy, close-grained, moderately hard, brittle, not strong, brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; burning with a clear bright flame, and valued as fuel.

Distribution. Damp sandy peat soil in swamps almost submerged for several months of the year, or often in shallow rarely overflowed swamps; coast region of the south Atlantic states from the valley of the Savannah River to the coast of western Florida, and through the maritime Pine-belt of the Gulf coast to eastern Louisiana.

XXXIII. AQUIFOLIACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, scaly buds, and alternate simple entire crenate or pungently toothed petiolate persistent or deciduous leaves, with minute stipules. Flowers axillary, solitary or cymose, small, greenish white, diœcious; calyx 4—6-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, hypogynous; petals 4—6, oval or oblong, obtuse, free or united at base, imbricated in the bud; disk 0; stamens as many as and alternate with the petals and adnate to the base of the corolla; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally, small and sterile in the pistillate flower; pistil compound; ovary 4—8-celled, minute and rudimentary in the staminate flower; style short or 0; stigmas as many as the cells of the ovary, nearly confluent; ovule generally solitary in each cell, suspended, anatropous; raphe usually dorsal, the micropyle superior. Fruit a drupe, with as many indehiscent bony or crustaceous 1-seeded nutlets as carpels; sarcocarp thin and fleshy. Seed narrowed at the ends, suspended; seed-coat membranaceous, pale brown; embryo minute in the apex of the copious fleshy albumen; cotyledons plain; the radicle superior.

The Holly family with five genera is distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the two hemispheres. Of the five genera now recognized, only Ilex is important in the number of species or is widely distributed.

1. ILEX L.

Characters of the family.

Ilex with about one hundred and seventy-five species is found in all tropical and temperate regions of the world with the exception of western North America, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and New Guinea, the largest number of species occurring in Brazil and Guiana. Of the thirteen species which inhabit eastern North America, six are trees. Ilex contains a bitter principle, ilicin, and possesses tonic properties. Ilex paraguariensis St. Hilaire, of South America, furnishes the maté or Paraguay tea, and is the most useful of the species. The European Ilex Aquifolium L. is a favorite garden plant, and is sometimes planted in the middle, southern, and Pacific United States.

Ilex is the classical name of the Evergreen Oak of southern Europe.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Parts of the flower in 4’s; pedicels with bractlets at the base; nutlets prominently ribbed on the back and sides; leaves persistent. Leaves armed with spiny teeth; young branchlets glabrous or sparingly pubescent. 1. I. opaca (A, C). Leaves serrate or entire; fruit bright red. Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-obovate, mostly entire; young branchlets pubescent; calyx-lobes acuminate. 2. I. Cassine (C). Leaves elliptic or oblong-elliptic, coarsely crenulate-serrate; young branchlets puberulous; calyx-lobes obtuse. 3. I. vomitoria (C). Leaves entire, ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate; fruit brownish purple. 4. I. Krugiana (D). Parts of the flower in 4’s or 5’s, rarely in 6’s; pedicels without bractlets; nutlets striate, many-ribbed on the back; leaves deciduous. Leaves oblong-spatulate or obovate-lanceolate, remotely crenulate-serrate; calyx-lobes broad-triangular. 5. I. decidua (A, C). Leaves ovate or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate; calyx-lobes acute. 6. I. monticola (A).

1. Ilex opaca Ait. Holly.

Leaves elliptic to obovate-oblong, pungently acute, with thickened undulate margins and few stout spinose teeth, or occasionally entire, especially on upper branches, thick, coriaceous, dull yellow-green, paler and often yellow on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long, with a prominent midrib and conspicuous veins; persistent on the branches for three years, finally deciduous in the spring; petioles short, stout, thickened at base, grooved above, slightly puberulent; stipules minute, broad-acute or nearly deltoid, persistent. Flowers appearing in spring on slender puberulous pedicels, with minute acute bractlets, in short pedunculate cymes from the axils of young leaves or scattered along the base of the young shoots, 3—9-flowered on the staminate and 1 or rarely 2 or 3-flowered on the pistillate plant; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate on the margins; stigmas broad and sessile. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, persistent on the branches during the winter, spherical or ovoid, dull red or rarely yellow, ¼′ in diameter; nutlets prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides, rather narrower at apex than at base.

A tree, often 40°—50° and occasionally 80°—100° high, with a trunk 2°, 3°, or exceptionally 4° in diameter, short slender branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and stout branchlets covered when they first appear with fine rufous pubescence disappearing during their first season, and becoming glabrous and pale brown. Winter-buds obtuse or acuminate, ⅛′—¼′ long, with narrow acuminate ciliate scales. Bark about ½′ thick, light gray and roughened by wart-like excrescences. Wood light, tough, not strong, close-grained, nearly white when first cut, turning brown with age and exposure, with thick rather lighter colored sapwood; valued and much used in cabinet-making, in the interior finish of houses, and in turnery. The branches are used in large quantities for Christmas decoration.

Distribution. Coast of Massachusetts, in the city of Quincy, Norfolk County, southward generally near the coast to the shores of Mosquito Inlet and Charlotte Harbor, Florida; valley of the Mississippi River from southern Indiana and Illinois, to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and through Missouri, Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and Louisiana to the valley of Cibolo Creek (Southerland Springs, Wilson County), Texas; rare and of small size east of the Hudson River and rare in the Appalachian Mountain region and the country immediately west of it; most abundant and of its largest size on the bottom-lands of the streams of northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas and eastern Texas; at the north in dry rather gravelly soil often on the margins of Oak-woods, southward on the borders of swampy river-bottoms, in rich humid soil.

Occasionally cultivated in the eastern states as an ornamental plant.

2. Ilex Cassine L. Dahoon.

Leaves oblanceolate to oblong-obovate, acute, mucronate or rarely rounded and occasionally emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, revolute and entire, or sometimes serrate above the middle with sharp mucronate teeth, puberulous above and densely pubescent below when they first unfold, becoming glabrous at maturity with the exception of scattered hairs on the lower surface of the broad midrib, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, 1½′—3′ long and ½′—1′ wide; petioles short, stout, thickened at the base, sparingly villose. Flowers on hairy pedicels, with acute scarious bractlets, in pedunculate clusters, 3—9-flowered on the staminate plant, usually 3-flowered on the pistillate plant sometimes nearly 1′ long, from the axils of leaves of the year or occasionally of the previous year; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, persistent until the following spring, globose, sometimes ¼′ in diameter, bright or occasionally dull red or nearly yellow, solitary or often in clusters of 3’s; nutlets prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides; rounded at base, acute at apex.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, and branches coated at first with dense silky pubescence persistent until the end of the second or third year, ultimately dark brown and marked by occasional lenticels; or often a low shrub. Winter-buds minute, acute, with lanceolate scales thickly coated with pale silky pubescence. Bark of the trunk about 1/16′ thick, dark gray, thickly covered and roughened by lenticels. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, pale brown, with thick nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Cold swamps and on their borders, in rich moist soil, or occasionally on the high sandy banks of Pine-barren streams; southeastern Virginia southward in the immediate neighborhood of the coast to the shores of Bay Biscayne and the Everglade Keys, Dade County, and in the interior of the peninsular in Polk and De Soto Counties, Florida, and along the Gulf coast to western Louisiana; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba (var. latifolia Ait.); nowhere abundant on the Atlantic coast; most common in western Florida and southern Alabama; passing through forms with elongated narrow leaves (var. angustifolia Ait., the common form of southern Alabama) into the variety myrtifolia Sarg. This is a low shrub or occasionally a slender wide-branched tree, with pale nearly white bark, puberulous branchlets, and crowded generally entire mucronate leaves ½′—1′ long, ⅛′ wide, with strongly reflexed margins, a very short petiole, and a broad prominent midrib; an inhabitant of Cypress-swamps and Pine-barren ponds or their margins, in the neighborhood of the coast, North Carolina to Louisiana.

Ilex Cassine is occasionally cultivated in Europe.

3. Ilex vomitoria Ait. Cassena. Yaupon.

Leaves elliptic to elliptic-oblong, obtuse, coarsely and remotely crenulate-serrate, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, pale and opaque below, 1′—2′ long and ¼′—1′ wide, persistent for two or three years, generally falling just before the appearance of the new growth of their third season; petioles short, broad, and grooved. Flowers on slender club-shaped glabrous pedicels, with minute bractlets at the base, in short glabrous cymes on branchlets of the previous year, those of the staminate plant short-stemmed and many-flowered, those of the pistillate plant sessile and 1 or 2-flowered; calyx-lobes rounded, obtuse, often slightly ciliate; ovary contracted below the broad flat stigma. Fruit produced in great abundance, on stems not more than ¼′ long, ripening late in the autumn or in early winter, soon deciduous, or persistent until spring, scarlet, nearly globose, about ¼′ in diameter; nutlets obtuse at the ends, and prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides.

A small much-branched tree, 20°—25° high, with a slender often inclining trunk rarely more than 6′ in diameter, and stout branchlets standing at right angles with the stem, slightly angled and puberulous during their first season, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, terete and pale gray in their second year; generally a tall shrub, with numerous stems forming dense thickets. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, with narrow dark brown or often nearly black scales. Bark of the trunk 1/16′—⅛′ thick, the light red-brown surface broken into thin minute scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, nearly white, turning yellow with exposure, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Southeastern Virginia to the St. John’s River and Cedar Keys, Florida, and westward to the shores of Matagorda Bay and the valleys of the upper Rio Blanco and the Guadalupe River, Texas, and to southern Arkansas; in the Atlantic and east Gulf states rarely far from salt water and usually not more than 10°—15° high; of its largest size and of tree-like habit only on the rich bottom-lands of eastern Texas. The branches covered with the fruit are sold during the winter months for decorative purposes. An infusion of the leaves, which are emetic and purgative, was used by the Indians, who formerly visited the coast in large numbers every spring to drink it.

Occasionally used in the southern states for hedges.

4. Ilex Krugiana Loesen.

Leaves ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate and abruptly long-pointed or acute at apex, rounded or obtusely cuneate at base, entire, with slightly thickened margins subcoriaceous or coriaceous, glabrous, dark yellow-green and lustrous above, dull beneath, persistent, 2½′—4′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with a prominent midrib deeply impressed on the upper side and pale on the lower side, and 6—9 pairs of slender primary veins connected by thin reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, ⅓′—¾′ in length; stipules minute, whitish, persistent. Flowers on slender pedicels, 1/12′—⅙′ long, in the axils of minute acute scarious deciduous bractlets, in crowded clusters, the staminate 1—3-flowered on short peduncles, the pistillate 1-flowered; calyx about 1/12′ in diameter, 4-lobed, the lobes triangular, suberect, about as long as the tube, imbricated in the bud; corolla rotate, greenish white, petals 4, ovate or slightly obovate in the pistillate flower, imbricated in the bud; stamens 4 in the staminate flower, nearly as long as the petals; filaments slender, about as long as the oval anthers; in the pistillate flower much smaller and abortive; ovary 4-celled, ellipsoid; stigma small, discoid, obscurely 4-lobed; ovary of the staminate flower subconic, minute and abortive. Fruit on a stout pedicel up to ⅕′ in length, globose, brownish purple, lustrous, ⅙′ in diameter; sarcocarp thin; nutlets 4, irregularly 3-seeded, obtusely angled, dark brown.

In Florida a tree, sometimes 30°—40° high, with a tall often crooked trunk occasionally 4′ in diameter and covered with thin smooth nearly white bark, becoming on old individuals darker-colored and broken into narrow scales, and small ascending branchlets green when they first appear, becoming light gray and finally white, and marked by numerous round elliptic lenticels; often a shrub.

Distribution. Florida, Homestead and Paradise Keys in the Everglades, Dade County; in the Bahama Islands, Hayti and San Domingo.

5. Ilex decidua Walt.

Leaves deciduous, except on vigorous shoots, fascicled at the end of short spur-like lateral branchlets, oblong-spatulate or spatulate-lanceolate, acuminate, obtuse or emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed below, remotely crenulate-serrate, 2′—3′ long, ⅓′—1′ wide, thin early in the season, becoming thick and firm at maturity, light green above and pale and sparingly hairy along the narrow midrib below; petioles slender, grooved, pubescent, about ¼′ in length; stipules filiform, membranaceous. Flowers on slender pedicels, those of the staminate plant often ½′ long and longer than those of the pistillate plant, in 1 or 2-flowered glabrous cymes crowded at the end of the lateral branches of the previous season, or rarely solitary on branchlets of the year; calyx-lobes triangular, with smooth or sometimes ciliate margins. Fruit on short stout stems, ripening in the early autumn, often remaining on the branches until the appearance of the leaves the following spring, globose or depressed-globose, orange or orange-scarlet, ¼′ in diameter; nutlets narrowed and rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex, many-ribbed on the back.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a slender trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, stout spreading branches, and slender glabrous pale silver gray branchlets; more often a tall straggling shrub. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, with ovate light gray scales. Bark of the trunk rarely more than 1/16′ thick, light brown, and roughened by wart-like excrescences. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, creamy white, with rather lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps in low moist soil; Gloucester County, Virginia, to western Florida in the region between the eastern and southern base of the Appalachian Mountains and the neighborhood of the coast, and through the Gulf states to the valley of the Colorado River, Texas, and through Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and southern Missouri to southern Illinois; usually shrubby east of the Mississippi River and only arborescent in Missouri, southern Arkansas, and eastern Texas. In Florida a form (var. Curtissii Fern.) occurs with leaves only ⅓′—⅔′ long and fruit about ¼′ in diameter.

6. Ilex monticola Gray.

Leaves deciduous, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, abruptly narrowed and acuminate or rarely acute at apex, cuneate or rarely rounded at base, sharply and rather remotely serrate with minute glandular incurved teeth, thin, glabrous, or sparingly hairy along the prominent midrib and veins, 2′—5′ long, ½′—2½′ wide, light green above and pale below; petioles slender, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers appearing in June when the leaves are more than half grown, on slender pedicels ½′ long on the staminate plant and much longer on the pistillate plant, in 1—2-flowered cymes crowded at the end of lateral spur-like branchlets of the previous year, or solitary on branchlets of the year; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate; ovary contracted below the broad flat stigma. Fruit globose, bright scarlet, nearly ½′ in diameter; nutlets narrowed at the ends, prominently ribbed on the back and sides.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a short trunk sometimes 10′—12′ in diameter, slender branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and more or less zigzag glabrous branchlets pale red-brown at first, becoming dark gray at the end of their first season; more often a low shrub, with spreading stems. Winter-buds broad-ovoid to subglobose, about ⅛′ long, with ovate keeled apiculate light brown scales. Bark of the trunk usually less than 1/16′ thick, with a light brown surface roughened by numerous lenticels. Wood hard, heavy, close-grained, and creamy white.

Distribution. Central and western New York, southward along the Appalachian Mountains to eastern Tennessee; northern and central Georgia; coast of South Carolina near Charleston; western Florida (Mariana, Jackson County, and Wakulla Springs, Wakulla County); Dallas County, Alabama; northeastern Mississippi (Tishomingo County), and in West Feliciana and Wynn Parishes, Louisiana; a shrubby form with leaves soft pubescent beneath (var. mollis Britt.) occurs in western Massachusetts and Connecticut, and southward to North Carolina.

XXXIV. CELASTRACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, and opposite or alternate simple persistent or deciduous leaves, with or without stipules. Flowers regular, perfect, polygamous or diœcious, pedicellate in axillary clusters; calyx 4—5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud; stamens 4 or 5; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 2—5-celled; ovules 2 or solitary in each cell (6 in Canotia), anatropous, or subhorizontal (in Canotia). Fruit a capsule or drupe. Seed with copious albumen; embryo axile.

A family of about thirty-eight genera widely distributed over the tropical and warm temperate parts of the world, with five arborescent representatives in the United States.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Leaves opposite, deciduous; parts of the flower in 4’s; fruit a fleshy capsule enclosed in a colored aril. 1. Evonymus. Leaves alternate, persistent (0 in 3). Fruit capsular; parts of the flower in 5’s. Capsule 3—4-valved, loculicidal, its outer coat woody, the valves apiculate at apex; base of the seed enclosed in a colored aril. 2. Maytenus. Capsule 5-valved, septicidal, its outer coat thin and fleshy, the valves 2-lobed at apex; seed without an aril. 3. Canotia. Fruit drupaceous; parts of the flower in 4’s; seed without an aril. Leaves often crenately serrate above the middle; stipules minute, caducous; fruit usually 1-seeded; branchlets quadrangular. 4. Gyminda. Leaves entire; stipules 0; fruit 2-seeded; branchlets terete. 5. Schæfferia.

1. EVONYMUS L.

Small generally glabrous trees or shrubs, with usually square sometimes wing-margined branchlets, bitter drastic bark, slender obtuse or acuminate winter-buds, and fibrous roots. Leaves opposite, petiolate, entire, crenate or dentate, deciduous or rarely persistent; stipules minute, caducous. Flowers perfect or polygamo-diœcious, in dichotomous axillary usually few-flowered cymes; calyx 4-lobed (in the North American arborescent species); disk thick and fleshy, cohering with and filling the short tube of the calyx, flat, 4-angled or lobed, closely surrounding and adhering to the ovary; petals inserted in the sinuses of the calyx under the free border of the disk, as many as and much longer than the calyx-lobes, spreading, deciduous; stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them, inserted on the summit of the disk; filaments very short, subulate, erect or recurved; anthers 2-celled, the cells nearly parallel or spreading below; ovary 4-celled; styles short, terminating in a depressed stigma; ovules usually 2 in each cell, ascending from the central angle; raphe ventral, micropyle inferior, or pendulous, the raphe then dorsal and the micropyle superior. Fruit capsular, 4-lobed and celled, fleshy, angled or winged, smooth (in the North American arborescent species), loculicidally 4-valved, the valves septicidal. Seeds 2 in each cell, or commonly solitary by abortion, ascending, surrounded by a colored aril; seed-coat chartaceous; albumen fleshy; embryo axile; cotyledons broad, coriaceous, parallel with the raphe; the radicle short, inferior.

Evonymus is widely distributed through the northern hemisphere, extending south of the equator to the islands of the Indian Archipelago and to Australia. About forty species are distinguished, the largest number occurring in the tropical regions of southern Asia, and in China and Japan. Of the four species found within the territory of the United States one only is a small tree. Many of the species are rich in bitter and astringent principles, and are drastic and slightly stimulant. Many are valued as ornaments of gardens and parks.

The generic name is from the classical name of one of the European species.

1. Evonymus atropurpureus Jacq. Bunting Bush. Wahoo.

Leaves ovate-elliptic, acuminate, minutely serrate or biserrate, thin, puberulous below, 2′—5′ long and 1′—2′ wide, with a stout midrib and primary veins; turning pale yellow in the autumn and falling in October; petioles stout, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers appearing from May to the middle of June, nearly ½′ across, in twice or thrice dichotomous usually 7—15-flowered cymes borne on slender peduncles 1′—2′ long and conspicuously marked by the scars of minute bracts; calyx-lobes 4, rounded or rarely acute at apex, mostly entire; petals broad-obovate, undulate, often erose on the margins; anthers spreading. Fruit ripening in October, usually persistent on the branches until midwinter, deeply lobed, ½′ across, with light purple valves; seeds sometimes gibbous on the dorsal side, broad and rounded above, narrowed below, ¼′ long, with a thin light chestnut-brown wrinkled coat and a thin scarlet aril.

A tree, rarely 20°—25° high, with a trunk 4′—6′ in diameter, spreading branches, and slender terete branchlets dark purple-brown at first, becoming lighter colored in their second season, often covered with small crowded lenticels, and marked by prominent leaf-scars, occasionally slightly or on vigorous shoots rarely broadly wing-margined; more often a shrub, 6°—10° tall. Winter-buds ⅛′ long, acute, with narrow purple apiculate scales scarious on the margins and covered by a glaucous bloom. Bark thin, ashy gray, and covered by thin minute scales. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, white tinged with orange.

Distribution. Borders of woods in rich soil; western New York to southern Minnesota, central Iowa, southeastern South Dakota, northwestern Nebraska, central Kansas, Oklahoma to the valley of the Canadian River (near Minton, Caddo County), southern Arkansas and eastern Texas (Dallas County), and southward to eastern Tennessee, Jackson County, Alabama, and western Florida; in the valley of the upper Missouri River, Montana; arborescent only in southern Arkansas and Texas.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornament of gardens in the eastern United States and in Europe.

2. MAYTENUS Molina.

Small unarmed trees or shrubs with slender branchlets and minute buds. Leaves alternate often in two ranks, coriaceous, petiolate, persistent; stipules minute, deciduous. Flowers polygamous, small, white, yellow or red, axillary, solitary or in cymose or fascicled clusters; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5, spreading; stamens 5, inserted under the orbicular disk, with undulate margins; filaments filiform; anthers ovoid-cordate; ovary immersed and confluent with the disk, 2—4-celled; style 0 or columnar; stigma 2—4-lobed, usually sessile; ovules erect, solitary or in pairs in each cell. Fruit capsular, coriaceous, 2—4-valved; seed erect, surrounded at base or entirely in a pulpy aril; testa crustaceous; albumen fleshy or wanting; cotyledons foliaceous.

Maytenus with some seventy species is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of America from southern Florida, where one species occurs, to Brazil and Chile.

The Chilean Maytenus boaria Molina, a handsome tree of graceful habit, is occasionally cultivated in California.

The generic name is from Mayten, the Chilean name of one of the species.

1. Maytenus phyllanthoides Benth.

Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, rounded and rarely emarginate or acute at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base and entire, deeply tinged with red when they unfold and at maturity, 1′—1½′ long and ½′—¾′ wide, with thickened often slightly undulate margins, a slender midrib, obscure primary veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, ⅙′—¼′ in length. Flowers usually solitary or in compact fascicles, short-stalked, about 1/12′ in diameter; calyx-lobes rounded at apex, often persistent under the fruit, reddish, shorter than the white petals; ovary 3—4-celled. Fruit solitary, short-stalked, broad-obovoid, 4-angled, rounded and minutely mucronate at apex, abruptly narrowed below, bright red, ¼′—⅓′ long and broad, 1-celled, 3—4-valved, the valves opening to the base, ridged down the inner surface with a low ridge developed from the dissepiment, 2—4-seeded; seed ellipsoid, acute at the ends, 1/12′ long, surrounded at base by an open bright red aril.

A round-topped tree, rarely 20° high, with a trunk 1°—2° in diameter (teste J. K. Small), and slender alternate glabrous pale gray branchlets; usually a low shrub.

Distribution. Florida, west coast, Captiva Island, Lee County, to the neighborhood of Cape Sable; Cocoanut Grove, Dade County, and on many of the southern keys; on bluffs of Matagorda Bay near Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas; in northern Mexico and Lower California; probably of its largest size in Florida on Sands Key and on Captiva Island.

3. CANOTIA Torr.

A glabrous leafless tree, with light brown deeply furrowed bark, stout terete alternate branches terminating in rigid, pale green and striate spines, their base and those of the peduncles surrounded by black triangular persistent cushion-like processes minutely papillose on the surface. Flowers perfect, on slender spreading pedicels jointed below the middle, 3—7 together, in short-stemmed fascicles or corymbs near the end of the branches, from the axils of minute ovate subulate bracts; calyx 5-lobed, minute, persistent, much shorter than the oblong obtuse white hypogynous petals imbricated in the bud, reflexed at maturity above the middle, deciduous; stamens 5, hypogynous, opposite the lobes of the calyx; filaments awl-shaped, rather shorter than the petals, persistent on the fruit; anthers oblong, cordate, minutely apiculate, attached below the middle, grooved on the back; ovary raised upon and confluent with a fleshy slightly 10-angled gynophore, papillose-glandular on the surface, 5-celled, the cells opposite the petals, terminating in a fleshy elongated style; stigma slightly 5-lobed; ovules 6 in each cell, inserted in 2 ranks on its inner angle, subhorizontal; micropyle inferior. Fruit a woody ovoid, acuminate capsule rounded at base, crowned with the subulate persistent style, septicidally 5-valved, the valves 2-lobed at apex; outer coat thin, fleshy; inner coat woody. Seed solitary or in pairs, ascending, subovoid, flattened; seed-coat subcoriaceous, papillate, produced below into a subfalcate membranaceous wing; embryo surrounded by thin fleshy albumen, erect; cotyledons oval, compressed; radicle very short, inferior.

The genus is represented by a single species.

The generic name is that by which this plant was known to the Mexicans of Arizona at the time of its discovery.

1. Canotia holacantha Torr.

Leaves 0. Flowers ⅛′—¼′ in diameter, appearing from June until October. Capsule 1′ long; seed about ¾′ in length.

A small shrub-like tree, sometimes 20°—30° high, with a short stout trunk rarely a foot in diameter; or often a low spreading shrub.

Distribution. Dry gravelly mesas on the Arizona foothills, from the White Mountain region to the valley of Bill Williams’s Fork in the northwestern part of the state, and on Providence Mountain in southern California.

4. GYMINDA Sarg.

Trees or shrubs, with pale quadrangular branchlets and minute acuminate buds. Leaves opposite, short-petiolate, oblong-obovate, rounded and sometimes emarginate at apex, entire or remotely crenulate-serrate above the middle with revolute thickened margins, feather-veined, coriaceous, persistent; stipules minute, acuminate, membranaceous, caducous. Flowers unisexual, pedicellate, in axillary pedunculate few-flowered dichotomously branched cymes bibracteolate at apex; calyx minute, 4-lobed, persistent, with a short urceolate tube and rounded lobes; disk fleshy, filling the tube of the calyx, cup-shaped, slightly 4-lobed; petals entire, obovate, white, rounded at apex, reflexed, much longer than the lobes of the calyx; stamens 4, opposite the sepals, inserted in the lobes of the disk, exserted, 0 in the pistillate flower; filaments slender, subulate, incurved; anthers oblong; ovary 2-celled, oblong, sessile, confluent with the disk, crowned with a large 2-lobed sessile stigma, rudimentary and deeply cleft in the staminate flower; ovule solitary, suspended from the apex of the cell; raphe dorsal; micropyle superior. Fruit drupaceous, 2-celled, 1 or 2-seeded, black or dark blue, oval or obovoid, crowned with the remnants of the persistent stigma, often 1-celled by abortion; flesh thin; stone thick, crustaceous. Seed oblong, suspended; seed-coat membranaceous; albumen thin, fleshy; embryo axile; cotyledons ovate, foliaceous; radicle superior, next the hilum.

Gyminda with a single species is distributed from southern Florida to Trinidad and southern Mexico, and is represented in Central America by what is perhaps a second species.

The generic name is formed by transposing the first three letters of Myginda, to which this plant had been referred.

1. Gyminda latifolia Urb.

Gyminda Grisebachii Sarg.

Leaves 1½′—2′ long, ¾′—1′ broad, pale yellow-green. Flowers produced on shoots of the year from April to June. Fruit ripening in November, ¼′ long.

A tree, sometimes 20°—25° high, with a trunk rarely more than 6′ in diameter, and branchlets becoming terete during their third season and covered with thin slightly grooved roughened bright red-brown bark. Bark of the trunk thin, brown tinged with red, separating into thin minute scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, dark brown or nearly black, with thick light brown sapwood of 75—80 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, common and generally distributed over the southern keys from the Marquesas group to Upper Matecombe Key; in Cuba, Porto Rico, Trinidad, and southern Mexico. A form (var. glaucescens, Small.) with smaller less coriaceous very glaucous leaves occurs in Cuba.

5. SCHÆFFERIA Jacq.

Glabrous trees or shrubs, with slender rigid terete branches and small obtuse buds. Leaves alternate, or fascicled on short spur-like branchlets, entire, obovate or spatulate, acute and minutely apiculate or gradually narrowed to the rounded or emarginate apex, cuneate below, persistent, without stipules. Flowers diœcious, pedicellate in axillary clusters from buds covered by scale-like persistent bracts; calyx 4-lobed, the lobes orbicular, persistent, much shorter than the 4 hypogynous, oblong, obtuse, white or greenish white petals; stamens 4, hypogynous, inserted under the margin of the small inconspicuous disk opposite the lobes of the calyx, wanting in the pistillate flower; filaments subulate, incurved; anthers oblong-ovoid; ovary 2-celled, ovoid, sessile, free, rudimentary in the staminate flower; style very short, gradually enlarged into the large 2-lobed stigma, with spreading lobes; ovule solitary, ascending; raphe thin, ventral; micropyle inferior. Fruit a small 2-seeded fleshy drupe, ovoid or obovoid, crowned with the remnants of the persistent style, indistinctly 2-lobed by longitudinal grooves, slightly flattened; flesh thin and tuberculate; nutlets 2, obovoid, rounded at the ends, with a thick bony shell. Seed solitary, ascending; seed-coat membranaceous; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, foliaceous; radicle very short, inferior, next the hilum.

Schæfferia with four or five species is confined to the New World, with one species in southern Florida, and another, a small shrub, Schæfferia cuneifolia A. Gray in the arid region of western Texas and northern Mexico.

The generic name is in honor of Jakob Christian Schaeffer (1718—1790), the distinguished German naturalist.

1. Schæfferia frutescens Jacq. Yellow Wood. Box Wood.

Leaves bright yellow-green, 2′—2½′ long, ½′-1′ wide, with thick revolute margins, appearing in Florida in April and persistent on the branches until the spring of the following year; petioles short and broad. Flowers opening in spring on branchlets of the year, ⅛′ across, the staminate generally 3 or 5 together on pedicels rarely more than ⅙′ long, the pistillato solitary or 2 or 3 together on pedicels rather longer than the petioles. Fruit ripening in Florida in November, slightly grooved, compressed, bright scarlet, with an acrid disagreeable flavor.

A glabrous tree, 35°—40° high, with a trunk sometimes 8′—10′ in diameter, erect branches, and slender many-angled branchlets pale greenish yellow during their first season, becoming light gray during their second year and then conspicuously marked by the remains of the persistent wart-like clusters of bud-scales; or often a tall or low shrub. Bark of the trunk rarely more than 1/12′ thick, pale brown faintly tinged with red, the surface divided by long shallow fissures, and ultimately separating into long narrow scales. Wood heavy, close-grained, bright clear yellow, with thick rather lighter colored sapwood; sometimes used as a substitute for boxwood in wood engraving.

Distribution. Florida, upper Matecombe and Old Rhodes Keys, and eastward on the southern keys, and on the Everglade Keys, Dade County; on the Bahama Islands, and widely distributed through the West Indies to Venezuela.

XXXV. ACERACEÆ.

Trees or rarely shrubs, with limpid juice, terete branches, scaly buds, their inner scales accrescent and marking the base of the branchlets with ring-like scars, and fibrous roots. Leaves opposite, or on vigorous shoots rarely in whorls of 3, long-petiolate, simple, palmately 3—7-lobed and nerved or pinnately 3—7-foliolulate, usually without stipules, deciduous, in falling leaving small U-shaped narrow scars showing the ends of 3 equidistant fibro-vascular bundles. Flowers regular, diœciously or monœciously polygamous, rarely perfect or diœcious, in fascicles produced from separate lateral buds appearing in early spring before the leaves or in terminal and lateral racemes or panicles appearing with or later than the leaves; bracts minute, caducous; calyx colored, generally 5-parted, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals usually 5, imbricated in the bud, or 0; disk annular, fleshy, more or less lobed, with a free margin; stamens 4—10, usually 7 or 8, inserted on the summit or inside of the disk, hypogynous; filaments distinct, filiform, commonly exserted in the staminate, shorter and generally abortive in the pistillate flower; anthers oblong or linear, attached at the base, introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 2-lobed, 2-celled, compressed contrary to the dissepiment, wing-margined on the back; styles 2, inserted between the lobes of the ovary, connate below and divided into 2 linear branches stigmatose on their inner surface; ovules 2 in each cell, collateral, rarely superposed, ascending, attached by their broad base to the inner angle of the cell, anatropous or amphitropous; micropyle inferior. Fruit composed of 2 samaras separable from a small persistent axis, the nut-like carpels compressed laterally, produced on the back into a large chartaceous or coriaceous reticulated obovate wing thickened on the lower margin. Seed solitary by abortion, or rarely 2 in each cell, ovoid, compressed, irregularly 3-angled, ascending obliquely, without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous, the inner coat often fleshy; embryo conduplicate; cotyledons thin, foliaceous or coriaceous, irregularly plicate, incumbent or accumbent on the elongated descending radicle turned toward the hilum.

A family of two genera, one widely distributed, the other, Dipteronia, distinguished by the broad wings encircling the mature carpels, and represented by a single Chinese species.

1. ACER L. Maple.

Characters of the family.

Acer with sixty or seventy species is widely distributed over the northern hemisphere, with a single species extending south of the equator to the mountains of Java. Acer produces light close-grained moderately hard wood valued for the interior finish of houses and in turnery. The bark is astringent, and the limpid sweet sap of some of the American species is manufactured into sugar.

Acer is the classical name of the Maple-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Leaves simple, usually palmately lobed (sometimes 3-foliolate in 1, 3-lobed at apex in 4). Flowers appearing with or after the leaves. Flowers with petals; sepals distinct. Inflorescence corymbose. Flowers in terminal drooping corymbs. Leaves 3-lobed or parted. 1. A. glabrum (B, F, G). Leaves palmately 3—5-lobed. 2. A. circinatum (B, G). Inflorescence racemose. Flowers in dense erect racemes. 3. A. spicatum (A). Flowers in drooping racemes. Ovary and young fruit glabrous; leaves 3-lobed at apex. 4. A. pennsylvanicum (A). Ovary and young fruit hairy; leaves deeply 5-lobed. 5. A. macrophyllum (G). Flowers without petals; sepals united; inflorescence corymbose; pedicels long, pendulous, mostly hairy. Leaves pale or glaucescent, or green and glabrous beneath. Leaves green or pale beneath, glabrous or in one form villose-pubescent on the under side of the veins and on the petioles. 6. A. saccharum (A, C). Leaves pale and pubescent, rarely glabrous beneath, their lobes usually short and obtuse or acuminate. Lobes of the leaves only slightly lobed or entire; bark of young trees smooth and pale. 7. A. floridanum (C). Lobes of the leaves distinctly lobulate; bark of young trees dark brown and scaly. 8. A. grandidentatum (F, H). Leaves green and pubescent, rarely glabrous beneath. Leaves hirsute-pubescent beneath and on the petioles, the lobes entire or lobulate, the basal sinus often closed by the lower lobes; bark dark and furrowed. 9. A. nigrum (A). Leaves pilose-pubescent, rarely glabrous beneath, the lobes slightly lobulate, the basal sinus open; petioles glabrous; bark pale and smooth. 10. A. leucoderme (C). Flowers appearing before the leaves in dense lateral clusters from separate buds; leaves 5-lobed (3-lobed in varieties of 12); fruit ripening in May or June. Flowers sessile or short-stalked, without petals; ovary and young fruit tomentose. 11. A. saccharinum Flowers on long pedicels, with petals; ovary and young fruit glabrous. 12. A. rubrum Leaves 3—7-foliolate; flowers diœcious, without petals. 13. A. Negundo (A, B, C, F, G, H).

1. Acer glabrum Torr. Dwarf Maple.

Leaves glabrous, thin, rounded in outline, cordate-truncate or cuneate at base, 3—5-lobed, the middle lobe usually narrowed and entire below the middle, or often 3-parted or 3-foliolate (f. trisecta Sarg.), with acute or obtuse doubly serrate lobes, 3′—5′ in diameter, dark green and lustrous on the upper, paler on the lower surface, with conspicuous veinlets; petioles stout, grooved, 1′—6′ in length, and often bright red. Flowers about ⅛′ long on short slender pedicels, in loose few-flowered glabrous racemose corymbs on slender drooping peduncles from the end of 2-leaved branchlets, the staminate and pistillate usually produced separately on different plants; sepals oblong, obtuse, petaloid, as long as the greenish yellow petals; stamens 7 or 8, with glabrous unequal filaments shorter than the petals, much shorter or rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary glabrous, with short obtuse lobes, rudimentary or 0 in the staminate flower; style divided to the base into 2 spreading stigmatic lobes as long as the petals. Fruit glabrous, with broad nearly erect or slightly spreading wings ¾′—⅞′ long, often rose-colored during the summer; seeds ovoid, bright chestnut-brown, about ¼′ long.

A small tree, occasionally 20°—30° high, with a short trunk 6′—12′ in diameter, small upright branches, and slender glabrous branchlets often slightly many-angled, pale greenish brown when they first appear, becoming bright red-brown during their first winter; often a shrub. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′ long, with bright red or occasionally yellow scales, those of the inner ranks pale brown tinged with pink, tomentose on the inner surface, becoming 1½′ long and narrow-spatulate. Bark of the trunk thin, smooth, and dark reddish brown. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light brown or often nearly white, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Borders of mountain streams usually at elevations of 5000°—6000°; Rocky Mountains from Montana to Wyoming, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Sioux County, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, northern Arizona, and to the Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico; in California from the Siskiyou Mountains along the Sierra Nevada to the East Fork of the Kaweah River, Kern County, at altitudes of 5000°—6000° at the north and of 8000°—9000° at the south. Passing into

Acer glabrum var. Douglasii Dippel.

Acer Douglasii Hook.

Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, slightly cordate by a wide shallow sinus, truncate or rarely rounded at base, 3-lobed with acuminate lobes often slightly divided into acuminate lobules, the terminal leaflet usually ovate from a broad base, or occasionally gradually narrowed below and rhombic in outline and sharply serrate to the base or nearly to the base of the lobe with long-acuminate teeth pointing forward, dark green above, paler and often glaucescent below, 3½′—4′ long and 3′—4′ wide, with 3 prominent nerves extending to the points of the lobes, and slender veins; petioles glabrous, 1′—3½′ in length. Flowers as in the species. Fruit with erect or nearly erect wings, ¾′—1′ long and ⅓′—½′ wide.

A tree, occasionally 40° high, with a short trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small upright branches and slender bright red-brown branchlets.

Distribution. Coast of southern Alaska (head of Lynn Canal), southward near the coast to Vancouver Island and western Washington, and eastward on the high mountains of Washington to the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, western Idaho and northern Montana; on Loomis Creek, Natrona County, Wyoming.

2. Acer circinatum Pursh. Vine Maple.

Leaves almost circular in outline, cordate at base by a broad shallow sinus, or sometimes almost truncate, palmately 7—9-lobed occasionally nearly to the middle, with acute lobes sharply and irregularly doubly serrate, and conspicuously palmately nerved, with prominent veinlets, when they unfold tinged with rose color, and puberulous, especially on the lower surface and on the petioles, and at maturity glabrous with the exception of tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the large veins, thin and membranaceous, dark green above, pale below, and 2′—7′ in diameter; in the autumn turning orange and scarlet; petioles stout, grooved, 1′—2′ in length, clasping the stem by their large base. Flowers appearing when the leaves are about half grown, in loose 10—20-flowered umbel-like corymbs pendent on long stems from the end of slender 2-leaved branchlets, the staminate and pistillate flowers produced together; sepals oblong to obovate, acute, villose, purple or red, much longer than the greenish white broad, cordate petals folded together at apex; stamens 6-8, with slender filaments villose at base, exserted in the staminate flower, much shorter than the petals in the pistillate flower; ovary glabrous, with spreading lobes, in the staminate flower reduced to a small point surrounded by a tuft of pale hairs; style divided nearly to the base into long exserted stigmas. Fruit with thin wings, 1½′ long, spreading almost at right angles, red or rose color like the nutlets in early summer, ripening late in the autumn; seeds smooth, pale chestnut-brown, ⅛′¼′ long.

A tree, rarely 30°—40° high, often vine-like or prostrate, with a trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, and glabrous pale green or reddish brown branchlets frequently covered during their first winter with a glaucous bloom, and occasionally marked by small lenticels; often a low wide-spreading shrub. Winter-buds ⅛′ long, rather obtuse, with thin bright red outer scales rounded on the back, and obovate-spatulate inner scales rounded at apex, contracted into a long narrow claw, bright rose-colored and more or less pubescent, especially on the outer surface, and when fully grown often 2′ long and ¼′ broad. Bark of the trunk thin, smooth, bright red-brown, marked by numerous shallow fissures. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, not strong, light brown, sometimes nearly white, with thick lighter colored sapwood; used for fuel, the handles of axes and other tools, and by the Indians of the northwest coast for the bows of their fishing-nets.

Distribution. Banks of streams; coast of British Columbia through western Washington and Oregon to Mendocino County, and the cañon of the upper Sacramento River, California; one of the most abundant of the deciduous-leaved trees of western Washington and Oregon up to altitudes of 4000° above the sea, and of its largest size on the rich alluvial soil of bottom-lands, its vine-like stems in such situations springing 4 or 5 together from the ground, spreading in wide curves and sending out long slender branches rooting when they touch the ground and forming impenetrable thickets of contorted and interlaced trunks, often many acres in extent; in California smaller and less abundant, growing along streams in the coniferous forest or rarely on dry ridges up to an altitude of 4000° in the northeastern part of the state.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in Europe, and in the eastern states, and hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

3. Acer spicatum Lam. Mountain Maple.

Leaves subcordate or sometimes truncate at base, conspicuously 3-nerved, 3 or slightly 5-lobed, with gradually narrowed pointed lobes, and sharply and coarsely glandular-serrate, when they unfold puberulous on the upper surface and densely tomentose on the lower surface, and at maturity thin, 4′—5′ long and broad; turning in the autumn to various shades of orange and scarlet; petioles slender, enlarged at base, 2′—3′ in length, often becoming scarlet in summer. Flowers opening in June after the leaves are fully grown, ¼′ diameter, on slender pedicels ½′—¾′ long, the pistillate toward the base and the staminate at the apex of a narrow many-flowered long-stemmed upright slightly compound pubescent raceme; calyx-lobes narrow-obovate, yellow, pubescent on the outer surface, much shorter than the linear-spatulate pointed yellow petals; stamens 7 or 8, inserted immediately under the ovary, with slender glabrous filaments as long as the petals in the sterile flower, about as long as the sepals in the pistillate flower, and glandular anthers; ovary hoary-tomentose, reduced to a minute point surrounded by a tuft of pale hairs in the staminate flower; style columnar, almost as long as the petals, with short stigmatic lobes. Fruit fully grown and bright red or yellow in July, turning brown late in the autumn, almost glabrous, with more or less divergent wings about ½′ long; seeds smooth, dark red-brown, ⅛′ long.

A bushy tree, occasionally 25°—30° high, with a short trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, small upright branches, and slender branchlets light gray and pubescent when they first appear, becoming glabrous during the summer, bright red during their first winter, gray or pale brown the following season, and blotched or streaked with green toward the base; more often a tall or low shrub. Winter-buds acute; the terminal ⅛′ long, with bright red outer scales more or less coated with hoary tomentum, those of the inner ranks becoming at maturity 1′ or more in length and then lanceolate, pale and papery; axillary buds much smaller and glabrous or puberulous. Bark of the trunk very thin, reddish brown, smooth or slightly furrowed. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Moist rocky hillsides usually in the shade of other trees, and really arborescent only on the western slopes of the high mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina; Newfoundland and Labrador to Hudson Bay, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, and southward through the northern states, and westward to Minnesota and northeastern Iowa, and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornament of parks and gardens in the northern states.

4. Acer pennsylvanicum L. Striped Maple. Moose Wood.

Leaves rounded or cordate at base, palmately 3-nerved, 3-lobed at apex, with short lobes contracted into a tapering serrate point, and finely and sharply doubly serrate, when they unfold thin, pale rose color and coated with ferrugineous pubescence, especially on the lower surface and on the petioles, and at maturity glabrous with the exception of tufts of ferrugineous hairs in the axils of the principal nerves on the two surfaces, thin, pale green above, rather paler below, 5′—6′ long and 4′—5′ wide; turning in the autumn clear light yellow; petioles stout, grooved, 1½′—2′ in length, with an enlarged base nearly encircling the branch. Flowers bright canary-yellow, opening toward the end of May or early in June when the leaves are nearly fully grown, on slender pedicels ¼′—½′ long, in slender drooping long-stemmed racemes 4′—6′ in length, the staminate and pistillate usually in different racemes on the same plant; sepals linear-lanceolate to obovate, ¼′ long and a little shorter and narrower than the obovate petals; stamens 7—8, shorter than the petals in the staminate flower, rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary purplish brown, glabrous, in the staminate flower reduced to a minute point; styles united nearly to the top, with spreading recurved stigmas. Fruit in long drooping racemes, glabrous, with thin spreading wings ¾′ long, and marked on one side of each nutlet by a small cavity; seeds ¼′ long, dark red-brown, and slightly rugose.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a short trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, small upright branches, and slender smooth branchlets pale greenish yellow at first, bright reddish brown during their first winter, and at the end of two or three years striped like the trunk with broad pale lines; or often much smaller and shrubby in habit. Winter-buds: the terminal conspicuously stipitate, sometimes almost ½′ long, much longer than the axillary buds, covered by two thick bright red spatulate boat-shaped scales prominently keeled on the back, the inner scales green and foliaceous, becoming 1½′—2′ long, ½′ wide, pubescent, and bright yellow or rose color. Bark of the trunk ⅛′—¼′ thick, reddish brown, marked longitudinally by broad pale stripes, and roughened by many oblong horizontal excrescences. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 30-40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Usually in the shade of other trees, often forming in northern New England a large part of their shrubby undergrowth; shores of Ha-Ha Bay, Quebec, westward along the shores of Lake Ontario and the islands of Lake Huron to northern Wisconsin, and southward through the Atlantic states and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia; ascending to altitudes of 5000°; common in the north Atlantic states, especially in the interior and elevated regions; of its largest size on the slopes of the Big Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, and of the Blue Ridge in North and South Carolina.

Sometimes cultivated as an ornamental tree in the northern states, and occasionally in Europe.

5. Acer macrophyllum Pursh. Broad-leaved Maple.

Leaves more or less cordate at the broad base, deeply 5-lobed by narrow sinuses acute in the bottom, the lobes acute or acuminate, the terminal lobe often 3-lobed, the others usually furnished with small lateral lobules, the lower lobes much smaller than the others, prominently 3—5-nerved, puberulous when they unfold, especially on the upper surface along the principal veins, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 8′—12′ in diameter; turning in the autumn bright orange color before falling; petioles stout, 10′—12′ in length, with enlarged bases united and encircling the stem and often furnished on the inside with small tufts of white hairs. Flowers bright yellow, fragrant, ¼′ long, on slender pubescent often branched pedicels ½′—¾′ in length, the staminate and pistillate together in graceful pendulous slightly puberulous racemes 4′—6′ long, appearing in April and May after the leaves are fully grown; sepals petaloid, obovate, obtuse and a little longer and broader than the spatulate petals; stamens 9—10, with long slender filaments hairy at base, exserted in the staminate flower and included in the pistillate flower, and orange-colored anthers; ovary hoary-tomentose, reduced in the staminate flower to a minute point; styles united at base only; stigmas long and exserted. Fruit fully grown by the 1st of July and ripening late in the autumn; nutlets covered with long pale hairs, their wings 1½′ long, ½′ wide, slightly divergent and glabrous with the exception of a few hairs on the thickened edge; seeds dark-colored, rugose and pitted, ¼′ long.

A tree, 80°—100° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, stout often pendulous branches forming a compact handsome head, and stout branchlets smooth and pale green at first, becoming bright green or dark red in their first winter, covered more or less thickly with small longitudinal white lenticels, and in their second summer gray or grayish brown. Winter-buds obtuse; terminal ¼′ long, with short broad slightly spreading dark red ciliate outer scales rounded on the back, those of the inner ranks green and foliaceous, and at maturity 1½′ long, colored and puberulous; axillary buds minute. Bark of the trunk ½′—¾′ thick, brown faintly tinged with red or bright reddish brown, deeply furrowed and broken on the surface into small square plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, rich brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored often nearly white sapwood of 60—80 layers of annual growth; more valuable than the wood produced by other deciduous-leaved trees of western North America, and in Washington and Oregon used in the interior finish of buildings, for furniture, and for axe and broom-handles.

Distribution. Banks of streams or on rich bottom-lands or the rocky slopes of mountain valleys; coast of Alaska south of latitude 55° north, southward along the islands and coast of British Columbia, through Washington and Oregon west of the Cascade Mountains, and southward along the coast ranges and the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the San Bernardino Mountains, and to Hot Spring Valley, San Diego County, California; on the Sierra Nevada usually between altitudes of 2000° and 5000° and on the southern mountains rarely above 3000°; most abundant and of its largest size in the humid climate and rich soil of the bottom-lands of southwestern Oregon, forming extensive forests; in California usually much smaller, especially on the coast ranges.

Generally planted in the Pacific States for shade and as a street tree, and occasionally in the Eastern States as far north as Long Island, New York, and in western Europe; not hardy in Massachusetts.

6. Acer saccharum Marsh. Sugar Maple. Rock Maple.

Leaves rarely in whorls of 3, heart-shaped by a broad sinus, truncate or sometimes cuneate at base, 3—5-lobed, the lobes usually acute sparingly sinuate-toothed usually 3-lobulate at apex, with 3—5 conspicuous nerves, and reticulate veinlets, when they unfold coated below with pale pubescence, glabrous or more or less pubescent on the nerves below (var. Schneckii Rehd.) and at maturity, 4′—5′ in diameter, often rather coriaceous, dark green and opaque on the upper surface, green or pale (var. glabrum Sarg.) on the lower surface; turning in the autumn brilliant shades of deep red, scarlet and orange or clear yellow; petioles slender, glabrous, 1½—3′ in length. Flowers appearing with the leaves on slender more or less hairy pedicels ¾′—3′ long, in nearly sessile umbel-like corymbs from terminal leaf-buds and lateral leafless buds, the staminate and pistillate in the same or in separate clusters on the same or on different trees; calyx broad-campanulate, 5-lobed by the partial union of the obtuse sepals, greenish yellow, hairy on the outer surface; corolla 0; stamens 7—8, with slender glabrous filaments twice as long as the calyx in the staminate flower and much shorter in the pistillate flower; ovary obtusely lobed, pale green, covered with long scattered hairs, in the staminate flower reduced to a minute point; styles united at base only, with 2 long exserted stigmatic lobes. Fruit ripening in the autumn, glabrous, with broad thin and usually divergent wings ½′—1′ long; seeds smooth, bright red-brown, ¼′ long.

A tree, 100°—120° high, with a trunk often 3°—4° in diameter, rising sometimes in the forest to the height of 60°—70° without branches, or in open situations developing 8°—10° from the ground stout upright branches forming while the tree is young a narrow egg-shaped head, ultimately spreading into a broad round-topped dome often 70°—80° across, and slender glabrous branchlets green at first, becoming reddish brown by the end of their first season, lustrous, marked by numerous large pale oblong lenticels, and in their second winter pale brown tinged with red. Winter-buds acute, ¼′ long, with purple slightly puberulous outer scales, and inner scales becoming 1½′ long, narrow-obovate, short-pointed at apex, thin, pubescent, and bright canary yellow. Bark of young stems and of large branches pale, smooth or slightly fissured, becoming on large trunks ½′—¾′ thick and broken into deep longitudinal furrows, the light gray-brown surface separating into small plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, tough, light brown tinged with red, with thin sapwood of 30-40 layers of annual growth; largely used for the interior finish of buildings, especially for floors, in the manufacture of furniture, in turnery, shipbuilding, for shoe-lasts and pegs, and largely as fuel. Accidental forms with the grain curled and contorted, known as curly maple and bird’s-eye maple, are common and are highly prized in cabinet-making. The ashes of the wood are rich in alkali and yield large quantities of potash. Maple sugar is principally made from the sap of this tree.

Distribution. Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, westward to the Lake of the Woods, Ontario, and southward through eastern Canada and the northern states, and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia; in central Alabama and Mississippi, and westward in the United States to Minnesota, northeastern South Dakota (coulées of Little Minnesota River, Roberts County), central and northwestern Iowa, eastern Kansas, central Oklahoma, and eastern Louisiana; most abundant northward; ascending in North Carolina the Alleghany Mountains to altitudes of 3000°; the var. glabrum rare and local in the north from Prince Edwards Island and Lake St. John, Quebec, to Iowa and southward to Pennsylvania, Ohio and central Tennessee; more abundant southward; apparently the only form but not common in South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and southern Arkansas; the var. Schneckii with leaves glaucous or glaucescent below and more or less densely pubescent with spreading hairs, on the under side of the midrib and veins and on the petioles, southern Indiana and Illinois to western Kentucky and western and middle Tennessee, northwestern Georgia (near Rome, Floyd County), and to eastern Missouri southward to Williamsville, Wayne County.

Commonly planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the northern states.

More distinct are the following varieties:

Acer saccharum var. Rugelii Rehd.

Leaves thick, 3′—5′ long and 4′—6′ wide, pale and glabrous below, 3-lobed by broad rounded sinuses, rounded or slightly cordate at base, the lobes long-acuminate, usually entire, the middle lobe occasionally slightly undulate, the lateral lobes spreading, sometimes furnished near the base with a short acute lobule.

Distribution. Southeastern Ohio to western Pennsylvania (Kittaning, Armstrong County) and eastern and middle Tennessee, and to southern Ontario, the southern peninsula of Michigan, eastern and central Indiana, southern Illinois, eastern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas (Eureka Springs, Carroll County); rare and local in its extreme form; its 3-lobed leaves sometimes appearing on upper branches of trees bearing on lower branches leaves of the typical Sugar Maple.

Acer saccharum var. sinuosum Sarg.

Acer sinuosum Rehd.

Leaves suborbicular, broader than long, 3—5-lobed with short triangular-ovate to triangular-oblong obtuse lobes, entire or on vigorous shoots occasionally dentate, usually broad-cordate at base, often with the nerves of the two lateral lobes projecting into the broad sinus and forming its base, when they unfold glabrous and purplish above, loosely hairy below, soon glabrous, and at maturity dark yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale, reticulate-venulose and glabrous except in the axils of the principal veins on the lower surface, 3—5-nerved, usually not more than 1½′ long, occasionally up to 2¾′ long and 3′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, ½′—1½′ in length. Flowers appearing with the leaves, on slender glabrous pedicels, ½′—1¼ long, in 3—8-flowered nearly sessile corymbs; calyx broad-campanulate or cupulate, with short semiorbicular lobes ciliate on the margins; petals 0; stamens usually 6, with slender filaments longer than the calyx of the staminate flower; style divided to below the middle, with two spreading stigmas. Fruit glabrous, with long and broad almost horizontally spreading nutlets, convex, smooth, pale yellow-brown, the wing curved upward.

A tree, rarely more than 20° high with a short trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, small branches forming an open irregular head, and slender glabrous branchlets light green above when they first appear, becoming pale red-brown and marked by pale lenticels during their first season and ultimately dull gray-brown. Bark of the trunk smooth, pale gray. Winter-buds small, obtuse, covered with dark brown scales, those of the inner ranks accrescent, linear-oblong, scarlet or pink, up to 1⅛′ in length when fully grown.

Distribution. Edwards Plateau of western Texas, banks and bluffs of Cibolo Creek, near Boerne, Kendall County, on the rocky banks of upper Saco Creek, Bandera County, and at the base of a high limestone bluff near Utopia, Uvalde County; rare and local.

7. Acer floridanum Pax. Sugar Maple.

Leaves rounded, truncate or slightly cordate at the broad base, 3—5-lobed, with short obtuse or acute entire or lobulate lobes, when they unfold sparingly hairy on the upper surface and hoary-tomentose on the lower surface, and at maturity thin, dark green and lustrous above, pale or glaucescent and pubescent below, 1½′—3′ in diameter, and prominently 3—5-nerved, with stout spreading lateral veins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning yellow and scarlet in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, glabrous, or pubescent generally becoming glabrous, 1½′—3′ in length, with an enlarged base nearly encircling the branchlet. Flowers appearing with the leaves on slender elongated sparingly hairy ultimately glabrous or villose-tomentose (var. villipes Rehd.) pedicels, in many-flowered drooping nearly sessile corymbs; calyx campanulate, yellow, about ⅛′ long, persistent under the fruit, the short lobes ciliate on the margins with long pale hairs; corolla 0. Fruit green, sparingly villose until fully grown, usually becoming glabrous, with spreading occasionally erect wings ⅜′—¾′ long; seeds smooth, bright red-brown, about ¼′ long.

A tree, occasionally 50°—60° high, with a trunk rarely 3° in diameter, small erect and spreading branches, and slender glabrous or more or less densely villose-tomentose (var. villipes Rehdr.) branchlets, light green when they first appear, becoming rather light red-brown during their first season, and covered with minute pale lenticels; usually smaller. Winter-buds obtuse, about ⅛′ long, with dark chestnut-brown obtuse scales and bright rose-colored linear-spatulate inner scales often 1′ long when fully grown. Bark of the trunk thin, smooth, pale, becoming near the base of old trees thick, dark, and deeply furrowed.

Distribution. River banks and low wet woods, southeastern Virginia (near McKinney, Dinwiddie County, W. W. Ashe), valley of the Roanoke River near Weldon, Halifax County, North Carolina, and southward to southern Georgia and western Florida to Lafayette County; near Selma, Dallas County, Alabama; West Feliciana Parish and through western Louisiana to eastern Texas (Harrison and St. Augustine Counties), and southern Arkansas (Fulton, Hempstead County); the var. fillipes near Raleigh, Walker County, North Carolina, Calhoun Falls, Abbeville County, South Carolina, Shell Bluff on the Savannah River, Burke County, Cuthbert, Randolph County, and Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia; River Junction, Gadsden County, Florida, and on the San Luis Mountains, southern New Mexico (A. brachypterum Woot. & Stanl.).

Sometimes planted as a shade-tree; the prevailing tree in the streets and squares of Raleigh, North Carolina.

8. Acer grandidentatum Nutt. Sugar Maple.

Leaves cordate or truncate at base, 3-lobed by broad shallow sinuses, the lobes acute or obtuse, entire or slightly lobulate, sparingly hairy on the upper surface and thickly coated with dense pale tomentum on the lower surface when they unfold, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green and lustrous above, pale and pubescent below, especially on the stout nerves and veins, or rarely glabrous, 2′—5′ in diameter; turning in the autumn before falling yellow and scarlet; petioles stout, 1′—2′ in length, glabrous, often red after midsummer, encircling the branchlet with their large base villose on the inner surface. Flowers appearing with the leaves on long slender drooping villose pedicels, in short-stalked corymbs; calyx campanulate, yellow, sparingly hairy with long pale hairs, about ¼′ long, with broad rounded lobes, often persistent under the fruit; corolla 0; stamens 7 or 8, much longer than the calyx, in the pistillate flower shorter than the calyx; ovary usually glabrous, with long spreading stigmatic lobes, rudimentary in the staminate flower. Fruit often rose-colored at midsummer, green at maturity, glabrous or rarely sparingly hairy, with spreading or erect wings ½′—1′ long; seeds smooth, light red-brown, about ¼′ long.

A tree, occasionally 30°—40° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, stout usually erect branches, and slender glabrous bright red branchlets marked by numerous small pale lenticels and nearly encircled by the narrow leaf-scars, with conspicuous bands of long pale hairs in their axils. Winter-buds acute or acuminate, about 1/16′ long, bright red-brown, with puberulous-ciliate outer scales and obovate apiculate inner scales sometimes ½′ long when fully grown. Bark of the trunk thin, dark brown, separating on the surface into plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, bright brown or nearly white, with thick sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of mountain streams usually at altitudes of 5000°—6000° above the sea; on the Salt River Mountains, western Wyoming; valley of the Columbia River in northern Montana, southeastern Idaho (Pocatello, Oneida County), Wasatch Mountains, Utah, mountains of Arizona and of southern New Mexico; on the Guadalupe Mountains, western Texas, and on the Wichita Mountains, southwestern Oklahoma (G. W. Stevens); in Coahuila; rare and local.

Occasionally cultivated; hardy in the Arnold Arboretum.

9. Acer nigrum Michx. Black Maple.

Leaves generally 3 or occasionally 5-lobed, with abruptly short-pointed acute or acuminate lobes, undulate and narrowed from broad shallow sinuses and rarely furnished with short lateral spreading lobules, cordate at base with a broad sinus usually more or less closed by the approximation or imbrication of the basal lobes, occasionally 3-lobed with a broad long-acuminate nearly entire terminal lobe, and rounded or slightly cordate at base (var. Palmeri Sarg.), covered below when they unfold with hoary tomentum and above with caducous pale hairs, and at maturity thick and firm in texture, dull green on the upper surface, yellow-green and soft-pubescent, especially along the yellow veins on the lower surface, and 5′—6′ long and wide, with drooping sides; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, tomentose or pubescent, sometimes becoming glabrous at maturity, usually pendent, 3′—5′ in length, much enlarged at base, frequently nearly inclosing the buds, in falling leaving narrow scars almost encircling the branchlet and furnished in their axils with tufts of long pale hairs; stipules triangular and dentate or foliaceous, sessile or stipitate, oblong, acute, tomentose or pubescent, sometimes slightly lobed, frequently 1½′ long. Flowers yellow, about ¼′ long, on slender hairy pedicels 2½′—3′ long, in many-flowered nearly sessile umbel-like corymbs, the staminate and pistillate in separate or in the same cluster on the same or on different trees; calyx broad-campanulate, 5-lobed by the partial union of the sepals, pilose on the outer surface near the base; corolla 0; stamens 7 or 8, with slender glabrous filaments, in the staminate flower nearly twice as long as the calyx and in the pistillate flower shorter than the calyx; ovary obtusely lobed, pale green, covered with long scattered hairs, minute in the sterile flower. Fruit glabrous, with convergent or wide-spreading wings ½′—1′ long; seeds smooth, bright red-brown, ¼′ long.

A tree, sometimes 80° high, with a trunk frequently 3° in diameter, stout spreading or often erect branches, and stout branchlets marked by oblong pale lenticels, orange-green and pilose with scattered pale caducous hairs when they appear, orange or orange-brown and lustrous during their first year, becoming dull pale gray-brown the following season. Winter-buds sessile, ovoid, acute, ⅛′ long, with dark red-brown acute scales hoary-pubescent on the outer surface and often slightly ciliate on the margins, and yellow puberulous inner scales, ½′—1′ long at maturity. Bark of young stems and of the branches thin, smooth, pale gray, becoming on old trunks thick, deeply furrowed, and sometimes almost black.

Distribution. Valley of the St. Lawrence River in the neighborhood of Montreal, Quebec, southward to the valley of Cold River, New Hampshire, through western Vermont and Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut (near Salisbury, Litchfield County), and westward through northern and western New York, southern Ontario, Ohio, the southern peninsula of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa to southeastern Minnesota, northeastern South Dakota, western and southern Missouri, eastern Kansas, and southward through western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Kentucky; comparatively rare near Montreal and in New England, more abundant farther west; almost entirely replacing Acer saccharum in Iowa, and the only Sugar Maple of South Dakota; easily distinguished in summer by its heavy drooping leaves, and at all seasons of the year by the orange color of the branchlets; the var. Palmeri in a single grove at Tunnel Hill, Johnson County, Illinois; southern Indiana (Shelby, Putnam and Lawrence Counties), and in Clark, Jackson and Dunklin Counties, Missouri; rare and local.

Occasionally planted in the region where it grows naturally as a shade-tree.

10. Acer leucoderme Small. Sugar Maple.

Leaves usually truncate or slightly cordate at base, more or less deeply divided into 3—5 acute caudate-acuminate lobes coarsely and sinuately dentate or undulate, when they unfold coated below with long matted pale caducous hairs, and at maturity thin, dark yellow-green above, bright yellow-green and pilose-pubescent below, 2′—3½′ in diameter; often turning in the autumn bright scarlet on the upper surface before falling; petioles slender, glabrous, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers yellow, about ⅛′ long, on slender, glabrous pedicels, in nearly sessile clusters; calyx campanulate, glabrous or slightly villose, with rounded ciliate lobes; corolla 0; stamens 7 or 8; filaments villose, longer than the calyx, much shorter than the calyx in the pistillate flower; ovary villose; style elongated, with short spreading lobes. Fruit villose, with long scattered pale hairs until nearly grown, becoming glabrous at maturity, the wings wide-spreading or divergent, ½′—¾′ long; seeds smooth, light red-brown, about ¼′ long.

A tree, usually 20°—25° high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, occasionally 40° high, with a trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, short slender branches forming a rather compact round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets dark green when they first appear, becoming bright red-brown and lustrous during their first summer, and marked by numerous small oblong pale lenticels, gradually growing darker in their second year and finally light gray-green. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, dark brown, glabrous, rather more than 1/16′ long, the inner scales becoming bright crimson and very conspicuous when the tree is in flower. Bark of young stems and large branches close, light gray or grayish brown, becoming near the base of old trees dark brown or often nearly black and broken by deep furrows into narrow ridges covered by closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Banks of streams, rocky gorges, and woods in moist soil; valley of the Yadkin River, Stanley County, North Carolina; southeastern Tennessee (Polk County); valley of the Savannah River (Abbeville County, South Carolina, and Richmond County, Georgia) to central and northwestern Georgia (near Rome, Floyd County, and Walker County) and to the valley of the Chattahoochee River to Muscogee County; northern and central Alabama; western Louisiana (Natchitoches and Sabine Parishes); southern Arkansas (Baker Springs, Howard County); rare and local; most abundant in northwestern and central Georgia and northern Alabama.

Occasionally planted as a street tree in the towns of northern Georgia and Alabama; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

11. Acer saccharinum L. Silver Maple. Soft Maple.

Leaves truncate or somewhat cordate at base, deeply 5-lobed by narrow sinuses, with acute irregularly and remotely dentate lobes, the middle lobe often 3-lobed, 6′—7′ long and nearly as broad, thin, bright pale green above, silvery white and at first slightly hairy below, especially in the axils of the primary veins; turning pale yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, drooping, bright red, 4′—5′ in length. Flowers greenish yellow, opening during the first warm days of the late winter or early spring long before the appearance of the leaves, on short pedicels, in sessile axillary fascicles on shoots of the previous year, or on short spur-like branchlets developed the year before from wood of the preceding season, the staminate and pistillate in separate clusters, on the same or on different trees, and produced from clustered obtuse buds covered with thick ovate pubescent red and green scales ciliate on the margins with a thick fringe of long rufous hairs; calyx slightly 5-lobed, more or less pubescent on the outer surface, long and narrow in the staminate and short and broad in the pistillate flower; corolla 0; stamens 3—7, with slender filaments, three times as long as the calyx of the staminate flower and about as long as the calyx of the pistillate flower; ovary covered, like the young fruit, with a thick coat of pubescence, rudimentary in the sterile flower; styles united at base only, with long exserted stigmatic lobes. Fruit ripening in April and May when the leaves are nearly grown, on slender drooping pedicels, 1½′—2′ long, glabrous, 1½′ to nearly 3′ long, with thin almost straight conspicuously falcate divergent wings sometimes ¾′ broad, prominently reticulate-veined and pale chestnut-brown or rarely bright red; seeds ½′ long, with a pale reddish brown wrinkled coat, germinating as soon as they fall to the ground, and producing plants with several pairs of leaves before the end of the summer.

A tree, 90°—120° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, generally dividing 10°—15° from the ground into 3 or 4 stout upright secondary stems destitute of branches for a considerable length, brittle pendulous branchlets light green and covered with lenticels when they first appear, soon becoming darker, bright chestnut-brown, smooth and lustrous in the autumn and winter of their first year, and in their second season pale rose color or gray faintly tinged with red. Winter-buds ⅛′ long, with thick ovate bright red outer scales rounded on the back, minutely apiculate, and ciliate on the margins, and acute inner scales pubescent on the inner surface, becoming pale green or yellow and about 1′ long. Bark of young stems and large branches smooth and gray faintly tinged with red, becoming on old trunks ½′—¾′ thick, reddish brown and more or less furrowed, the surface separating into large thin scales. Wood hard, strong, close-grained, easily worked, rather brittle, pale brown, with thick sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; now sometimes used for flooring and in the manufacture of furniture. Sugar is occasionally made from the sap.

Distribution. Sandy banks of streams, rarely in deep often submerged swamps; valley of the St. John’s River (near Fredericton), New Brunswick, to that of the St. Lawrence in Quebec, and southward through western Vermont and central Massachusetts to western Florida, Alabama, and south central Mississippi, and westward through Ontario, New York, Ohio, the southern peninsula of Michigan and southern Indiana to Minnesota, southeastern South Dakota, and eastern Nebraska, and through Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, eastern Kansas, northwestern Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma; in western Louisiana (swamp near Alexandria, Rapides Parish); rare in the immediate neighborhood of the Atlantic coast and on the high Appalachian Mountains; probably of its largest size in the valley of the lower Ohio River.

Often cultivated with several forms differing in habit and in the lobing of the leaves; fast-growing, and largely planted in the eastern states as a park and street tree.

12. Acer rubrum L. Red Maple. Scarlet Maple.

Leaves truncate, more or less cordate by a broad shallow sinus, rounded or cuneate at base, 3—5-lobed by acute sinuses, with irregularly doubly serrate or toothed lobes, the middle lobe often longer than the others, when they unfold pubescent especially beneath, and at maturity light green and glabrous on the upper surface and white or glaucescent and more or less pubescent or densely tomentose (var. tomentosum Kirch. [var. rubrocarpum Detmars]) on the lower surface, particularly along the principal veins, chartaceous or sometimes almost coriaceous, 1½′—6′ long and rather longer than broad; turning in the early autumn to brilliant shades of scarlet and orange, or clear bright yellow; petioles slender, glabrous or puberulous, red or green, 2′—4′ in length. Flowers opening in March and April before the appearance of the leaves, bright scarlet, dull yellowish red or sometimes yellow (var. pallidiflorum Pax.), on long slender pedicels, in few-flowered fascicles on branches of the previous year, from clustered obtuse buds, the staminate and pistillate flowers in separate clusters on the same or on different trees; sepals oblong, obtuse, as long as and broader than the oblong or linear petals; stamens 5—8, scarlet or yellow, with slender filaments exserted in the staminate and included in the pistillate flower; ovary glabrous on a narrow slightly lobed glandular disk; styles slightly united above the base, with long exserted stigmatic lobes. Fruit ripening in the spring or early summer on drooping stems 3′—4′ long, scarlet, dark red or brown or yellow, with thin erect wings, convergent at first, divergent at maturity, ½′—1′ long and ¼′—½′ wide; seeds dark red, with a rugose coat, ¼′ long, germinating as soon as it falls to the ground.

A tree, 80°—120° high, with a tall trunk 3°—4½° in diameter, upright branches usually forming a rather narrow head, and branchlets green or dark red when they first appear, becoming dark or bright red and lustrous at the end of their first summer and marked by numerous longitudinal white lenticels, and gray faintly tinged with red in their second year. Winter-buds obtuse, ⅛′ long, with thick dark red outer scales, rounded on the back and ciliate on the margins, and inner scales becoming ¾′—1′ long, narrow-oblong, rounded at apex and bright scarlet. Bark of young stems and of the branches smooth and light gray, becoming on old trunks ¼′—½′ thick, dark gray, and divided by longitudinal ridges separating on the surface into large plate-like scales. Wood very heavy, close-grained, not strong, light brown often slightly tinged with red, with thick rather lighter colored sapwood; used in large quantities in the manufacture of chairs and other furniture, in turnery, for wooden ware and gun-stocks.

Distribution. Borders of streams, wet swamps, upland forests and rarely on dry rocky hillsides and sand dunes; Newfoundland, southward to southern Florida (banks of the Miami River, Dade County, on the east coast and to Cypress swamps east of Everglade, Lee County, on the west coast) and westward through Quebec to latitude 49° north, and Ontario to the sandy shores of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Brevort, Mackinac County, on Lake Michigan and White Fish Point, Chippewa County, on Lake Superior), western Wisconsin, northwestern Minnesota (Buckeye County), southeastern Iowa (Johnson County), central Oklahoma, and the valley of the Trinity River, Texas; on the mountains of North Carolina to altitudes of 4500°; one of the commonest and most generally distributed trees of eastern North America, ranging between more degrees of latitude than any other American tree; most abundant southward especially in the valley of the Mississippi River, and of its largest size in the river swamps of the lower Ohio and its tributaries; in the north often covering with small trees low wet swamps; on the sand dunes and ridges of northern Michigan reduced to a low shrub. On var. tomentosum leaves usually 5-lobed, cordate or rarely rounded at base, with glabrous or pubescent petioles and branchlets; widely distributed but rare; near Cranberry Island, Buckeye Lake, Licking County, Ohio; Biltmore, Buncombe County, North Carolina; neighborhood of Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia; top of Flagstaff Mountain, Barclay, Talladega County, Alabama; Panther Burn, Sharkey County, Mississippi; near Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas; near Page, Leflore County, Oklahoma, and Larissa, Cherokee County, Texas; connected by trees of this variety with pubescent branchlets and winter-buds, and broad-ovate 3—5-lobed slightly cordate leaves and pubescent petioles with

Acer rubrum var. Drummondii Sarg.

Leaves often broader than long, usually 5-lobed, cordate or truncate at base, 3′—6′ long and wide, with a stout midrib and veins, until nearly fully grown covered above with scattered hairs and clothed below with thick snow-white tomentum, and more or less pubescent during the season; petioles stout, hoary-tomentose, 1¼′—4′ in length, becoming nearly glabrous in the autumn. Flowers bright scarlet. Fruit ripening with or before the unfolding of the leaves late in March or in April, bright scarlet, with convergent wings 1¼′—2½′ long and ½′—¾′ wide.

A tree, usually not more than 30°—35° high, with small erect branches forming a narrow head and slender branchlets coated when they first appear with matted pale hairs, becoming glabrous and dark reddish brown in their second season.

Distribution. Deep swamps, eastern Louisiana to the valley of the Neches River (Beaumont, Jefferson County, and Concord, Hardin County), eastern Texas and northward through southern and eastern Arkansas to western Mississippi, western Tennessee and Kentucky, southeastern Missouri (Butler, Stoddard, Dunklin and Mississippi Counties), southern Illinois (Gallatin, Pulaski and Richland Counties), and southwestern Indiana (swamp eighteen miles west of Decker, Knox County, C. C. Deam). A form growing at Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi, at Glen Gordon, Covington, St. Tammany Parish, and Chopin, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, near Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas, and at Poplar Bluff, Butler County, Missouri, with 3-lobed leaves rounded at base (f. rotundatum Sarg.) shows in the shape of the leaves a transition from the var. Drummondii to

Acer rubrum var. tridens Wood. Red Maple.

Acer carolinianum Britt., not Walt.

Leaves obovate, usually narrowed from above the middle to the rounded or rarely cuneate base, 3-lobed at apex, with acute or acuminate erect or slightly spreading lobes, simple or furnished with short lateral secondary lobes, remotely serrate except toward the base, with incurved glandular teeth, and often ovate by the suppression of the lateral lobes and acute or acuminate, thick and firm in texture, glaucous and usually pubescent or rarely tomentose or tomentulose below, 2′—3′ long and 1½′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous or pubescent. Flowers sometimes tawny yellow. Fruit usually much smaller and rarely also yellow.

Distribution. Usually with the species; Massachusetts and central New York, southward usually in the coast region and the middle districts to western Florida, along the Gulf coast to the valley of the Trinity River, Texas, and through western Louisiana, and Arkansas to northeastern Mississippi, southern Missouri, western Tennessee and Kentucky and southern Illinois; in North Carolina occasionally ascending on the Appalachian Mountains to altitudes of 3000°; often the prevailing Red Maple in southern Missouri and northwestern Louisiana; in the swamps of western Florida and southwestern Georgia the form with leaves densely tomentose below and pubescent petioles prevails.

13. Acer Negundo L. Box Elder. Ash-leaved Maple.

Leaves usually 3, rarely 5—7-foliolate, with a slender glabrous petiole 2′—3′ in length, the enlarged base often furnished with a minute rim of deciduous white hairs, and in falling leaving a large conspicuous scar surrounding the stem; leaflets ovate to elliptic or obovate, acuminate, and often long-pointed at apex, rounded or cuneate and often unsymmetrical at base, coarsely and irregularly serrate usually only above the middle or nearly entire, and occasionally slightly and irregularly lobulate; when they unfold more or less hoary-tomentose below and slightly pubescent above, and at maturity thin, light green, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, glabrous above, villose-pubescent along the under side of the midrib and veins, often furnished with conspicuous tufts of axillary hairs, otherwise glabrous or slightly pubescent below, 2½′—4′ long, and 1½′—2½′ wide, on slender glabrous petiolules, that of the terminal leaflet ¾′—1′ long and much longer than those of the smaller lateral leaflets. Flowers on slender glabrous or rarely hairy pedicels, minute, apetalous, yellow-green, the staminate and pistillate on separate trees, expanding just before or with the leaves from buds developed in the axils of the last leaves of the previous year, the staminate fascicled, the pistillate in narrow drooping racemes, sometimes furnished near the base with one or two smaller 3-lobed or rarely elliptic leaves; calyx 5-lobed, hairy, campanulate in the staminate flower, much smaller in the pistillate flower and divided to the base into 5 narrow sepals; corolla 0; stamens 4—6, with slender exserted hairy filaments and long linear anthers narrowed and apiculate at apex, 0 in the pistillate flower; ovary on a narrow rudimentary disk, pubescent, only partly inclosed by the calyx; style separating from the base into 2 long stigmatic lobes. Fruit attaining nearly its full size in summer, pendent on glabrous stems 1′—2′ long, in graceful racemes 6′—8′ in length, ripening in the autumn, deciduous from the stems persistent on the branches until the following spring, 1½′—2′ long, with narrow acute pubescent nutlets diverging at an acute angle and constricted below into a stipe-like base, and thin reticulate straight or falcate wings undulate toward the apex; seeds narrowed at the ends, smooth, bright red-brown, ½′ long.

A tree 50°—70° high, with a trunk 2°—4° in diameter, dividing near the ground into a number of stout wide-spreading or erect branches, and slender pale green lustrous glabrous branchlets. Winter-buds terminal acute, ⅛′ long, rather longer than the obtuse lateral buds, the scales tomentose, those of the inner pairs accrescent, becoming 1′ long at maturity, deciduous, leaving conspicuous scars visible at the base of the branchlet for two or three years. Bark of the trunk ¼′—½′ thick, pale gray or light brown and deeply divided into broad rounded ridges separating on the surface into short thick scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, creamy white, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood; occasionally manufactured into cheap furniture, and sometimes used for the interior finish of houses, for wooden ware, cooperage, and paper pulp. Small quantities of maple sugar are occasionally made from this tree.

Distribution. Banks of streams and lakes, and the borders of swamps; western Vermont, western Massachusetts and Connecticut, central New York and southwestern Ontario, and southward to west-central Florida (Hernando County) and westward to Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, eastern Kansas, Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, western Louisiana, and eastern and southern Texas to the valley of the lower Rio Blanco.

Often planted in the United States, especially in the western states and in eastern Canada, and in western and northern Europe, especially the varieties with variegated leaves.

Passing into the following varieties:

Var. violaceum Kirch., with slender pale or bluish violet glabrous branchlets covered with a glaucous bloom and rather larger winter-buds. Leaves 3—11, usually 3—7-foliolulate, the leaflets slightly thicker, lanceolate to oblong-ovate or obovate, often entire or irregularly dentate, occasionally lobed, the terminal leaflet sometimes 3-lobed, usually pubescent and furnished with tufts of axillary hairs on the lower surface. Fruit glabrous, usually constricted at the base. Western Massachusetts through Ohio to northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota, and to northern and southwestern Missouri; in Nez Perces County, Idaho.

Var. texanum Pax., with branchlets covered with pale tomentum. Leaves 3-foliate, the leaflets ovate, or the terminal obovate, acuminate, short-pointed at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, coarsely serrate above the middle or entire, only slightly and irregularly lobed, early in the season villose along the midrib and veins above and thickly coated below with matted pale hairs, and at maturity nearly glabrous on the upper surface and covered below with loose pubescence, 3′—4′ long and 2′—3′ wide. Fruit puberulous, constricted into a short stipe-like base. Western and southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas to the valley of the San Antonio River. Passing into forma latifolia Sarg. differing only in its glabrous branchlets, and distributed from eastern Texas through Louisiana to western Mississippi, western North Carolina, Virginia and southern Ohio.

Var. interior Sarg., with branchlets covered with close pale pubescence, or rarely nearly glabrous. Leaves trifoliate, with puberulous petioles, rachis and petiolules, the long-stalked leaflets ovate to lanceolate, or the terminal sometimes obovate, acuminate and long-pointed at apex, cuneate, rounded or cordate at base, coarsely serrate, sometimes distinctly 3-lobed at base, glabrous or villose on the midrib below, or in Arizona sometimes sparingly pubescent on the lower surface, 3′—4′ long and 1½′—4′ wide. Fruit glabrous, not at all, slightly or at the north conspicuously constricted at the base. Southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta to Wyoming, and through the mountain regions of Colorado and Utah to New Mexico and Arizona.

Var. arizonicum Sarg., with glabrous branchlets thickly covered with a glaucous bloom. Leaves thin, 3-foliolulate; petioles slender, glabrous, 1¾′—3′ long, often turning bright red late in summer; leaflets oblong-ovate to rhombic, acuminate and long-pointed at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, coarsely serrate, often slightly lobed near the middle, glabrous with the exception of conspicuous tufts of axillary hairs, 2½′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide; petiolules slender, glabrous, usually bright red, that of the terminal leaflet ¾′—1′ long, the others not more than ⅛′ in length. Fruit in glabrous racemes 3′ or 4′ long, the body glabrous, spreading, not constricted at base. A tree, 20°—25° high. Bark fissured. Mountain cañons, central and southern Arizona up to 8000° altitude, and in Socorro County, New Mexico. More distinct is

Acer Negundo var. californicum Sarg.

Leaves trifoliate with tomentose or nearly glabrous rachis and petiolules; leaflets oblong-ovate to rhombic, acuminate and long-pointed at apex, cuneate or unsymmetrically rounded at base, coarsely serrate above the middle, or nearly entire, when they unfold hoary-tomentose below and densely pubescent above, occasionally deeply lobed, glabrous on the upper surface except along the midrib and veins, thickly coated on the lower surface with matted pale hairs and furnished with large axillary tufts. Fruit on pubescent pedicels, puberulous or nearly glabrous, not constricted or rarely slightly constricted at base.

A tree, 20°—50° high, with dark bark, hoary-tomentose branchlets and winter-buds.

Distribution. California, valley of the lower Sacramento River and the interior valleys of the coast ranges from the Bay of San Francisco to Santa Barbara County and in elevated cañons on the western slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains; widely distributed but nowhere abundant.

Occasionally planted in California.

XXXVI. HIPPOCASTANACEÆ.

Trees or rarely shrubs, with stout terete branchlets conspicuously marked by triangular leaf-scars, fetid bark, thick fleshy roots, and large scaly winter-buds, the inner scales accrescent with the young shoots and often brightly colored. Leaves opposite, digitately compound, without stipules, deciduous; leaflets 3—9, lanceolate or ovate, serrate, pinnately veined. Flowers polygamo-monœcious, showy, white, red, or pale yellow, on stout jointed pedicels from the axils of minute caducous bracts, racemose or nearly unilateral on the branches of large terminal thyrsi or panicles, appearing later than the leaves, only those near the base of the branches of the inflorescence perfect and fertile; calyx 5 or rarely 2-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, unequal, campanulate or tubular, the lobes imbricated in the bud, mostly oblique or posteriorly gibbous at base; disk hypogynous, annular, depressed, lobed, more or less gibbous posteriorly; petals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud, alternate with the lobes of the calyx, deciduous, the anterior petal often abortive, unguiculate, the margins of the claw commonly involute; stamens 6—8, rarely 5, generally 7, inserted on the disk, free, unequal; filaments filiform; anthers ellipsoid, glandular-apiculate, attached on the back below the middle, introrse, 2-celled, the contiguous cells opening longitudinally; ovary sessile, oblong or lanceolate, 3-celled, echinate or glabrous, rudimentary in the staminate flower; style slender, elongated, generally more or less curved; stigma terminal, entire, mostly acute; ovules 2 in each cell, borne on the middle of its inner angle, amphitropous, the upper ascending, the micropyle inferior, the lower pendulous, the micropyle superior. Fruit an echinate or smooth coriaceous capsule, 3-celled and loculicidally 3-valved, the cells 1-seeded by abortion, often by suppression 1 or 2-celled, and then 1 or 2-seeded, the remnants of the abortive cells and seeds commonly visible at its maturity. Seeds without albumen, round when one is developed, or, when more than one, flattened by mutual pressure; seed-coat coriaceous, dark chestnut-brown or pale orange-brown, smooth and lustrous, with a broad opaque light-colored hilum; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons very thick and fleshy, often conferruminate, unequal, incurved on the short conic radicle, remaining under ground in germination; plumule conspicuously 2-leaved.

The Horsechestnut family is composed of the widely distributed genus Aesculus and of Billia Peyr., a genus of two species of Mexican and Central American trees, differing from Aesculus in its 3-foliolate leaves.

1. AESCULUS L.

Characters of the family; leaves 5—9-foliolate.

Aesculus with fifteen or sixteen species, is represented in the floras of the three continents of the northern hemisphere and is most abundant in the southeastern United States. It produces soft straight-grained light-colored wood and bitter and astringent bark. The seeds contain a bitter principle, aesculin. Aesculus Hippocastanum L., of the mountains of Greece, the common Horsechestnut of gardens, is largely planted as an ornamental tree in all countries with temperate climates, and now occasionally grows spontaneously in the eastern states.

The generic name is the classical name of an Oak-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICA.

Winter-buds without a resinous covering. Pavia. Calyx campanulate (occasionally tubular in 3); margins of the petals ciliate, eglandular; flowers usually yellow. Octandræ. Fruit covered with prickles; flowers yellow; petals nearly equal in length, shorter than the stamens. 1. A. glabra (A, C). Fruit without prickles; flowers yellow or red; petals unequal in length, longer than the stamens. Pedicels and calyx glandular-villose. 2. A. octandra (A, C). Pedicels and calyx without glandular hairs. 3. A. georgiana (C). Calyx tubular; margins of the unequal petals without hairs, glandular; fruit without prickles. Eupaviæ. Lower surface of the leaves glabrous or slightly pubescent along the midrib; flowers red; seeds dark chestnut-brown. 4. A. Pavia (C). Lower surface of the leaves tomentose or pubescent; flowers red and yellow, red, or in one form yellow; seed light yellow-brown. 5. A. discolor (C). Winter-buds resinous; petals nearly equal in length, shorter than the stamens; fruit without prickles. Calothyrsus. 6. A. californica (G).

1. Aesculus glabra Willd. Ohio Buckeye. Fetid Buckeye.

Leaves with a slender petiole 4′—6′ long and enlarged at the end, a rachis often furnished on the upper side with clusters of dark brown chaff-like scales surrounding the base of the petiolules, and 5 rarely 7 (var. Buckleyi Sarg.) oval-oblong or obovate acuminate leaflets gradually narrowed to the elongated entire base, finely and unequally serrate above, at first sessile, becoming slightly petiolulate at maturity, covered on the lower surface like the petioles when they first appear with floccose deciduous hairs most abundant on the midrib and veins, and at maturity glabrous with the exception of a few hairs along the under side of the conspicuous yellow midrib and in the axils of the principal veins, or rarely covered below with close dense pubescence persistent during the season (var. pallida, Kirch.); yellow-green, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, 4′—6′ long and 1½′—2½′ wide; turning yellow in the autumn before falling. Flowers pale yellow-green, mostly unilateral, ½′—1½′ long or more than twice as long as the pedicels, appearing in April and May in clusters 5′—6′ long and 2′—3′ wide, and more or less densely covered with pubescence, with short usually 4—6-flowered branches; calyx campanulate; petals nearly equal, puberulous, the thin limb about twice as long as the claw, in the lateral pair broad-ovate or oblong, and in the superior pair oblong-spatulate, much narrower, sometimes marked with red stripes; stamens usually 7, with long exserted curved pubescent filaments and orange-colored slightly hairy anthers; ovary pubescent, covered with long slender deciduous prickles thickened and tubercle-like at base. Fruit on a stout stem ½′—1′ long, ovoid or irregularly obovoid, pale brown, 1′—2′ long, with thin or sometimes thick valves, roughened by the enlarged persistent bases of the prickles of the ovary; seeds 1′—1½′ broad.

A tree, occasionally 70° high, with a trunk rarely 2° in diameter, small spreading branches, and branchlets orange-brown and covered at first with short fine pubescence, soon glabrous, reddish brown, and marked by scattered orange-colored lenticels; usually much smaller, and rarely more than 30° high. Winter-buds ⅔′ long, acuminate, with thin nearly triangular pale brown scales, the outer bright red on the inner surface toward the base, those of the inner pair strap-shaped, prominently keeled on the back, minutely apiculate and slightly ciliate along the margins, and at maturity 1½′—2′ long and bright yellow. Bark of young stems and of the branches dark brown and scaly, becoming on old trees ¾′ thick, ashy gray, densely furrowed, and broken into thick plates roughened on the surface by numerous small scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, often blemished by dark lines of decay, nearly white, with thin dark-colored sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth; used in the manufacture of artificial limbs, wooden ware, wooden hats, and paper pulp; occasionally sawed into lumber. An extract of the bark has been used as an irritant of the cerebro-spinal system.

Distribution. River-bottoms and the banks of streams in rich moist soil; western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, western and southwestern Pennsylvania to northern Alabama, and westward to central and southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, northern and central Missouri and northeastern Kansas; nowhere abundant; most common and of its largest size in the valley of the Tennessee River in Tennessee and northern Alabama.

A shrubby form (var. micrantha Sarg.) with flowers not more than ½′ long near Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas. In southern Missouri, Arkansas and probably Oklahoma Aesculus glabra is replaced by the var. leucodermis Sarg. with glabrous leaves pale green or glaucescent below. A tree occasionally 60° high, well distinguished from the type by the smooth pale nearly white bark of the trunk and large branches, becoming on old trunks light brown and separating into oblong flakes, and by its later flowers; the var. pallida in Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas; the var. Buckleyi in Jackson County, Missouri, eastern Kansas, Ohio and Mississippi.

The Ohio Buckeye is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the eastern United States and Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

× Aesculus Bushii Schn., probably a hybrid of Aesculus discolor var. mollis Sarg. and Aesculus glabra var. leucodermis Sarg., has been found in the neighborhood of Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas; and what is evidently a hybrid of Aesculus discolor var. mollis and the typical form of Aesculus glabra occurs near Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.

× Aesculus mississippiensis Sarg., a probable hybrid between Aesculus glabra and Aesculus Pavia with characters intermediate between those of its supposed parents, occurs near Brookville, Noxubee County, Mississippi. The mingling of a species of the Octandræ and of the Eupaviæ in these hybrids of Aesculus is shown by the presence of both hairs and glands on the margins of the petals.

2. Aesculus octandra Marsh. Sweet Buckeye.

Leaves with slender or slightly pubescent petioles 4′—6′ long, and 5—7 elliptic or obovate-oblong leaflets, acuminate and usually abruptly long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, sharply and equally serrate, glabrous above except on the midrib and veins sometimes clothed with reddish brown pubescence, when they unfold more or less canescent-pubescent on the lower surface, becoming glabrous at maturity, with the exception of a few pale or rufous hairs along the stout midrib and in the axils of the principal veins, dark yellow-green, duller on the lower than on the upper surface, 4′—6′ long, and 1½′—2½′ wide; petiolules 1/12′—½′ in length; turning yellow in the autumn before falling. Flowers opening in early spring when the leaves are about half grown, 1′—1½′ long, pale or dark yellow, rarely red, pink or cream-colored (var. virginica Sarg.), on short glandular-villose pedicels mostly unilateral on the branches of the pubescent clusters 5′—7′ in length; calyx campanulate, glandular-villose; petals connivent, very unequal, puberulent, the claws villose within, limb of the superior pair spatulate, minute, the long claws exceeding the lobes of the calyx, those of the lateral pair obovate or nearly round and subcordate at base; stamens usually 7, rather shorter than the petals, with straight or inclining subulate villose filaments; ovary pubescent. Fruit 2′—3′ long, generally 2-seeded, with thin smooth or slightly pitted pale brown valves; seeds 1½′ to nearly 2′ wide.

A tree, sometimes 90° high, with a tall straight trunk 2½°—3° in diameter, small rather pendulous branches, and glabrous or nearly glabrous branchlets orange-brown when they first appear, becoming in their second year pale brown and marked by numerous irregularly developed lenticels. Winter-buds ⅔′ long, rather obtuse, with broad-ovate pale brown outer scales rounded on the back, minutely apiculate, ciliate, and slightly covered with a glaucous bloom, the inner scales becoming sometimes 2′ long, bright yellow or occasionally scarlet. Bark of the trunk about ¾′ thick, dark brown, divided by shallow fissures and separating on the surface into small thin scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, difficult to split, creamy white, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood; used in the manufacture of artificial limbs, for wooden ware, wooden hats, paper pulp, and occasionally sawed into lumber.

Distribution. Rich river-bottoms and mountain slopes; southwestern Pennsylvania (Alleghany, Greene and Fayette Counties), southward along the mountains to east Tennessee, and northwestern Georgia, and westward to north central Ohio (near Plymouth, Richard County), southeastern and southern Indiana (near Aurora, Dearborn County, and on the banks of Dry River near Leavenworth, Crawford County, C. C. Deam) and to southern Illinois (near Golconda, Pope County, shrub 6′—12′ high, E. J. Palmer); the var. virginica at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Occasionally cultivated in the parks of the eastern United States and Europe.

× Aesculus hybrida DC., with red and yellow flowers, believed to be a hybrid of Aesculus octandra and Aesculus Pavia, appeared in the Botanic Garden at Montpelier in France early in the nineteenth century, and in many varieties is cultivated in Europe and occasionally in the eastern United States.

3. Aesculus georgiana Sarg.

Leaves with slender glabrous petioles 4½′—6′ in length, and 5 leaflets oblong-obovate, abruptly acuminate and long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and acuminate at base, finely often doubly serrate with rounded teeth pointing forward, sparingly covered early in the season, especially on the upper side of the midrib and veins, with short caducous hairs, yellow-green above, green, glabrous and lustrous or pubescent (var. pubescens Sarg.) below, 4½′—6′ long, 1½′—2½′ wide, with a stout orange-colored midrib and 20—30 pairs of slender primary veins; petiolules stout, puberulous early in the season, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers opening in April and May 1′—1⅛′ long, on slender puberulous pedicels, in broad pubescent panicles, 4′—6′ in length; calyx campanulate or tubular, puberulous, about 5/12′ in diameter, red on the upper side, pale yellow on the lower side or entirely red or yellow, 5-lobed, the lobes oblong-ovate, narrowed and rounded at apex, finely serrate on the margins; petals connivent, obovate, rounded at apex, gradually narrowed below, those of the superior and lateral pairs very unequal in size, puberulous and glandular on the outer surface, pubescent on the inner surface, ciliate on the margins, bright yellow or red, their claws furnished on the margins with long white hairs, those of the superior pair as long as the lateral petals; stamens 7, shorter than the petals; filaments villose, especially below the middle; ovary covered with matted pale hairs; styles exserted, villose. Fruit on stout pendulous pedicels, globose, usually 1-seeded, 1′—1¼′ in diameter, with thin light brown slightly pitted valves; seed globose, dark chestnut-brown.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, slender erect and spreading branches and stout glabrous branchlets, orange-green and marked by pale lenticels when they first appear, becoming light reddish brown in their first winter; more often a large or small round-topped shrub 3°—5° tall and broad. Bark of the trunk thin, dark brown, the surface separating into small thin scales. Winter-buds about ⅓′ long, with light reddish brown scales, narrowed, rounded and short-pointed at apex. The common Buckeye of the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina and northern Georgia.

Distribution. Central North Carolina (Durham and Orange Counties), southward to eastern (Richmond County) and central Georgia; northern Alabama (Madison, Etowah and Tuscaloosa Counties), and near Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida. The var. pubescens occasionally arborescent in habit, common in the woods west of Augusta, Richmond County, and in De Kalb, Rabun and Floyd Counties, Georgia, ranging northward to Orange County, North Carolina, and ascending on the Blue Ridge to altitudes of 3000°; in northern Alabama.

× Aesculus Harbisonii Sarg., a probable hybrid between A. discolor var. mollis and A. georgiana, has appeared in the Arnold Arboretum among plants of A. georgiana raised from seeds collected near Stone Mountain, De Kalb County, Georgia.

A distinct form of Aesculus georgiana is

Aesculus georgiana var. lanceolata Sarg.

Leaves with glabrous petioles 3½′—5½′ in length, and 5 lanceolate or slightly oblanceolate leaflets long-acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, and finely glandular-serrate, when the flowers open early in May thin yellow-green above, pale below, glabrous with the exception of occasional hairs on the under side of the slender midrib and of minute axillary tufts, 6′—8′ long and 1¼′—1½′ wide; petiolules 1/12′—⅙′ in length. Flowers on stout puberulous pedicels, bright red, in narrow crowded clusters, 8′—10′ long; calyx narrow-campanulate, otherwise as in the type. Fruit not seen.

A tree 25°—30° high, with a short trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, small erect and spreading branches forming a narrow head, and slender glabrous branchlets orange-brown when they first appear, becoming dark gray-brown and marked by pale lenticels in their second year.

Distribution. Georgia, rich woods near Clayton, Rabun County.

4. Aesculus Pavia L. Red-flowered Buckeye.

Leaves with slender petioles glabrous or puberulous early in the season and 4′—7′ long, and 5 short-petiolulate, oblong-obovate, acuminate leaflets, gradually narrowed at base, coarsely often doubly serrate above with incurved teeth, slightly pubescent early in the season along the upper side of the midrib and veins, and glabrous or slightly pubescent below, and at maturity thin, lustrous and glabrous, dark green on the upper surface, pale yellow-green on the lower surface, often furnished with conspicuous tufts of axillary hairs, 3½′—6′ long and 1¼′—1¾′ wide, with a thin midrib and from 18—30 pairs of slender primary veins. Flowers in narrow pubescent panicles, 4½′—8′ in length, on slender pubescent pedicels; calyx tubular, dark red, puberulous on both surfaces, minutely lobed, the lobes rounded, much shorter than the light red petals; petals connivent, unequal, oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, glandular on the outer surface and on the margins, gradually narrowed below into a long slender villose claw; claw of the lateral petals about as long or shorter than the calyx, those of the superior pair much longer than the calyx, their blades not more than one-third as large as the blades of the lateral pair; stamens exserted; filaments villose like the ovary. Fruit obovoid or subglobose, light brown, smooth, generally pitted, usually 1 or 2-seeded, pendulous on slender stems; seeds usually about 1′ in diameter, dark chestnut-brown and lustrous with a small hilum.

Occasionally a tree, rarely 40° high, with a tall trunk 8′—10′ in diameter covered with smooth dark bark, large erect branches forming an open head, and stout light orange-brown branchlets marked in their second year by conspicuous emarginate scars of fallen leaves showing the ends of 3 fibro-vascular bundles; usually a shrub, often flowering when not more than 3′ high.

Distribution. Southeastern Virginia, southward to western Florida to the valley of the Suwanee River (near Old Town, Lafayette County), and westward to eastern Louisiana, usually in the neighborhood of the coast; in Alabama ranging inland to Jefferson and Dallas Counties and in Louisiana to West Feliciana Parish; in southern Kentucky (near Bowling Green, Warren County).

5. Aesculus discolor Pursh. Buckeye.

Leaves with slender grooved villose or pubescent usually ultimately glabrous petioles 4′ or 5′ long, and 5 oblong-obovate or elliptic leaflets, acuminate and usually long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and acuminate at the entire base, finely or coarsely and sometimes doubly crenulate-serrate above, dark green, lustrous and glabrous except along the slender yellow midrib and veins on the upper surface, lighter colored and tomentulose or tomentose on the lower surface, 4′—5′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, nearly sessile or raised on slender petiolules up to ½′ in length. Flowers opening from the first to the middle of April, usually ¾′—1′ long, on slender pubescent pedicels much thickened on the fruit, sometimes ¼′ long, and mostly aggregated toward the end of the short branches of the narrow pubescent inflorescence 6′—8′ in length; calyx red, rose color or yellow more or less deeply tinged with red, tubular, short and broad or elongated, puberulous on the outer surface, tomentose on the inner surface, with rounded lobes; petals yellow, shorter than the stamens, connivent, unequal, oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, puberulous on the outer surface and glandular on the margins with minute dark glands, those of the superior pair about half as wide as those of the lateral pair, with claws much longer than the calyx; filaments and ovary villose. Fruit ripening and falling in October, usually only a few fruits maturing in a cluster, generally obovoid or occasionally subglobose, mostly 2-seeded, 1½′—2½′ long, with very thin, light brown slightly pitted valves; seeds light yellow-brown, sometimes 1½′ in diameter, with a comparatively small hilum and a thin shell.

Rarely arborescent and occasionally 25° high, with a straight trunk 6′ or 7′ in diameter, stout branches forming a narrow symmetric head, and slender branchlets marked by numerous small pale lenticels, green and puberulous at first, becoming gray slightly tinged with red during their first winter and only slightly darker in their second year; usually a small or large shrub. Winter-buds broad-ovoid, obtusely pointed, about ¼′ long, with rounded apiculate light red-brown scales. Bark thin, smooth, and pale.

Distribution. Rich woods; Shell Bluff on the Savannah River, Burke County, Georgia; near Birmingham, Jefferson County, and Selma, Dallas County, Alabama; near Campbell, Dunklin County, Missouri; Comal Springs, New Braunfels County, and Sutherland Springs, Wilson County, Texas; rare and local, and found as a tree only near Birmingham, Alabama; more abundant is the var. mollis Sarg. (Aesculus austrina Small) with bright red flowers; a tree up to 25° or 30° high, or more often a large or small shrub; valley of the lower Cape Fear River (near Wilmington, New Hanover County), North Carolina, southward near the coast to the neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina, through Georgia to the neighborhood of Rome, Floyd County, and southward to western Florida; in Alabama widely distributed from Jefferson County southward; widely distributed in Mississippi except in the neighborhood of the Gulf coast, to West Feliciana Parish, eastern Louisiana; more common and generally distributed in western Louisiana, and through eastern Texas to the valley of the San Antonio River (neighborhood of San Antonio, Bexar County) and to that of the upper Guadalupe River (near Boerne, Kendall County), ranging northward through Arkansas to southern Missouri and western Tennessee.

On the Edwards Plateau of western Texas Aesculus discolor is represented by the var. flavescens Sarg., with yellow flowers, appearing a few days earlier than those of the var. mollis; a shrub 9′—12′ high, or often much smaller; interesting as the only form of Eupaviæ with yellow flowers; San Marcos, Hays County, common on the slopes above Comal Springs, near New Braunfels, Comal County, near Boerne, Kendall County (with the var. mollis), Kerrville, Kerr County, and Cancan, Uvalde County.

6. Aesculus californica Nutt. Buckeye.

Leaves with slender grooved petioles 3′—4′ long, and 4—7 usually 5 oblong-lanceolate acuminate leaflets narrowed and acuminate or rounded at base, sharply serrate, 4′—6′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, dark green above, paler below, slightly pubescent when they first appear, becoming glabrous or nearly so, on petiolules ½′—1′ long; falling early, often by midsummer. Flowers white or pale rose color, 1′—1¼′ long, appearing from May to July when the leaves are fully grown, on short pedicels mostly unilateral on the long branches of the densely flowered long-stemmed pubescent cluster 3′—9′ in length; calyx 2-lobed, slightly toothed, much shorter than the narrow oblong petals; stamens 5—7, with long erect exserted slender filaments and bright orange-colored anthers; ovary densely pubescent. Fruit obovoid, often somewhat gibbous on the outer side, with thin smooth pale brown valves, usually 1-seeded, 2′—3′ long, on a slender stalk ¼′—½′ in length; seeds pale orange-brown, 1½′—2′ broad.

A tree, rarely 20°—30° high, with a short trunk occasionally 4°—5° in diameter, often much enlarged at base, stout wide-spreading branches, forming a round-topped head, and branchlets glabrous and pale reddish brown when they first appear, becoming darker in their second season; more often a shrub, with spreading stems 10°—15° high forming broad dense thickets. Winter-buds acute, covered with narrow dark brown scales rounded on the back and thickly coated with resin. Bark of the trunk about ¼′ thick, smooth, and light gray or nearly white. Wood soft, light, very close-grained, white or faintly tinged with yellow, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. California, borders of streams, valley of the south fork of the Salmon River, Siskiyou County, south along the coast ranges to San Luis Obispo County and on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, usually at altitudes between 2000° and 2500°, occasionally to 5000°, to the northern slopes of Tejon Pass, Kern County, and to Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the Pacific states, and in western and southern Europe.

XXXVII. SAPINDACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with alternate pinnate petiolate persistent or deciduous leaves, without stipules. Flowers regular or irregular, polygamo-diœcious, polygamo-monœcious or polygamous; calyx of 4 or 5 sepals or lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 4 or 5 imbricated in the bud; disk annular, fleshy, 5-lobed, or unilateral and oblique; stamens usually 7—10, inserted on the disk; filaments free; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 2—4 or 3-celled; styles terminal; stigmas capitate or lobed; ovule solitary or 2 in each cell, anatropous or amphitropous. Fruit a drupe or capsule. Seed usually solitary, without albumen; seed-coat bony, coriaceous or crustaceous.

Of the one hundred and twenty-six genera of this family, which is chiefly confined to the tropics and is more abundant in the Old than in the New World, four have arborescent representatives in the United States.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Fruit baccate. Fruit dark orange-color or yellow, with thin semitranslucent coriaceous flesh; ovules 1 in each cell of the ovary; leaflets subcoriaceous to coriaceous. 1. Sapindus. Fruit purple, with thick juicy flesh; ovules 2 in each cell of the ovary; leaflets thin, persistent. 2. Exothea. Fruit a drupe; leaves 3-foliolate, persistent. 3. Hypelate. Fruit a 3-valved capsule; leaves 4 or 5, rarely 3-foliolate, deciduous. 4. Ungnadia.

1. SAPINDUS L. Soapberry.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branches, without a terminal bud, marked by large obcordate leaf-scars showing the ends of 3 equidistant fibro-vascular bundles, small globose axillary buds often superposed in pairs, the upper bud the larger, and thick fleshy roots. Leaves equally or rarely unequally pinnate. Flowers regular, minute, polygamo-diœcious, on short pedicels from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, in ample axillary or terminal panicles; sepals 4 or 5, unequal, slightly united at base; petals 4 or 5, equal, alternate with the sepals, inserted under the thick edge of the annular fleshy entire crenately lobed disk, unguiculate, naked or furnished at the summit of the claw on the inside with a 2-cleft scale, deciduous; stamens usually 8 or 10, inserted on the disk immediately under the ovary, equal; filaments subulate or filiform, often pilose, exserted in the staminate, much shorter in the pistillate flower; anthers oblong, attached near the base; pistils 2 or 3, united; ovary sessile, entire or 2—4-lobed, 2—4-celled, narrowed into a short columnar style, rudimentary in the staminate flower; stigma 2—4-lobed, the lobes spreading; ovule solitary in each cell, ascending from below the inner angle of the cell; raphe ventral; micropyle inferior. Fruit baccate, coriaceous, 1—3-seeded, usually formed of 1 globose coriaceous carpel, with the rudiments of the others remaining at its base, or of 2 or sometimes 3 carpels more or less connate by their base and then 2—3-lobed. Seed solitary in each carpel, obovoid or globose; seed-coat bony, smooth, black or dark brown; tegmen membranaceous or fleshy; hilum oblong, surrounded by an ariloid tuft of long pale silky hairs; embryo incurved or straight; cotyledons thick and fleshy, incumbent; radicle very short, inferior, near the hilum.

Sapindus is widely distributed through the tropics, especially in Asia, occasionally extending into colder regions. About forty species have been distinguished; of these three are found within the territory of the United States.

Sapindus contains a detersive principle which causes the pulp of the fruit to lather in water, and makes it valuable as a substitute for soap. The bark, which is bitter and astringent, has been used as a tonic. The seeds of several of the species are strung for chaplets and bracelets and are used as buttons.

The generic name, from sapo and Indus, refers to the detersive properties and use of the first species known to Europeans, a native of the West Indies.

CONSPECTUS OF THE SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Leaves persistent. Rachis of the leaf interrupted-winged, with usually broad wings; leaflets 4—9, oblong-lanceolate and acute to elliptic-ovate or oblong, tomentulose below; petals without scales; fruit globose, orange-brown. 1. S. saponaria (D). Rachis of the leaf without wings narrow-margined or marginless; leaflets 7—13, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, often somewhat falcate, glabrous below; petals with scales; fruit somewhat oblong, dorsally keeled, yellow. 2. S. marginatus (C). Leaves deciduous, their rachis without marginal borders; leaflets 8—18, lanceolate, mostly falcate, soft-pubescent or ultimately glabrous below; petals with scales; fruit globose, not keeled, turning black in drying. 3. S. Drummondii (C, E).

1. Sapindus saponaria L.

Leaves 6′—7′ long, with a broad winged rachis, the wings narrow and often nearly obsolete below the lowest pair of leaflets, and sometimes nearly ½′ wide below the upper pair, and usually 7—9 elliptic to oblong-lanceolate leaflets, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed at base and very short-petiolulate, soft-pubescent on the lower surface when they unfold, and at maturity rather coriaceous, yellow-green, paler and tomentulose below, prominently reticulate-venulose, 3′—4′ long and 1½′ wide, with a yellow midrib and primary veins, those of the lowest pair smaller than the others; rarely reduced to a single leaflet. Flowers appearing in Florida in November, usually produced 3 together on short pedicels, in terminal panicles 7′—10′ in length, with an angulate peduncle and branches; calyx-lobes acute, concave, ciliate on the margins, the 2 outer rather smaller than those of the inner rank, much shorter than the white, ovate, short-clawed petals, without scales, rounded at apex and covered, especially toward the base, with long scattered hairs; ovary slightly 3-lobed; stamens included or slightly exserted, with hairy filaments broadened at base. Fruit ripening in spring or in early summer, globose, ⅔′—¾′ in diameter, with thin orange-brown semitranslucent flesh; seeds obovoid, black, 1′ in diameter.

A tree, sometimes 25°—30° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 10′—12′ in diameter, erect branches and slender branchlets at first slightly many-angled and puberulous, soon glabrous, orange-green and marked by white lenticels, becoming in their second season terete, pale brown faintly tinged with red. Bark of the trunk ¼′—½′ thick, light gray and roughened by oblong lighter colored excrescences, the outer layer exfoliating in large flakes exposing the nearly black inner bark. Wood heavy, rather hard, close-grained, light brown tinged with yellow, with thick yellow sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, shores of Cape Sable, shores and islands of Caximbas Bay, Key Largo, Elliott’s Key, and the shores of Bay Biscayne, Dade County; in Florida most common in the region of Cape Sable, and of its largest size on some of the Ten Thousand Islands, Lee County; generally distributed through the West Indies to Venezuela and Ecuador.

2. Sapindus marginatus Willd.

Sapindus manatensis Radlk.

Leaves 6′—7′ long, with a slender wingless or narrow-margined or marginless rachis, and 7—13 lance-oblong acuminate more or less falcate leaflets, glabrous, dark green, and lustrous on the upper surface, paler and glabrous or puberulous on the lower surface along the slender midrib, sessile or very short-petiolulate, 2′—5′ long, ¾′—1¼′ wide, the lower usually alternate, the upper opposite. Flowers appearing in early spring, more or less tinged with red and nearly ⅛′ in diameter, on short stout tomentose pedicels, in panicles 4′—5′ long and usually about 3′ wide, with a villose stem and branches; sepals acute, concave, ciliate on the margins, much shorter than the ovate-oblong, short-clawed, ciliate petals furnished on the inner surface near the base with a 2-lobed villose scale; filaments villose; ovary 3-lobed. Fruit conspicuously keeled on the back, short-oblong to slightly obovoid, about ¾′ long, with thin light yellow translucent flesh; seeds obovoid, dark brown.

A tree, rarely more than 25°—30° high, with a trunk sometimes 1° in diameter, and stout pale brown or ultimately ashy gray branchlets.

Distribution. Hurricane Island at the mouth of Medway River, Liberty County, Georgia (Miss J. King); hummocks, peninsular of Florida to Alachua and Manatee Counties; not common; in Cuba.

3. Sapindus Drummondii Hook. & Arn. Wild China-tree.

Leaves appearing in March and April, with a slender grooved puberulous rachis, without wings, and 4—9 pairs of alternate obliquely lanceolate acuminate leaflets, glabrous on the upper surface and covered with short pale pubescence on the lower surface, coriaceous, prominently reticulate-venulose, pale yellow-green, 2′—3′ long, ½′—⅔′ wide, short-petiolulate; deciduous in the autumn or early winter. Flowers appearing in May and June in clusters 6′—9′ long and 5′—6′ wide, with a pubescent many-angled stem and branches; sepals acute and concave, ciliate on the margins, much shorter than the obovate white petals rounded at apex, contracted into a long claw hairy on the inner surface and furnished at base with a deeply cleft scale hairy on the margins; filaments hairy, with long soft hairs. Fruit ripening in September and October, persistent on the branches until the following spring, glabrous, not keeled, yellow, ½′ in diameter, turning black in drying; seeds obovoid, dark brown.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk sometimes 1½°—2° in diameter, usually erect branches, and branchlets at first slightly many-angled, pale yellow-green, pubescent, becoming in their second year terete, pale gray, slightly puberulous, and marked by numerous small lenticels. Bark of the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick, separating by deep fissures into long narrow plates broken on the surface into small red-brown scales. Wood heavy, strong, close-grained, light brown tinged with yellow, with lighter colored sapwood of about 30 layers of annual growth; splitting easily into thin strips and largely used in the manufacture of baskets used in harvesting cotton, and for the frames of pack-saddles.

Distribution. Moist clay soil or dry limestone uplands; southwestern Missouri to northeastern and southern Kansas, eastern Louisiana (Tangipahoa Parish R. S. Cocks), and to extreme western and southwestern Oklahoma, through eastern Texas to the Rio Grande, over the Edwards Plateau, and in the mountain valleys of western Texas and of southern New Mexico and Arizona; in northern Mexico.

2. EXOTHEA Macf.

A tree, with thin scaly bark, and terete branchlets covered with lenticels. Leaves petiolate, abruptly pinnate or 3 or rarely 1-foliolate, glabrous, without stipules, persistent; leaflets oblong or oblong-ovate, acute, rounded or emarginate at apex, with entire undulate margins, obscurely veined, thin, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface and slightly paler on the lower surface. Flowers regular, polygamo-diœcious, on short pedicels from the axils of minute deciduous bracts covered with thick pale tomentum, in ample terminal or axillary wide-branched panicles clothed with orange-colored pubescence; sepals 5, ovate, rounded at apex, ciliate on the margins, puberulous, persistent; petals 5, white, ovate, rounded at apex, short-unguiculate, alternate with and rather longer and narrower than the sepals; disk annular, fleshy, irregularly 5-lobed, puberulous; stamens 7 or 8, inserted on the disk, as long as the petals in the staminate flower, much shorter in the pistillate flower; filaments filiform, glabrous, anthers oblong, with a broad connective, rudimentary in the staminate flower; ovary sessile on the disk, conic, pubescent, 2-celled, contracted into a short thick style, rudimentary in the staminate flower, stigma large, declinate, obtuse; ovules 2 in each cell, suspended from the summit of the inner angle, collateral, anatropous, raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit a nearly spherical 1-seeded berry containing the rudiment of the second cell and tipped with the short remnant of the style, surrounded at base by the persistent reflexed sepals; flesh becoming thick, dark purple, and juicy at maturity. Seed short-oblong to subglobose, solitary, suspended; seed-coat thin, coriaceous, orange-brown and lustrous; embryo subglobose, filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons fleshy, plano-convex, puberulous; radicle superior, very short, uncinate, turned toward the small hilum and inclosed in a lateral cavity of the seed-coat.

The genus is represented by a single West Indian species.

The generic name is from ἐξωθέω, in allusion to its removal from a related genus.

1. Exothea paniculata Radlk. Ironwood. Ink Wood.

Leaves appearing in April, on stout grooved petioles ½′—1′ in length; leaflets 4′—5′ long and 1½′—2′ wide. Flowers opening in Florida in April, ¼′ across when expanded, the staminate and pistillate on separate plants. Fruit fully grown by the end of June and then ½′—⅝′ long, and dull orange color, remaining on the branches during the summer, ripening in the autumn; seeds ¼′—⅜′ in diameter.

A tree, sometimes 40°—50° high, with a trunk 12′—15′ in diameter, slender upright branchlets orange-brown when they first appear, becoming reddish brown in their second year and thickly covered by small white lenticels. Bark of the trunk ⅛′—¼′ thick, the bright red surface separating into large scales. Wood very hard and heavy, strong, close-grained, bright red-brown, with lighter colored sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth; valued for piles and also used in Florida in boat-building, for the handles of tools, and many small articles.

Distribution. Florida, Mosquito Inlet on the east coast to the shores of Bay Biscayne and on the Everglade Keys, Dade County, and on the southern keys; on the Bahamas, on many of the Antilles, and in Guatemala; on the Florida Keys generally distributed, but not common.

3. HYPELATE P. Br.

A glabrous tree or shrub, with smooth bark and slender terete branchlets. Leaves long-petioled, the petioles sometimes narrow-winged, 3-foliolate, the terminal leaflet rather larger than the others, persistent; leaflets sessile, obovate, rounded or rarely acute or emarginate at apex, entire, with thickened revolute margins and a prominent midrib, coriaceous, feather-veined, the veins arcuate and connected near the margins, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, bright green on the lower surface. Flowers regular, polygamo-monœcious, minute, on slender pedicels from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, in few-flowered long-stemmed wide-branched terminal or axillary panicles; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes ovate, rounded at apex, slightly puberulous on the outer surface, ciliate on the margins, deciduous by a circumscissile line, petals 5, rather longer than the calyx-lobes, rounded, spreading, ciliate on the margins, white; stamens 7 or 8, inserted on the lobes of the annular fleshy disk; filaments filiform, as long as the petals in the staminate flower, much shorter in the pistillate flower; anthers oblong, attached on the back near the bottom, the cells spreading from above downward; ovary sessile on the disk, slightly 3-lobed, 3-celled, contracted into a short stout style, rudimentary in the staminate flower; stigma large, declinate, obscurely 3-lobed; ovules 2 in each cell, borne on the middle of its inner angle, superposed, amphitropous, the upper ascending, with the micropyle inferior, the lower pendulous, with the micropyle superior. Fruit an ovoid black drupe crowned with the remnants of the persistent style and supported on the persistent base of the disk; flesh thin and fleshy; walls of the stone thick and crustaceous. Seed solitary by the abortion of the upper ovule, suspended, obovoid; seed-coat thin, slightly wrinkled; embryo conduplicate, filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons thin, foliaceous, irregularly folded, incumbent on the long radicle.

The genus with a single species is distributed from southern Florida to the Bahamas, Cuba, Porto Rico, St. Martin, Anguilla and Jamaica.

Hypelate is the ancient name of the Butcher’s Broom.

1. Hypelate trifoliata Sw. White Ironwood.

Leaves unfolding in June and persistent until their second season or longer; petioles stout, 1½′—2′ in length, with narrow green wings; leaflets 1½′—2′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide. Flowers appearing in Florida in June, rather less than ⅛′ in diameter, in few-flowered panicles 3′—4′ long, on a slender peduncle, the staminate and pistillate in separate panicles on the same tree. Fruit ripening in September, ⅜′ long, with a sweet rather agreeable flavor.

A tree, sometimes 35°—40° high, with a trunk occasionally 18′—20′ in diameter, and branchlets pale green when they first appear, becoming gray during their first season and bright red-brown the following year; generally much smaller. Bark of the trunk rarely ⅛′ thick, marked by shallow depressions and numerous minute lenticels. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, rich dark brown, with thin darker colored sapwood of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth; very durable in contact with the soil and valued in Florida for posts; also used in shipbuilding and for the handles of tools.

Distribution. Southern Florida, Upper Metacombe, Umbrella and Windley’s Keys; rare.

4. UNGNADIA Endl.

A tree or shrub, with thin pale gray fissured bark, slender terete slightly zigzag branchlets, without a terminal bud, marked by large conspicuous obcordate leaf-scars, small obtuse nearly globose winter-buds covered with numerous chestnut-brown imbricated scales, and thick fleshy roots. Leaves long-petioled, 5 or 7 or rarely 3-foliolate, deciduous; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded or cuneate, and often oblique at base, irregularly crenulate-serrate, coated when they first appear on the lower surface like the petiole with dense pale tomentum, and pilose above, glabrous at maturity with the exception of a few hairs on the lower surface along the principal veins, pinnately veined, reticulate-venulose, the terminal leaflet long-petiolulate, the others short-petiolulate to subsessile. Flowers irregular, polygamous, in small pubescent fascicles or corymbs appearing just before or with the leaves from the axils of those of the previous year, usually from separate buds, or occasionally from the base of leafy branches; calyx 5-lobed, hypogynous, the lobes oblong-lanceolate, somewhat united irregularly at base only, deciduous; petals 4 by the suppression of the anterior one, or 5 and then alternate with the lobes of the calyx, hypogynous on the margin of a thickened truncate torus, unguiculate, bright rose color, deciduous, the claw as long as the lobes of the calyx, nearly erect, clothed with tomentum, especially on the inner surface, conspicuously appendaged at the summit with a fimbricated crest of short fleshy tufted hairs, the blade obovate, spreading, often erose-crenulate; disk unilateral, oblique, tongue-shaped, surrounding and connate with the base of the stipe of the ovary; stamens 7—10, usually 8 or 9, inserted on the oblique edge of the disk, much exserted and unequal, the anterior ones shorter than the others, equal or almost so and shorter than the petals in the pistillate flower; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, attached near the base; ovary ovoid, 3-celled, pilose, raised on a long stipe, rudimentary in the staminate flower; style subulate, filiform, elongated, slightly curved upward; stigma minute, terminal; ovules 2, borne on the inner angle of the cell near its middle, ascending, the micropyle inferior. Fruit a coriaceous 3-celled loculicidally 3-valved broad-ovoid capsule, conspicuously stipitate, crowned with the remnants of the style, rugosely roughened and dark reddish brown, loculicidally 3-valved, the valves somewhat cordate, bearing the dissepiment on the middle. Seed generally solitary by abortion, almost globose; seed-coat coriaceous, very smooth and shining, dark chestnut-brown or almost black; hilum broad; tegmen thin; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons thick and fleshy, nearly hemispheric, conferruminate, incumbent on the short conic descending radicle turned toward the hilum, remaining below ground in germination.

Ungnadia with a single species is confined to Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico.

The name is in honor of Baron Ferdinand von Ungnad, Ambassador of the Emperor Rudolph II. at the Ottoman Porte who sent seeds of the Horsechestnut-tree from Constantinople to Vienna in the middle of the sixteenth century.

1. Ungnadia speciosa Endl. Spanish Buckeye.

Leaves appearing from March to April with or just after the flowers, 6′—12′ long, with a petiole 2′—6′ in length, rather coriaceous leaflets, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface and pale and rugose on the lower surface, 3′—5′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, the terminal leaflet on a petiolule ¼′—1′ in length. Flowers 1′ across when expanded, in crowded clusters 1½′—2′ long. Fruit 2′ broad, opening in October, the empty pods often remaining on the branches until the appearance of the flowers the following year; seeds ½′—⅝′ in diameter.

A tree, occasionally 25°—30° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, dividing at some distance from the ground into a number of small upright branches, and branchlets light orange-brown and covered during their first season with short fine pubescence, and pale brown tinged with red, glabrous and marked by scattered lenticels in their second year; more often a shrub, with numerous stems. Winter-buds about ⅛′ in diameter. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ¼′ thick, light gray and broken by numerous shallow reticulated fissures. Wood heavy, close-grained, rather soft and brittle, red tinged with brown, with lighter colored sapwood. The sweet seeds possess powerful emetic properties and are reputed to be poisonous.

Distribution. Borders of streams, river-bottoms and limestone hills, and westward on the sides of mountain cañons; valley of the Trinity River, Dallas County and of the lower Brazos River, Texas, to the mountains of southeastern New Mexico, and southward into Mexico; most common and of its largest size forty to fifty miles from the Texas coast west of the Colorado River.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the southern United States.

XXXVIII. RHAMNACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with scaly or naked buds, watery bitter astringent juice, simple leaves, and minute deciduous stipules (persistent in Krugiodendron). Flowers small, mostly greenish, perfect (polygamo-diœcious in one species of Rhamnus); calyx 4—5-lobed, the lobes valvate in the bud; petals 4—5, inserted on the calyx near the margin of the conspicuous disk lining the short calyx-tube, and infolding the stamens, or 0; stamens as many as and alternate with the calyx-lobes, free, inserted at or below the margins of the disk; filaments slender, subulate; anthers introrse, versatile, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; pistils of 2—3 united carpels; ovary 2—3-, or rarely 1-celled by abortion, partly immersed in the disk; style terminal; stigma 2—4-lobed; ovules 1 in each cell, erect, anatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle inferior. Fruit drupaceous, supported on the tube of the calyx and bearing the remnants of the style. Seed usually with scanty oily albumen; embryo with broad cotyledons; radicle inferior, next the hilum.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Fruit more or less fleshy. Fruit with a single stone; petals 0. Sepals without crests. Leaves alternate; branches spinescent. 1. Condalia. Leaves nearly opposite; branches not spinescent. 2. Reynosia. Sepals crested; leaves mostly opposite. 3. Krugiodendron. Fruit with 2 or 3 nutlets; petals 4 or 5, or 0; leaves alternate. 4. Rhamnus. Fruit crustaceous, 3-lobed, separating into 3 longitudinally 2-valved nutlets. Sepals inflexed; petals narrowed into a long slender claw. 5. Ceanothus. Sepals spreading; petals sessile. 6. Colubrina.

1. CONDALIA Cav.

Trees or shrubs, with rigid spinescent branches and minute scaly buds. Leaves alternate, subsessile, obovate or oblong, entire, feather-veined. Flowers axillary, solitary or fascicled, greenish white, on short pedicels; calyx with a short broad-obconic tube and a 5-lobed limb, the lobes ovate, acute, membranaceous, spreading and persistent; disk fleshy, flat, slightly 5-angled, surrounding the free base of the ovary; petals 0; stamens 5, inserted on the free margin of the disk between the lobes of the calyx; filaments incurved, shorter than the calyx-lobes; ovary 1-celled, conic, gradually narrowed into a short thick style; stigma 3-lobed; ovule ascending from the base of the cell. Fruit ovoid or subglobose; flesh thin; stone thick-walled, crustaceous. Seed compressed; seed-coat thin and smooth; cotyledons oval, flat.

Condalia with nine or ten species is confined to the New World and is distributed from western Texas and southern California to Brazil and Argentina. Of the six species found within the territory of the United States one is a small tree.

The generic name commemorates that of Antonio Condal, a Spanish physician of the eighteenth century sent to South America on a scientific mission in 1754.

1. Condalia obovata Hook. Purple Haw. Log Wood.

Leaves often fascicled on short spinescent lateral branchlets, spatulate to oblong-cuneate, mucronate, when they first appear pubescent, especially on the lower surface, at maturity glabrous, rather thin, pale yellow-green, 1′—1½′ long, and about ⅓′ wide, with a conspicuous midrib and usually 3 pairs of prominent primary veins; unfolding in May and June and falling irregularly during the winter. Flowers in 2—4-flowered short-stemmed fascicles, on branchlets of the year. Fruit ripening irregularly during the summer, ¼′ long, dark blue or black, with a sweet pleasant flavor.

A tree, sometimes 30° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, erect rigid zigzag branchlets terminating in a stout spine and covered at first with soft velvety pubescence, becoming glabrous before the end of their first season, pale red-brown and often covered with thin scales; more often a shrub. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, divided into flat shallow ridges, the dark brown surface tinged with red separating into thin scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, light red, with light yellow sapwood of 7—8 layers of annual growth; burning with an intense heat and valued as fuel.

Distribution. Southwestern Texas from Jackson County (Vanderbilt) and Corpus Christi, Nueces County, to the Rio Grande and to Comal and Valverde Counties; in northeastern Mexico; of tree-like habit and of its largest size on the high sandy banks of the lower Rio Grande and its tributaries; often covering large areas with dense impenetrable chaparral.

2. REYNOSIA Griseb.

Trees or shrubs, with rigid unarmed terete branches, and scaly buds. Leaves mostly opposite, entire, coriaceous, short-petiolate, reticulate-veined, persistent. Flowers minute, on stout pedicels bibracteolate near the base and two or three times longer than the flower, in small axillary sessile umbels; calyx persistent, 5-lobed, the lobes deltoid or ovate, acute or acuminate, spreading, petaloid, deciduous; disk fleshy; petals 0; stamens 5, inserted on the margin of the disk, rather shorter than the calyx-lobes; filaments incurved; anthers oval; ovary free from the disk, almost superior, conic, 2—3-celled, contracted into a short erect thick style; stigma 2—3-lobed. Fruit drupaceous; flesh thin; stone crustaceo-membranaceous. Seed ovoid or subglobose; seed-coat very thin, conspicuously rugose and tuberculate; embryo axile in copious subcorneous ruminate albumen; cotyledons oblong.

Reynosia is distributed from southern Florida and the Bahama Islands to the Antilles. Four species are recognized; of these, one, a small tree, extends into southern Florida.

The generic name is in honor of Alvaro Reynoso (1830—1888), the distinguished Cuban chemist and writer on agriculture and scientific subjects.

1. Reynosia septentrionalis Urb. Red Ironwood. Darling Plum.

Leaves oblong to ovate or obovate, or sometimes nearly orbicular, rounded, truncate or frequently emarginate and usually minutely apiculate at apex, gradually narrowed at base into a short broad petiole, very thick and coriaceous, dark green on the upper, rather paler or often rufous on the lower surface, 1′—1½′ long and ½′ broad, with thickened revolute margins, a stout broad midrib, about five pairs of primary veins spreading nearly at right angles, and numerous reticulate veinlets; unfolding in April and remaining on the branches for one and sometimes for two years. Flowers yellowish green appearing in May, 1/12′ long; sepals ovate, acute. Fruit ripening in Florida in November or frequently not until the following spring, short-obovoid, ½′ long, purple or nearly black, edible, with an agreeable flavor.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, stout terete rigid branchlets slightly puberulous when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous and gray faintly tinged with red, growing darker in their second season, then often covered by small tubercles and marked by the prominent elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds minute, chestnut-brown. Bark of the trunk 1/16′—⅛′ thick, dark-red-brown, and divided into large plate-like scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, rich dark brown, with light brown sapwood of 15—20 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, coast and islands from the Marquesas group to the shores of Bay Biscayne and the Everglade Keys, Dade County; common and generally distributed; on the Bahama Islands.

3. KRUGIODENDRON Urb.

A small tree or shrub, with slender unarmed terete branches roughened by numerous small lenticels, and minute scaly buds. Leaves opposite or obliquely opposite, or sometimes alternate on lower branches, ovate or oval, often emarginate, coriaceous, entire, short-petiolate, feather-veined, persistent; stipules acuminate, persistent. Flowers greenish yellow, on short slender pedicels, in axillary simple or dichotomously branched cymes; calyx broad-obconic, 5-lobed, the lobes triangular, acute, erect or spreading, conspicuously crested on the inner surface, deciduous; disk annular, broad, fleshy, 5-lobed, surrounding the base of the ovary; petals 0; stamens 5, inserted under the margin of the disk; anthers ovoid or ovoid-orbicular, obtuse; ovary conic, imperfectly 2-celled; styles short and thick, united nearly to the apex, the branches spreading and stigmatic on the inner face; ovule ascending from the base of the cell. Fruit 1-seeded, oval or ovoid; flesh thin and black; wall of the stone thin and bony. Seed ellipsoid, compressed, without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons thick and fleshy, obovate or elliptic.

Krugiodendron, with a single species, is confined to southern Florida and the West Indies.

The generic name is in honor of Leopold Krug (1833—1898), a student of the flora of the Antilles.

1. Krugiodendron ferreum Urb. Black Ironwood.

Leaves bright green and lustrous above, pale yellow-green below, glabrous with the exception of a few scattered hairs on the upper surface and on the petiole, 1′—1½′ long and ¾′—1′ wide, with entire or slightly undulate margins; persistent for two or three years; petioles stout, ¼′ in length. Flowers on bibracteolate pedicels ¼′ long, in 3—5-flowered cymes on peduncles sometimes ½′ in length, usually much shorter and often branched near the apex, on branchlets of the year; calyx about 1/16′ long. Fruit generally solitary, ⅓′ in length, on a stem ⅓′—½′ long.

A tree, sometimes 30° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, and slender branchlets at first green and covered with dense velvety pubescence, becoming glabrous in their second year, and then gray faintly tinged with red and roughened by small crowded lenticels; generally much smaller and more often shrubby than arborescent. Bark of the trunk about ¼′ thick and divided into prominent rounded longitudinal ridges broken on the surface into short thick light gray scales. Wood exceedingly heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, brittle, rich orange-brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, Cape Canaveral on the east coast to the shores of Bay Biscayne and on the Everglade Keys, Dade County, near Cape Sable, and on the southern keys; one of the commonest of the small trees of the region; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

4. RHAMNUS L.

Trees or shrubs, with terete often spinescent branches, without a terminal bud, scaly or naked axillary buds and acrid bitter bark. Leaves alternate or rarely obliquely opposite, conduplicate in the bud, petiolate, feather-veined, entire or dentate, stipulate. Flowers perfect or polygamo-diœcious, in axillary simple or compound racemes or fascicled cymes; calyx campanulate, 4—5-lobed, the lobes triangular-ovate, erect or spreading, keeled on the inner surface, deciduous; disk thin below, more or less thickened above; petals 5, inserted on the margin of the disk, ovate, unguiculate, emarginate, infolded round the stamens, deciduous, or 0; stamens 4 or 5; filaments very short; anthers oblong-ovoid or sagittate, rudimentary and sterile in the pistillate flower; ovary free, ovoid, included in the tube of the calyx, 2—4-celled, rudimentary in the staminate flower; styles united below, with spreading stigmatic lobes or terminating in a 2—3-lobed obtuse stigma; ovule erect from the base of the cell. Fruit drupaceous, oblong or spherical; flesh thick and succulent, inclosing 2—4 separable cartilaginous 1-seeded nutlets. Seeds erect, obovoid, grooved longitudinally on the back, with a cartilaginous seed-coat, the raphe in the groove, or convex on the back, with a membranaceous seed-coat, the raphe lateral next to one margin of the cotyledons; embryo large, surrounded by thin fleshy albumen; cotyledons oval, foliaceous, with revolute margins, or flat and fleshy.

Rhamnus with about sixty species is widely distributed in nearly all the temperate and in many of the tropical parts of the world with the exception of Australasia and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Of the five species indigenous to the United States three attain the size of small trees. The fruit and bark of Rhamnus are drastic, and yield yellow and green dyes. The European Rhamnus cathartica L., the Buckthorn, has long been used as a hedge plant in northern Europe, and in eastern North America, where it has now become sparingly naturalized.

The generic name is from ῥάµνος, the classical name of the Buckthorn.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Flowers polygamo-diœcious, in sessile umbels; calyx 4-lobed; petals 0; anthers oblong-ovoid; lobes of the stigma elongated, spreading; fruit red; seed grooved on the back; seed-coat cartilaginous; leaves often sharply toothed, persistent; winter-buds scaly. 1. R. crocea (G). Flowers perfect, in pedunculate umbels; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5; anthers sagittate; lobes of the stigma short and obtuse; fruit black; seed rounded on the back; seed-coat membranaceous; leaves deciduous; winter-buds naked. Peduncles shorter than the petioles. 2. R. caroliniana (C). Peduncles longer than the petioles. 3. R. Purshiana (B, G).

1. Rhamnus crocea Nutt.

Leaves persistent, often in fascicles, elliptic, broad-ovate to suborbicular, rounded and often apiculate at apex, glandular-denticulate with minute teeth, coriaceous, yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and frequently bronzed or copper color on the lower surface, glabrous or often puberulous while young, with a prominent midrib and slender primary veins, ¼′—¾′ long; petioles short and stout; stipules minute, acuminate. Flowers polygamo-diœcious, on slender often puberulous pedicels, in small clusters from the axils of the leaves or of small lanceolate persistent bracts on shoots of the year; calyx 4-lobed, with acuminate lobes, about ⅛′ long; petals 0; stamens rather shorter than the calyx, with short stout incurved filaments and large ovoid anthers, minute and rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary ovoid, contracted into a long slender style divided above the middle into two wide-spreading acuminate stigmatic lobes, rudimentary in the staminate flower. Fruit red, obovoid, slightly grooved or lobed at maturity, ¼′ long, with thin dry flesh and 1—3 nutlets; seed broad-ovoid, pointed at apex, deeply grooved on the back and ⅛′ long, with a thin membranaceous pale chestnut-colored coat.

A shrub, 6′—3° high, with slender rigid often spinescent branchlets forming thickets.

Distribution. Coast mountains of central and southern California. Passing into

Rhamnus crocea var. ilicifolia Greene.

Leaves oval or orbicular, spinulose-dentate, often golden beneath and 1′—1½′ long and ¾′—1′ wide. Flowers with 4 or occasionally 5 calyx-lobes and stamens.

A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, stout spreading branches, and slender branchlets yellow-green and puberulous or glabrate when they first appear, becoming dark red or reddish brown and glabrous in their second season. Winter-buds obtuse, barely more than 1/16′ long, with small puberulous apiculate imbricated scales ciliate on the margins. Bark of the trunk usually from 1/16′—⅛′ thick, the dark gray surface slightly roughened by minute tubercles.

Distribution. California, valley of the Sacramento River southward along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and on the coast ranges and southern mountains to San Diego County; Arizona, Oak Creek and Sycamore Cañons, near Flagstaff, Coconino County, (P. Lowell), Copper Cañon, west of Camp Verde, Yavapai County, and on the Pinal and Santa Catalina Mountains.

Passing into

Rhamnus crocea var. insularis Sarg.

A form with larger less prominently toothed leaves sometimes 3′ long and 1½′ wide, rather larger flowers, with shorter and broader calyx-lobes a less deeply divided style, and larger fruits. A tree often growing to the height of 25°—30°, flowering later than the var. ilicifolia, and not uncommon on the islands of the Santa Barbara group and on the mountains of the adjacent mainland. A form (f. pilosa Trel.) with narrow revolute leaves densely pilose throughout, occurs in the Santa Maria valley of the mountains near San Diego.

2. Rhamnus caroliniana Walt. Indian Cherry.

Leaves deciduous, elliptic-oblong or broad-elliptic, acute or acuminate, cuneate or somewhat rounded at base, remotely and obscurely serrate, or crenulate, densely coated when they unfold with rusty brown tomentum, and at maturity thin, dark yellow-green above, paler below, glabrous or somewhat hairy on the lower surface, 2′—6′ long and 1′ to nearly 2′ wide, with a prominent yellow midrib and about 6 pairs of conspicuous yellow primary veins; turning yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, pubescent, ½′ to nearly 1′ in length; stipules nearly triangular. Flowers appearing from April to June when the leaves are almost fully grown, on slender pedicels about ¼′ long, in few-flowered pubescent umbels, on peduncles varying from ⅛′—½′ in length; calyx 5-lobed, with a narrow turbinate tube and triangular lobes; petals 5, broad-ovate, deeply notched at apex and folded round the short stamens; ovary contracted into a long columnar style terminating in a slightly 3-lobed stigma. Fruit ripening in September and sometimes remaining on the branches until the beginning of winter, globose, ⅓′ in diameter, black, with thin sweet rather dry flesh and 2—4 nutlets; seeds obtuse at apex, rounded on the back, reddish brown, about ⅕′ long.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, small spreading unarmed branches, and slender branchlets light red-brown and puberulent or covered with a glaucous bloom when they first appear, becoming slightly angled, gray, and glabrous, and marked during their second season by the small horizontal oval leaf-scars; more often a tall shrub, with numerous stems 15°—20° high. Winter-buds naked, hoary-tomentose. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, slightly furrowed, ashy gray and often marked by large black blotches. Wood rather hard, light, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Borders of streams on rich bottom-lands, and on limestone ridges; Virginia to western Florida and westward through the valley of the Ohio River to southern Iowa and southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, the valley of the Washita River, Oklahoma (Ardman County), and to Kendall, Kerr and Uvalde Counties, western Texas; occasionally tree-like in western Florida and Mississippi, and of its largest size only in southern Arkansas and the adjacent portions of Texas; very abundant on the limestone barrens of central Kentucky and Tennessee.

3. Rhamnus Purshiana DC. Bearberry. Coffee-tree.

Leaves deciduous, broad-elliptic, obtuse or bluntly pointed at apex, rounded or slightly cordate at base, finely serrate, or often nearly entire, with undulate margins, thin, villose with short hairs on the lower surface and on the veins above, 1½′—7′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, conspicuously netted-veined, with a broad and prominent midrib and primary veins; turning pale yellow late in the autumn before falling; petioles stout, often pubescent, ½′—1′ in length; stipules membranaceous, acuminate. Flowers on slender pubescent pedicels ¼′—1′ long, in axillary cymes on slender pubescent peduncles ½′—1′ in length on shoots of the year; calyx nearly campanulate, with 5 spreading acuminate lobes; petals 5, minute, ovate, deeply notched at apex, and folded round the short stamens; stigma 2 or 3-lobed. Fruit globose or broad-obovoid, black, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, slightly or not at all lobed, with thin rather juicy flesh, and 2 or 3 obovoid nutlets usually ⅓′ long, rounded on the back, flattened on the inner surface, with 2 bony tooth-like enlargements at base, 1 on each side of the large scar of the hilum, and a thin gray or pale yellow-green shell; seeds obtuse at apex, rounded on the back, seed-coat thin and papery, yellow-brown on the outer surface, bright orange color on the inner surface like the cotyledons.

A tree, 35°—40° high, with a slender trunk often 18′—20′ in diameter, separating 10°—15° from the ground into numerous stout upright or sometimes nearly horizontal branches, and slender branchlets coated at first with fine soft pubescence, pale yellow-green or reddish brown, and pubescent, glabrous, or covered with scattered hairs in their second season and then marked by the elevated oval horizontal leaf-scars; often shrubby and occasionally prostrate. Winter-buds naked, hoary-tomentose. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ¼′ thick, dark brown to light brown or gray tinged with red, broken on the surface into short thin scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood. The bark possesses the drastic properties peculiar to that of other species of the genus, and is a popular domestic remedy in Oregon and California, and under the name of Cascara Sagrada has been admitted into the American materia medica.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands and the sides of cañons, usually in coniferous forests; shores of Puget Sound eastward along the mountain ranges of northern Washington to the Bitter Root Mountains of Idaho and the shores of Flat Head Lake, Montana, and southward to central California; Arizona, southern slope of the Grand Cañon of the Colorado River, Coconino County (A. Rehder), Cave Creek Cañon, Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County (J. W. Toumey).

Occasionally cultivated in the gardens of western Europe and of the eastern United States.

5. CEANOTHUS L.

Small trees or shrubs, with slender terete branches, without a terminal bud, and small scaly axillary buds. Leaves petiolate, 3-ribbed from the base, or pinnately veined, persistent in the arborescent species. Flowers on colored pedicels, in umbellate fascicles collected in dense or prolonged terminal or axillary thyrsoid cymes or panicles, blue or white; calyx colored, with a turbinate or hemispheric tube and 5 triangular membranaceous petaloid lobes; disk fleshy, thickened above; petals 5, inserted under the margin of the disk, unguiculate, wide-spreading, deciduous, the long claw infolded round the stamens; stamens 5, inserted with and opposite the petals, persistent, filaments spreading; ovary partly immersed in and more or less adnate to the disk, 3-celled, sometimes 3-angled, the angles often surmounted by a fleshy gland persistent on the fruit; styles short, united below; stigmas 3-lobed with spreading lobes; ovule erect from the base of the cell. Fruit 3-lobed, subglobose, with a thin outer coat, soon becoming dry, and separating into 3 crustaceous or cartilaginous longitudinally 2-valved nutlets. Seeds erect, obovoid, lenticellate, with a broad basal excrescence surrounding the hilum; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; albumen fleshy; embryo axile; cotyledons oval or obovate.

Ceanothus is confined to the temperate and warmer regions of North America, with about thirty species, mostly belonging to California. The leaves, bark, and roots are astringent and tonic. Of the species of the United States three are small trees.

The generic name is from κεάνωθος, the classical name of some spiny plant.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Branchlets not spinose, leaves 3-ribbed. Leaves broad-ovate to elliptic, subcordate or rounded at base, pale and tomentose below. 1. C. arboreus (G). Leaves elliptic, acute at base, glabrous except on the veins below. 2. C. thyrsiflorus (G). Branchlets spinose; leaves with a single midrib, mostly elliptic, rounded or subcordate at base, glabrous. 3. C. spinosus (G).

1. Ceanothus arboreus Greene.

Leaves broad-ovate or elliptic, acute, conspicuously glandular-crenate, dark green and softly puberulent on the upper surface, pale and densely tomentose on the lower surface, 2½′—4′ long and 1′—2½′ wide, with prominent veins; petioles stout, pubescent, ½′—1′ in length; stipules subulate from a broad triangular base, ¼′ long. Flowers pale blue opening in July and August, on slender hairy pedicels ½′—1′ long, from the axils of large scarious caducous bracts, in ample compound densely hoary-pubescent thyrsoid clusters 3′—4′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, on a leafy or naked axillary peduncle at the end of young branches. Fruit black, ¼′ across.

A round-headed tree, 20°—25° high, with a straight trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, dividing 4°—5° from the ground into many stout spreading branches, and slender slightly angled pale brown branchlets covered with short dense tomentum, becoming in their second season terete, nearly glabrous, roughened with scattered lenticels and marked by large elevated leaf-scars; often a shrub. Bark of the trunk dark brown, about ⅛′ thick, and broken into small square plates separating into thick scales.

Distribution. Santa Catalina, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa Islands of the Santa Barbara group off the coast of southern California; most abundant and of its largest size on the northern slopes of Santa Cruz; on the other islands usually shrubby, with numerous slender stems.

2. Ceanothus thyrsiflorus Eschs. Blue Myrtle. California Lilac.

Leaves oblong or oblong-ovate, minutely glandular-serrate, smooth and lustrous on the upper surface and paler and slightly pubescent on the lower surface, especially along the 3 prominent ribs, 1′—1½′ long and ½′—1′ wide; petioles stout, ⅓′—½′ in length; stipules membranaceous, acute. Flowers blue or white, appearing in early spring in small pedunculate corymbs from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, and collected into slender rather loose thyrsoid clusters 2′—3′ long in the axils of upper leaves or of small scarious bracts, and usually surmounted by the terminal leafy shoot of the branch. Fruit ripening from July to December, black; seeds 1/12′ long, smooth, dark brown or nearly black.

A tree, occasionally 35° high, with a trunk 12′—14′ in diameter, dividing 5°—6° from the ground into many small wide-spreading branches, and conspicuously angled pale yellow-green branchlets slightly pubescent when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous; more often a tall or low shrub. Bark of the trunk thin, with a bright red-brown surface separating into thin narrow appressed scales. Wood close-grained, rather soft, light brown, with thin darker colored sapwood.

Distribution. Shady hillsides on the borders of the forest and often in the neighborhood of streams; coast mountains of California from Mendocino County to the valley of the San Luis Rey River, San Diego County; of its largest size northward, and in the Redwood-forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains; southward often a low shrub, frequently flowering on the wind-swept shores of the ocean when only 1°—2° high.

3. Ceanothus spinosus Nutt. Lilac.

Leaves elliptic to oblong, full and rounded, apiculate or often slightly emarginate or gradually narrowed and pointed or rarely 3-lobed at apex, and rounded or cuneate at base, when they unfold villose-pubescent below along the stout midrib and obscure primary veins, soon glabrous, coriaceous, usually about 1′ long and ½′ wide; petioles stout, ⅙′—⅓′ in length, at first villose, becoming nearly glabrous; leaves on vigorous shoots sometimes ovate, conspicuously 3-nerved, irregularly serrate with incurved apiculate teeth, or coarsely dentate, and often 1½′ long and ⅝′ wide; stipules minute, acute. Flowers light or dark blue, very fragrant, opening from March until May, in lax corymbs from the axils of acute pubescent red caducous bracts on upper leafy branchlets of the year, the whole inflorescence forming an open thyrsus often 5′—6′ long and 3′—4′ thick, leafless toward the apex. Fruit depressed, obscurely lobed, crestless, black, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter.

A tree, 18°—20° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, upright branches forming a narrow open head, and slender divaricate angled branchlets pubescent or puberulous when they first appear, soon glabrous, bright green, ultimately reddish brown, frequently terminating in sharp leafless thorn-like points; more often shrubby. Bark of the trunk thin, red-brown, roughened by small closely appressed scales.

Distribution. California, common in mountain cañons near the coast of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles Counties; often forming a dense undergrowth in the forest, which it enlivens for many weeks in early spring by its large clusters of bright blue flowers.

6. COLUBRINA Brong.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branches and scaly buds. Leaves alternate, petiolate, pinnately veined or triple-veined from the base, often ferrugineo-tomentose on the lower surface, persistent. Flowers axillary, in contracted few-flowered cymes or fascicles, yellow or greenish yellow; calyx-tube hemispheric, persistent, 5-lobed, the lobes spreading, triangular-ovate, keeled on the inner surface, deciduous by a circumscissile line; disk fleshy, annular, 5-angled or indistinctly 5 or 10-lobed; petals 5 yellow or white, inserted under the margin of the disk, shorter than the lobes of the calyx, cucullate, unguiculate, infolding the stamens; stamens 5, opposite to and inserted with the petals; filaments incurved; anthers ovoid; ovary surrounded by and confluent with the disk, 3-celled, subglobose, contracted into a slender 3-lobed style, the obtuse lobes stigmatic on the inner face; ovule erect, from the base of the cell. Fruit subglobose, 3-lobed, the outer coat thin and septicidally dehiscent into 3 1-seeded crustaceous nutlets 2-valved at apex. Seeds erect, broad-obovoid, compressed, 3-angled; seed-coat coriaceous, smooth and shining; embryo axile in thick fleshy albumen; cotyledons orbicular, flat or incurved, thin or fleshy.

Colubrina with about a dozen species is confined to the tropics, with the largest number of species in the New World. Of the four species found within the territory of the United States three are arborescent.

The generic name is from coluber, a serpent, probably on account of the peculiar twisting of the deep furrows on the stems of some of the species.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Leaves thin, elliptic, ovate or lanceolate, glabrous at maturity. 1. C. reclinata (D). Leaves thick or coriaceous. Leaves oblong to elliptic, rounded or acute at apex, densely soft-pubescent. 2. C. cubensis (D). Leaves elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, bluntly pointed at apex, coriaceous, rusty-pubescent beneath. 3. C. arborescens (D).

1. Colubrina reclinata Brong. Naked Wood.

Leaves elliptic, ovate or lanceolate, usually contracted at apex into a blunt point, cuneate or somewhat rounded and furnished with 2 conspicuous marginal glands at base, and entire when they unfold in early summer thin, glabrous or finely puberulent below and along the principal veins, and at maturity thin, yellow-green, 2½′—3′ long and 1½′ to nearly 2′ wide, with a stout midrib and arcuate primary veins; persistent until their second year; petioles slender, ½′ in length. Flowers in cymes rather shorter than the petioles, on shoots of the year, pubescent, soon becoming glabrate. Fruit ¼′ in diameter and dark orange-red, ripening late in the autumn, on pedicels ½′ in length; seeds light red-brown, ⅛′ long.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, divided by numerous irregular deep furrows multiplying and spreading in all directions, and branchlets slightly angled when they first appear, puberulent and reddish brown, soon becoming glabrate, and in their second season nearly terete, gray or light brown, and marked by numerous small light-colored lenticels. Bark of the trunk thin, orange-brown, exfoliating in large papery scales. Wood heavy, hard, very strong, dark brown tinged with yellow, with thin light yellow sapwood of 8—10 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, on Umbrella Key, the north end of Key Largo, and on some of the small keys south of Elliott’s Key; of its largest size and forming a forest of considerable extent on Umbrella Key; on the Bahama Islands and on many of the Antilles.

2. Colubrina cubensis Brong.

Leaves oblong to elliptic, gradually narrowed and rounded or acute and apiculate at apex, rounded or cuneate at the often unsymmetric base, slightly crenulate-serrate with broad rounded teeth, thick, dull dark green and soft-pubescent on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface, 3½′—5′ long and 1¼′—1½′ wide, with a prominent pubescent yellow midrib and slender primary veins; petioles slender, yellow, densely pubescent, ⅓′—½′ in length; stipules linear-lanceolate, long-acuminate, pubescent, ⅓′ in length. Flowers minute on pedicels ⅙′ long, from the axils of ovate acuminate villose caducous bracts, in villose cymes on peduncles longer than the petioles; calyx densely pubescent, the lobes triangular, ovate, acute, about as long as the yellow petals. Fruit globose, about ⅓′ in diameter.

A tree in Florida from 20°—30° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter (teste J. K. Small) and slender light red-brown pubescent branchlets.

Distribution. Florida, hummocks of the Everglade Keys, Dade County; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba and Hispaniola.

3. Colubrina arborescens Sarg.

Colubrina Colubrina Mills.

Leaves coriaceous, persistent, elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, gradually narrowed and bluntly pointed at apex, narrowed and rounded or cuneate at base, entire, dark green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and coated on the lower surface with thick rusty pubescence and sometimes marked by conspicuous glands mostly at the end of small veins, 2′—4½′ long and 1¼′—2½′ wide, with a thick midrib; petioles stout, rusty-pubescent, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules oblong, acuminate, rusty-pubescent, caducous. Flowers minute, in axillary cymes shorter than the petioles, covered with persistent rusty pubescence and generally produced on short axillary branches; petals white or nearly white. Fruit on a stout rusty-pubescent pedicel, about ½′ long, on a much thickened peduncle, obovoid to subglobose, dark purple or nearly black, 5/12′ in diameter; nutlets light yellow; seed about ⅙′ long.

A tree, sometimes 25° high, with a straight trunk 8′—12′ in diameter, large erect branches and stout branchlets densely rusty-pubescent when they first appear, and light gray, puberulous and marked by small dark lenticels in their second year; in Florida more often a shrub.

Distribution. Florida, on the Everglade and southern keys; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

XXXIX. TILIACEÆ.

Trees, shrubs, or herbs, with alternate simple leaves, and free stipules. Flowers regular, perfect; sepals valvate in the bud, deciduous; corolla hypogynous; stamens numerous, with 2-celled anthers, the cells opening longitudinally; pistil compound; styles united into 1; stigma capitate. Fruit capsular or nut-like. Seeds with albumen; embryo with broad foliaceous cotyledons.

The Linden family with forty-four genera is chiefly tropical, with more representatives in the southern than in the northern hemisphere. Of the three North American genera only Tilia is arborescent.

1. TILIA L. Bass Wood. Linden.

Trees, with terete moderately stout branchlets, without a terminal bud, large compressed acute axillary buds, with numerous imbricated scales, those of the inner rank accrescent, mucilaginous juice, and tough fibrous inner bark. Leaves conduplicate in the bud, long-petiolate, 2-ranked, cordate or truncate at the oblique base, acute or acuminate, serrate, deciduous, their petioles in falling leaving large elevated horizontal leaf-scars displaying the ends of numerous fibro-vascular bundles; stipules ligulate, membranaceous, caducous. Flowers nectariferous, fragrant, on slender clavate pedicels, in axillary or terminal cymes, with minute caducous bracts at the base of the branches, their peduncle more or less connate with the axis of a large membranaceous light green ligulate often obovate persistent conspicuously reticulate-veined bract; sepals 5, distinct; petals 5, imbricated in the bud, alternate with the sepals, sometimes thickened and glandular at the narrow base, creamy white or yellow, deciduous; stamens inserted on a short hypogynous receptacle; filaments filiform, forked near the apex, collected into 5 clusters and united at base with each other and (in the American species) with a spatulate petaloid scale (staminodium) placed opposite each petal, the branches of the filament bearing oblong extrorse half anthers; ovary sessile, tomentose, 5-celled, the cells opposite the sepals; style erect, dilated at apex into 5 spreading stigmatic lobes; ovules 2 in each cell, ascending from the middle of its inner angle, semianatropous, the micropyle centripetal-inferior. Fruit nut-like, woody, subglobose to short-oblong or ovoid, sometimes ribbed, tomentose, 1-celled by the obliteration of the partitions, 1 or 2-seeded. Seeds obovoid, amphitropous, ascending; seed-coat cartilaginous, light reddish brown; embryo large, often curved, in fleshy albumen; cotyledons reniform or cordate, palmately 5-lobed, the margins irregularly involute or crumpled; radicle inferior.

Tilia with some thirty species is widely distributed in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with the exception of western America, central Asia, and the Himalayas. Tilia produces soft straight-grained pale-colored light wood, largely used for the interior finish of buildings, in cabinet-making, for the sounding-boards of pianos, wood-carving and wooden ware, and in the manufacture of paper. The tough inner bark is largely manufactured into mats, cords, fish-nets, coarse cloths, and shoes. Lime-flower oil, obtained by distilling the flowers of the European species, is used in perfumery. The flowers yield large quantities of nectar, and honey made near forests of Tilia is unsurpassed in flavor and delicacy. Many of the species are planted as shade and ornamental trees, and some of the European species are now common in the gardens and parks of the eastern United States.

CONSPECTUS OF THE SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Surface of the leaves glabrous at maturity. Leaves glabrous or almost glabrous when they unfold, coarsely serrate. Leaves furnished with conspicuous tufts of axillary hairs, their lower surface light green and lustrous; pedicels glabrous or nearly glabrous. 1. T. glabra (A). Leaves usually without tufts of axillary hairs, their lower surface not lustrous; pedicels densely hoary-tomentose. 2. T. nuda (C). Leaves hoary-tomentose when they unfold. Leaves soon glabrous. Leaves coarsely serrate with stout teeth, their veinlets conspicuous; branchlets stout, bright red. 3. T. venulosa (A). Leaves finely serrate with straight or incurved teeth, their veinlets less conspicuous; branchlets slender, pale reddish brown. 4. T. littoralis (C). Leaves crenately serrate, glaucescent on the lower surface. 5. T. crenoserrata (C). Leaves covered below early in the season with articulate hairs, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous. Leaves thin, coarsely serrate, green or glaucescent on the lower surface, with or without tufts of axillary hairs; summer shoots not pubescent. 6. T. floridana (C). Leaves subcoriaceous, finely serrate, bluish green and lustrous below early in the season; tufts of axillary hairs minute, usually wanting; summer shoots pubescent. 7. T. Cocksii (C). Surface of the leaves pubescent below during the season. Lower surface of the leaves covered with short gray firmly attached pubescence; tufts of axillary hairs not conspicuous. 8. T. neglecta (A, C). Lower surface of the leaves covered with articulate easily detached hairs. Branchlets without straight hairs. Leaves ovate, acuminate, usually obliquely truncate at base, glabrous above, their pubescence brownish or white. 9. T. caroliniana (C). Leaves oblong-ovate, cordate or obliquely cordate at base, pubescent above early in the season. 10. T. texana (C). Leaves semiorbicular to broad-ovate, abruptly short-pointed, deeply and usually symmetrically cordate at base. 11. T. phanera (C). Branchlets covered with straight hairs; leaves ovate, abruptly short-pointed, oblique and truncate at base. 12. T. lasioclada (C). Surface of the leaves tomentose below during the season with close firmly attached tomentum. Tomentum white, gray, or brown; leaves usually glabrous on the upper surface; branchlets and winter-buds glabrous (occasionally pubescent in varieties of 13). Branchlets slender; petioles not more than 1½′ in length; leaves oblong-ovate, acuminate or abruptly pointed, oblique and truncate or cordate at base; tomentum on the leaves of upper branches often brown; flowers ¼′—⅓′ long. 13. T. heterophylla (A, C). Branchlets stout; petioles up to 3′ in length; leaves oblong-ovate, acuminate, obliquely truncate at base; tomentum always white; flowers 5/12′½′ long. 14. T. monticola (A). Tomentum pale or brownish; leaves thickly covered above early in the season with fascicled hairs; branchlets tomentose; winter-buds pubescent. 15. T. georgiana (C).

1. Tilia glabra Vent. Linden. Bass Wood.

Tilia americana L.

Leaves broad-ovate, contracted at apex into a slender acuminate entire point, obliquely cordate or sometimes almost truncate at base, coarsely serrate with incurved glandular teeth, often slightly pubescent when they first appear soon glabrous with the exception of tufts of rusty brown hairs in the axils of the principal veins below, thick and firm, dark dull green on the upper surface, lighter, yellow-green and lustrous on the lower surface, 5′—6′ long and 3′—4′ wide; turning pale yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers ½′ long, opening early in July on slender slightly angled pubescent pedicels, in few-flowered slender-branched glabrous cymes; peduncle slender, glabrous, the free portion 3½′—4′ long, its bract rounded or pointed at apex, 4′—5′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, decurrent nearly to the base or to within ½′—1′ of the base of the peduncle; sepals ovate, acuminate, densely hairy on the inner surface and slightly pubescent on the outer surface, a third shorter than the lanceolate petals; staminodia oblong-obovate, bluntly pointed at apex, a third shorter than the petals; ovary villose; style covered with rufous tomentum. Fruit short-oblong to oblong-obovoid, rounded or pointed at apex, ⅓′—½′ long, and covered with short thick rufous tomentum.

A tree, usually 60°—70°, or sometimes 120°—130° high, with a tall trunk 3°—4° in diameter, small often pendulous branches forming a broad round-topped head, slender smooth glabrous light gray or light brown branchlets marked by numerous oblong dark lenticels, becoming darker in their second and dark gray or brown and conspicuously rugose in their third year. Winter-buds dark red, ovoid, about ¼′ long. Bark of the trunk about 1′ thick, deeply furrowed, the light brown surface broken into small thin scales. Wood light brown faintly tinged with red, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood of 55—65 layers of annual growth; employed in the manufacture of paper pulp, and under the name of white wood largely used in wooden ware, cheap furniture, the panels of carriages, and for the inner soles of shoes.

Distribution. Rich often moist soil, formerly often in nearly pure forests; northern New Brunswick to the eastern shores of Lake Superior, the southern shores of Lake Winnipeg and the valley of the Assiniboine River, and southward to Pennsylvania, Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southern Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, eastern Nebraska and northern Missouri.

Often cultivated as a shade and ornamental tree in the northeastern states, and occasionally in Europe.

2. Tilia nuda Sarg.

Leaves thin, ovate, abruptly pointed at apex, obliquely truncate or unsymmetrically cordate at base, and coarsely serrate with long slender straight or slightly curved conspicuously glandular teeth, as they unfold, dark red and sparingly pubescent on the midrib and veins, glabrous at the end of a few days, without or rarely with small axillary tufts, dark green on the upper surface, pale yellow-green or glaucous (var. glaucescens Sarg.) on the lower surface, 4′—4½′ long and 2½′—3½′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, 2′—2½′ in length. Flowers opening early in June, about ⅓′ long, on hoary-tomentose pedicels, in broad usually 10 or 12, sometimes 30 or 40-flowered long-branched glabrous cymes; peduncle glabrous, the free portion ⅘′—1¼′ in length, its bract oblong, often slightly falcate, cuneate or rounded at base, rounded at apex, glabrous, 3′—4′ long, ½′—1¼′ wide, decurrent nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals acute, rusty-tomentose on the outer surface, glabrous on the inner surface; petals oblong-ovate, narrowed at the rounded apex; staminodia oblong-obovate rounded at the broad apex; style glabrous. Fruit ripening in September, subglobose to depressed-globose, covered with rusty tomentum, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter.

Usually a small tree with pale furrowed or sometimes checkered bark, small spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender glabrous orange or red-brown branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, obtusely pointed, dull red, glabrous, ⅙′—⅕′ long.

Distribution. Central and southwestern Mississippi (Hinds and Adams Counties); Dallas County, Alabama; West Feliciana and Calcasieu Parishes, Louisiana, to the valley of the Brazos River, eastern Texas, and to Hempstead County (Fulton and McNab), southern Arkansas; the var. glaucescens with the type, and near Page, Le Flore County, Oklahoma; in wet woods subject to overflow at San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas, a variety (var. brevipedunculata Sarg.), differs from the type in the less coarsely serrate smaller leaves glaucescent below, in the shorter free portion of the peduncle of the inflorescence and its broader bract. A tree 25°—30° high, with slender glabrous dark red-brown branchlets.

3. Tilia venulosa Sarg.

Leaves broad-ovate, abruptly acuminate at apex, cordate or unsymmetrically cordate or obliquely truncate or cordate at base, coarsely serrate with gland-tipped teeth pointing forward, covered when they unfold with pale tomentum, soon becoming pubescent, and glabrous before the flowers open, dark yellow-green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 4′—4¾′ long and broad, with a prominent pale yellow midrib slightly villose on the upper side near the base, and 9 or 10 pairs of remote primary veins without axillary tufts and connected by conspicuous cross veinlets; petioles stout, glabrous, 1¾′—2′ in length. Flowers opening early in July, ⅓′ long, on slightly pubescent pedicels, in broad slender-branched nearly glabrous cymes; peduncle stout, glabrous, red, the free portion 1′—1½′ in length, its bract oblong to slightly obovate, gradually narrowed and rounded at base, rounded at apex, glabrous on the upper surface, pubescent below on the midrib and veins, 3½′—6′ long and 1¼′—1½′ wide, longer than the peduncle and decurrent nearly to its base or to within 1′—1½′ of its base; sepals ovate, acute, pale pubescent on the outer surface, villose and furnished at base on the inner surface with a tuft of long white hairs, a third shorter than the lanceolate acuminate petals; staminodia oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, about as long as the sepals; stigma slightly villose at base. Fruit ripening the end of September, subglobose, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, covered with loose light brown pubescence.

A tree, 60°—75° high, with stout red glabrous branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, cylindric, obtusely pointed, dark red, ¼′—⅓′ in length.

Distribution. North Carolina, rocky “coves” in rich soil, Hickory Nut Gap, in the Blue Ridge, and near Saluda, Polk County, passing into var. multinervis Sarg., differing from the type in its obliquely truncate, not cordate, leaves with 12 or 13 pairs of more crowded primary veins, ellipsoid fruit, slender branchlets, and smaller winter-buds; a single tree near Saluda, Polk County.

4. Tilia littoralis Sarg.

Leaves ovate, abruptly short-pointed and acute or acuminate at apex, unsymmetric and rounded on one side and cuneate on the other, or symmetric and cuneate or oblique and truncate at base, and finely serrate with straight or incurved glandular teeth, covered above when they unfold with scattered fascicled hairs and tomentose below, soon glabrous, and when the flowers open, thin, yellow-green, paler, rarely glaucous (var. discolor Sarg.) on the lower than on the upper surface, 3′—4′ long and 1¾′—2′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins and small conspicuous tufts of rusty brown axillary hairs; petioles slender, glabrous, 1′—1½′ in length; leaves on young vigorous shoots broad-ovate, truncate or slightly cordate at base, more coarsely serrate, pubescent with fascicled hairs especially on the midrib and veins, 4′—5′ long and 3′—4′ wide; petioles densely pubescent. Flowers opening the middle of June, ⅓′ long, on pale tomentose pedicels, in small, compact, mostly 9—15-flowered, pubescent cymes; peduncle covered with scattered fascicled hairs, the free portion ⅗′—1′ long, its bract gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, rounded at apex, ciliate on the margins, pubescent on the midrib, otherwise glabrous, 2′—7′ long, ¼′—⅖′ wide, longer or shorter than and decurrent to the base or nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals acuminate, pale pubescent on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface along the margins and at the base with long white hairs; petals acuminate; staminodia oblong-obovate, rounded at apex. Fruit ellipsoid to depressed-globose, apiculate, covered with pale brown tomentum, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter.

A tree with slender glabrous branchlets densely coated when they first appear with pale pubescence, soon glabrous, light reddish brown during their first summer, often bright red during their first winter, becoming purple the following year and ultimately light gray-brown. Winter-buds ovoid, glabrous or puberulous, bright red, about ⅕′ long and 1/12′—⅛′ in diameter.

Distribution. Georgia, shore of Colonel’s Island near the mouths of the North Newport and Medway Rivers, near Durham, Liberty County; the var. discolor with the type

5. Tilia crenoserrata Sarg.

Tilia floridana Sarg., not Small.

Leaves ovate, abruptly narrowed and acuminate at apex, usually oblique and unsymmetrically cordate or truncate or occasionally symmetrical and cordate at base, crenately serrate, the teeth tipped with minute glands, covered when they unfold with pale caducous tomentum, and at maturity dark green and lustrous above, glaucescent below, glabrous with the exception of minute axillary tufts of rusty hairs, mostly 3½′—5½′ long and 2¾′—3′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, about 1¼′ in length. Flowers opening the middle of June, ⅓′ long, on hoary-tomentose pedicels, in compact mostly 10—18-flowered tomentose cymes; peduncle glabrous, the free portion 1′—1½′ in length, its bract oblong-obovate, cuneate at base, rounded at apex, glabrous, 3′—5′ long, usually about ⅘′ wide, decurrent nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals acute, hoary-tomentose on the outer surface, coated with pale tomentum mixed with long white hairs on the inner surface; petals narrow-acuminate; staminodia oblong-obovate, notched at apex. Fruit ripening from the middle to the end of August, ellipsoid, conspicuously apiculate at apex, rusty-tomentose, ⅓′—⅖′ long and ¼′—⅓′ in diameter.

A tree, 25°—30°, rarely 60° high, with a trunk 10′—12′ rarely 18′—20′ in diameter, and slender glabrous red-brown branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, dark dull red, glabrous, ⅙′—⅕′ long.

Distribution. Near Albany, Dougherty County, Georgia, to central Florida (Levy, Columbia, Alachua, Putnam, Seminole and Orange Counties).

6. Tilia floridana Ashe.

Leaves broad-ovate, acuminate or abruptly acuminate at apex, cordate or obliquely truncate at base and coarsely serrate with apiculate teeth, tinged with red and tomentose below when they unfold, fully grown and glabrous or nearly glabrous when the flowers open late in May or in early June, and at maturity thin, glabrous, dark yellow-green on the upper surface, pale or rarely covered below with a silvery white bloom (var. hypoleuca Sarg.), 3½′—5′ long and 2½′—3½′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins; in the east usually without axillary tufts, often present and sometimes conspicuous westward; petioles slender, glabrous, ¾′—1′ in length. Flowers opening in early summer ⅕′—¼′ long, on hoary-tomentose rarely puberulous (var. australis Sarg.) pedicels, in few-flowered rather compact pubescent corymbs; peduncle pubescent, the free portion 1½′—2½′ in length, its bract oblong-obovate to oblong, rounded at apex, often falcate, glabrous, 3′—6′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, decurrent nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals narrow, ovate, acuminate, hoary-tomentose on the outer surface, sparingly villose on the inner surface, two-thirds as long as the lanceolate petals; staminodia oblong-obovate, acute, nearly as long as the petals; style glabrous. Fruit ripening in August and September, subglobose to ellipsoid, rusty-tomentose, ½′ in diameter.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk 12′—15′ in diameter, and slender glabrous red-brown or yellow branchlets. Winter-buds obtuse, dark red-brown, glabrous, about ⅙′ long.

Distribution. North Carolina (Polk County) to western Florida and westward through northern and central Alabama, central Mississippi, northern and western Louisiana, eastern and over the Edwards Plateau to Kerr, Bandera and Uvalde Counties, Texas, and through southern and western Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, Missouri and eastern Kentucky; in northeastern Mexico; the var. australis in Blount County, Alabama. A variety (var. oblongifolia Sarg.) with narrower more elongated leaves with more prominent tufts of axillary hairs occurs in Putnam, Leon and Gadsden Counties, Florida, on the bluffs of the Alabama River near Berlin, Dallas County, Alabama, in Hinds, Rankin and Adams Counties, Mississippi, in West Feliciana, Iberia (Avery Island) and Natchitoches Parishes, Louisiana, in Hempstead and Salina Counties, Arkansas, and in Harris, Anderson and Livingston Counties, Texas.

7. Tilia Cocksii Sarg.

Leaves ovate, abruptly acuminate at apex, very oblique at the truncate or rounded base, dentate with small remote glandular apiculate teeth, covered when they unfold with loose floccose pubescence, nearly glabrous when fully grown early in April, when the flowers open the middle of May dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale blue-green and lustrous below, and at mid-summer when the fruit ripens, subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, with slender primary veins without or occasionally with minute axillary tufts, and connected by conspicuous straight or curved veinlets, 3½′—4′ long and 2½′—3′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, ¾′—1′ in length; leaves on leading summer branchlets sometimes obliquely cordate, more coarsely serrate, covered on the upper surface with short fascicled hairs, and floccose-pubescent on the lower surface, 4′—5′ long and 4′—4¾′ wide, their petioles puberulous. Flowers opening the middle of May, ¼′ long, on tomentose pedicels, in compact pubescent many-flowered cymes; peduncle slender, glabrous, the free portion only ⅗′—⅘′ in length, its bract oblong, occasionally slightly obovate, rounded at the ends, hoary-tomentose on the under surface and pubescent on the upper surface when it first appears, and when the flowers open puberulous below and glabrous above, 3½′—6′ long, ½′—⅗′ wide and shorter than and decurrent to the base of the peduncle; sepals ovate, acuminate, pale pubescent on the outer surface, villose at the base on the inner surface, a third shorter than the lanceolate acuminate petals; staminodia oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, about half the length of the petals; style glabrous. Fruit ripening the middle of July, globose to depressed-globose, covered with loose brown tomentum, ¼′ in diameter.

A small tree with slender dull red glabrous branchlets, the leading branchlets in summer more or less pubescent. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, dull red, glabrous or pubescent on leading shoots, ⅕′—¼′ long.

Distribution. Louisiana, river banks and low woods, Lake Charles and West Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish.

8. Tilia neglecta Spach.

Tilia Michauxii Sarg., not Nutt.

Leaves thick and firm, acute or abruptly narrowed and long-pointed at apex, obliquely concave or unsymmetrically cordate at base, coarsely serrate with straight apiculate teeth pointing forward, dark green, smooth, glabrous and lustrous above, covered below except on the midrib and veins more or less thickly with short gray pubescence often slightly tinged with brown, and furnished with conspicuous tufts of axillary hairs, usually 4′—5½′ long and 2½′—4½′ wide; petioles stout, glabrous, 1¼′—2½′ in length. Flowers opening in June and July about ⅖′ long, on pubescent or nearly glabrous pedicels, in long-branched slender glabrous mostly 5—15-flowered cymes; peduncle slender, glabrous, the free portion 1¼′—1½′ in length, its bract gradually narrowed and cuneate or unsymmetrically cuneate or rounded at base, rounded at apex, glabrous, 2¾′—4½′ long, ⅖′—⅘′ wide and longer than and decurrent nearly to the base or to within ⅗′ of the base of the peduncle; sepals broad-ovate, acute, ciliate on the margins, glabrous on the outer surface, covered on the inner surface with long white hairs, about half as long as the lanceolate petals rounded and notched at apex and rather longer than the spatulate staminodia; stamens included; style villose toward the base. Fruit ripening in September, ellipsoid, ovoid, obovoid, or depressed-globose, rounded or acute or rarely gradually narrowed and acuminate at apex, rarely 5-angled, covered with rusty or pale pubescence, usually about ⅓′ in diameter.

A tree, 75°—90° high, with a trunk sometimes 3° in diameter, smooth often pendulous branches forming a broad round head, and slender glabrous branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, rounded at the narrowed apex, about ⅕′ long, with glabrous red-brown or light brown scales. Bark of the trunk about 1′ thick, deeply furrowed, pale reddish brown and covered with small thin scales.

Distribution. Rich moist soil, Province of Quebec, near Montreal, to the coast of Massachusetts and New York, through the middle states to the valley of the Potomac River and along the Appalachian Mountains to those of North Carolina, and to Iuka, Tishomingo County, Mississippi, and from central and western New York to northern Missouri.

9. Tilia caroliniana Mill.

Leaves ovate, oblique and truncate or cordate at base, abruptly long-pointed at apex, coarsely dentate with broad apiculate glandular teeth pointing forward, and coated below with a rusty or pale easily detached pubescence of fascicled hairs, coated when they unfold with hoary tomentum, soon glabrous on the upper surface, and at maturity dark yellow-green and lustrous above, 2¾′—4½′ long and 2½′—5′ wide; petioles stout, glabrous, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers opening the middle of June, ¼′ long, on slender pubescent pedicels, in small stout-branched pubescent mostly 8—15-flowered cymes; peduncle slender, pubescent, the free portion ¾′—1¼′ long, its bract oblong-obovate, cuneate at base, rounded or acute at apex, nearly glabrous on the upper surface when it first appears, pubescent becoming glabrous or almost glabrous below, 4′—5′ long and ⅘′ wide, longer or shorter than and decurrent to the base or nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals ovate, acuminate, ciliate on the margins, brown and covered with pale pubescence on the outer surface, coated on the inner surface with long white hairs; petals lanceolate, acuminate, a third longer than the sepals; staminodia oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, rather shorter than the petals; style tomentose at base or glabrous. Fruit subglobose, ellipsoid or obovoid, ⅛′ in diameter.

A large tree with slender red-brown glabrous or slightly pubescent branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, glabrous or rarely pubescent, about ¼′ long.

Distribution. Coast of North Carolina (Wrightsville Beach and the neighborhood of Wilmington, New Hanover County), southward in the immediate neighborhood of the coast to Liberty County, Georgia; western Louisiana to southern Arkansas (Hempstead and Clark Counties) common, and through eastern Texas to the Edwards Plateau (near Boerne, Kendall County); in Orizaba. Passing into

Tilia caroliniana var. rhoophila Sarg.

Differing from the type in its pubescent branchlets and winter-buds, its usually larger leaves, and in its tomentose corymbs of more numerous flowers. Leaves broad-ovate, abruptly short-pointed and acuminate at apex, oblique and truncate or cordate at base, coarsely serrate with broad apiculate teeth pointing forward, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and thickly covered on the lower surface with persistent white or brownish pubescence, 4′—5′ long and 2½′—5′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins pubescent on the lower side, and small conspicuous axillary tufts of pale hairs; petioles stout, thickly coated with pubescence, 1′—1¾′ in length; leaves on vigorous shoots often 6′ long, and 5½′ wide, and occasionally 10′ long and 9′ wide. Flowers ¼′ long, on short hoary-tomentose pedicels, in wide thin-branched pubescent many-flowered (sometimes 50) cymes; peduncle thickly covered with fascicled hairs, the free portion ¼′ long, its bract oblong, unequally rounded at base, rounded at apex, glabrous on the upper surface, pubescent on the lower surface, 4′—6′ long, 1′—2′ wide, usually shorter than and decurrent nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals acuminate, coated on the outer surface with pale or slightly rusty pubescence, villose and furnished at base on the inner surface with tufts of long hairs; petals lanceolate, acuminate and ciliate at apex, about a third longer than the sepals; staminodia spatulate, acute, about half the length of the petals; style coated at base with long white hairs. Fruit subglobose, covered with rusty tomentum, about ⅓′ in diameter.

A tree with slender branchlets thickly coated during their first year with pale pubescence, dark red-brown or gray and puberulous during their second season. Winter-buds covered with pale pubescence.

Distribution. Western Louisiana (Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis Parishes) to Hempstead County, Arkansas, and through eastern Texas to the valley of the upper Guadalupe River, Kerr County.

10. Tilia texana Sarg.

Leaves thin, oblong-ovate, abruptly contracted into a long slender acuminate point, cordate or obliquely cordate at base, finely dentate with broad apiculate teeth, early in the season pubescent above with scattered fascicled hairs and covered below with brownish slightly attached pubescence, and in the autumn light yellow-green, lustrous and nearly glabrous on the upper surface, slightly pubescent on the lower surface, 4′—5½′ long and 3¼′—5′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins sparingly villose on the upper side and nearly glabrous on the lower side, and small axillary tufts of brownish hairs; petioles slender, pubescent with fascicled hairs, 1′—1½′ in length; leaves on vigorous shoots often furnished with one or two large lateral acuminate serrate lobes, more coarsely dentate and more thickly covered on the lower surface with pubescence, often 5½′—6′ long and 3½′—6′ wide. Flowers opening the middle of June, ¼′ long, on slender tomentose pedicels, in small villose-pubescent mostly 7—10-flowered cymes; peduncle slender, slightly villose-pubescent, the free portion 1¼′—1½′ in length, its bract oblong-ovate to slightly obovate, unsymmetrically cuneate at base, rounded and occasionally lobed at apex, glabrous on the upper surface, densely pubescent early in the season, later becoming nearly glabrous on the lower surface, 3′—6′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide, longer or shorter than the peduncle and decurrent to its base or to within 1½′ of its base; sepals ovate, acute, pale pubescent on the outer surface, covered on the inner surface with white hairs longer and more abundant near the base; petals lanceolate, acuminate, a third longer than the sepals; staminodia linear-lanceolate, acuminate; style hoary-tomentose at base. Fruit ellipsoid, covered with rusty brown tomentum, ⅓′ long and ¼′ broad.

A small tree with slender branchlets thickly covered during their first season with close pale pubescence, and pale and puberulous or glabrous in their second year; on vigorous terminal branchlets often with thicker, light rusty brown pubescence. Winter-buds ovoid, obtusely pointed, thickly covered with pale pubescence, ¼′ long.

Distribution. Texas, Brazos and Cherokee Counties, on Spring Creek near Boerne, Kendall County, and on the rocky banks of the Guadalupe River at Kerrville, Kerr County.

11. Tilia phanera Sarg.

Leaves semiorbicular to broad-ovate, deeply and usually symmetrically cordate at base, abruptly short-pointed at apex, finely dentate with straight or incurved apiculate teeth, glabrous above when they unfold with the exception of a few hairs on the midrib and veins, and thickly coated below with hoary tomentum, and at maturity thin, blue-green, smooth and lustrous on the upper surface, paler and often brownish and coated with a floccose easily detached pubescence of fascicled hairs or scabrate (var. scabrida Sarg.) on the lower surface, 2′—4′ wide and usually rather broader than long, with a slender midrib and primary veins pubescent on the lower side, and small axillary clusters of rusty brown hairs; petioles slender, coated when they first appear with hoary tomentum, glabrous or slightly pubescent in the autumn, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers opening the middle of June, ⅕′ long, on tomentose pedicels, in compact villose mostly 16—20-flowered cymes; peduncle villose, the free portion 1¼′ in length, its bract obovate, cuneate at base, broad and rounded at apex, floccose-pubescent on the lower surface, nearly glabrous on the upper surface, 3′—3½′ long and ½′—1′ wide, longer than the peduncle and decurrent to its base or to within ¼′ of its base; sepals acuminate, pale pubescent on the outer surface, villose on the margins and furnished at base on the inner surface with a tuft of long white hairs, broader and shorter than the lanceolate acuminate petals; staminodia oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, style glabrous except at the base. Fruit ripening the end of September, ellipsoid, covered with rusty tomentum, ⅓′—⅖′ long and ¼′ wide, on a stout, densely floccose-pubescent pedicel.

A tree with slender light gray-brown often zigzag branchlets covered when they first appear with fascicled hairs and deciduous during their first summer. Winter-buds ovoid, obtusely pointed, terete, reddish brown, glabrous, ⅙′—⅕′ long.

Distribution. Texas, banks of Spring Creek, near Boerne, Kendall County; the var. scabrida on a low limestone bluff of the Blanco River, near Blanco, Blanco County, near College Station, Brazos County, and at Velasco, Brazoria County.

12. Tilia lasioclada Sarg.

Leaves ovate, abruptly contracted at apex into a short acuminate point, oblique and truncate or on weak branchlets, often nearly symmetric and deeply cordate at base, and finely serrate with straight apiculate teeth, covered above when they unfold with soft caducous hairs and pubescent below, and at maturity thick, bright green, smooth and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and covered on the lower surface with a thick floccose easily detached pubescence of fascicled hairs, pale on those of lower leaves and often rufous on those of upper branches, 4′—6′ long and 3¼′—5′ wide, with a slender midrib and veins covered below with straight hairs mixed with fascicled hairs, and small conspicuous axillary tufts; petioles covered when they first appear with straight hairs mixed with fascicled hairs, soon glabrous, usually 1¼′—1½′ in length, those of the leaves of weak branchlets very slender and often 2′—2½′ long. Flowers in May, ⅙′—⅕′ long, on stout villose pedicels, in long-branched mostly 10—15-flowered cymes more or less thickly covered with straight white hairs; peduncle covered with long white hairs, the free portion 1′—1¼′ in length, its bract rounded and unsymmetric or acute at base, rounded or acute at apex, the midrib more or less thickly covered on the lower side with straight hairs, otherwise glabrous, 3½′—5′ long and 1′ wide, decurrent nearly to the base or to within 1′ of the base of the peduncle; sepals narrow, acute, pubescent on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface, about one-third as long as the lanceolate acuminate petals; staminodia spatulate, rounded and often lobed at apex, about as long as the sepals; style slightly villose at base. Fruit ripening in September, globose or depressed-globose, covered with rusty tomentum, about ⅖′ in diameter.

A tree, sometimes 60° high, with a trunk 12′—24′ in diameter, heavy branches forming a broad round-topped head, and stout red-brown branchlets sometimes glabrous in early summer and sometimes covered more or less thickly during their first and second seasons with long straight hairs.

Distribution. Valley of the Savannah River, near Abbeville, South Carolina, to Shell Bluff, Burke County, Georgia; River Junction, Gadsden County, Florida.

13. Tilia heterophylla Vent.

Leaves ovate, obliquely truncate or rarely slightly cordate at base, gradually narrowed and acuminate at apex, finely dentate with apiculate gland-tipped teeth, pubescent above when they unfold with caducous fascicled hairs, and at maturity dark green and glabrous on the upper surface, covered on the lower surface with thick, firmly attached, white or on upper branches often brownish tomentum, and usually furnished with small axillary tufts of rusty brown hairs, 3¼′—5¼′ long and 2½′—2¾′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, 1½′—1¾′ in length. Flowers ¼′ long, opening in early summer, on pedicels pubescent with fascicled hairs, in wide mostly 10—20-flowered pubescent corymbs; peduncle glabrous, the free portion 1/12′—⅙′ in length, its bract narrowed and rounded at apex, unsymmetrically cuneate at base, pubescent on the upper surface, tomentose on the lower surface when it first appears, becoming glabrous, 4′—6′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, nearly sessile or decurrent to within 1½′ of the base of the peduncle; sepals acuminate, pale-pubescent on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface and furnished at base with a tuft of long white hairs; petals lanceolate, acuminate, a third longer than the sepals; staminodia oblong-ovate, acute, sometimes notched at apex; style villose at base with long white hairs. Fruit ellipsoid, apiculate at apex, covered with rusty brown tomentum, about ⅓′ long.

A large tree with slender, glabrous, reddish or yellowish brown branchlets and oblong-ovate slightly flattened glabrous winter-buds ⅕′—⅓′ in length, the outer scales slightly ciliate at apex.

Distribution. White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, West Virginia; Piedmont region of North and South Carolina and Georgia; near Tallahassee, Leon County, River Junction, Gadsden County, and Rock Cave, Jackson County, Florida; near Selma and Berlin, Dallas County, Alabama; Vevay, Switzerland County, and near the Ohio River, Jefferson County, Indiana; not common. Passing into the var. amphiloba Sarg., differing from the type in the fascicled hairs on the upper surface of the young leaves and in the often pubescent branchlets; woods in sandy soil near River Junction, Gadsden County, Florida, and Valley Head, DeKalb County, Alabama; and into var. nivea Sarg., differing from the type in the white tomentum on the lower surface of the leaves, the glabrous styles, in the tomentum on the lower side of the floral bract when the flowers open, the pubescent gray or pale reddish brown branchlets and in the puberulous winter-buds; deep woods, River Junction, Gadsden County, Florida. More important is

Tilia heterophylla var. Michauxii Sarg.

Tilia Michauxii Nutt.

Leaves ovate to ovate-oblong, acute or abruptly short-pointed at the broad apex, cordate, obliquely cordate, or rarely obliquely truncate at base, and coarsely serrate with apiculate teeth, pubescent above when they unfold with caducous fascicled hairs, and hoary-tomentose beneath, and at maturity thin, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface and coated below with short white or grayish white tomentum, 3½′—6′ long and 3½′—5′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib and primary veins usually without axillary tufts; petioles slender, sparingly villose when they first appear, soon glabrous, 1½′—2½′ in length. Flowers ⅓′ long, opening about the 1st of July, on slender puberulous pedicels ¼′ in length, in wide long-stemmed puberulous cymes; peduncle pubescent, becoming glabrous, the free portion 1¾′—2′ in length, its bract obovoid, rounded or acute at apex, 3½′—5′ long and ½′—1′ wide, decurrent to within ⅓′—¾′ of the base of the peduncle; sepals ovate, acuminate, ciliate on the margins, puberulous on the outer surface, tomentose on the inner surface, ¼′ long, shorter than the lanceolate acuminate petals; staminodia oblong-obovoid, rounded or emarginate at apex; style glabrous. Fruit ripening in September, subglobose, rusty-tomentose, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter.

A large tree with slender glabrous light red-brown branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, slightly flattened, red, about ¼′ in length. Bark of the trunk 1′ thick, deeply furrowed, reddish or grayish brown and covered with small thin scales.

Distribution. Pennsylvania, valley of the Susquehanna River (Lancaster County) to southern and western New York and through southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to northeastern Missouri (near Ilasco, Ralls County), and southward through eastern Kentucky and Tennessee to northeastern Mississippi, and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia; southern Georgia (Dougherty and Decatur Counties), Dallas County, Alabama; southwestern Missouri (Eagle Rock, Barry County), and northwestern Arkansas (Eureka Springs, Carroll County, and Cotter, Marion County).

14. Tilia monticola Sarg.

Tilia heterophylla Sarg., in part, not Vent.

Leaves thin, gradually narrowed and acuminate at apex, ovate to oblong-ovate, very oblique and truncate or obliquely cordate at base, finely serrate with straight or incurved apiculate teeth, smooth, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, thickly coated on the lower surface with hoary tomentum, 4′—7′ long and 3′—5′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, 1½′—3′ in length. Flowers from the middle to the end of July, ⅖′—½′ long, on stout sparingly pubescent pedicels, in mostly 7—10-flowered thin-branched glabrous cymes; peduncle slender, glabrous, the free portion 1⅓′—1½′ in length, its bract gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, narrowed and rounded at apex, glabrous, 4′—5½′ long and ⅘′—1′ wide, decurrent to within 1/24′—⅛′ of the base of the peduncle; sepals ovate, acute, ciliate on the margins, covered on the outer surface with short pale pubescence and with silky white hairs on the inner surface; petals lanceolate, acuminate, twice longer than the sepals; staminodia oblong-lanceolate, rounded at the narrowed apex, as long or nearly as long as the petals; style clothed at the base with long white hairs. Fruit ripening in September, ovoid to ellipsoid, covered with pale rusty tomentum, ¼′—⅓′ long and about ¼′ in diameter.

A tree rarely exceeding 60° in height with a trunk 3°—4½° in diameter, slender branches forming a narrow rather pyramidal head, and stout glabrous branchlets usually bright red during their first year, becoming brown in their second season. Winter-buds compressed, ovoid, acute or rounded at apex, light red, covered with a glaucous bloom, ⅓′—½′ long. Bark of the trunk ⅗′ in thickness, deeply furrowed, the surface broken into small thin light brown scales.

Distribution. Appalachian Mountains at altitudes usually from 2500°—3000°, Farmer Mountain, on New River, Connell County, Virginia, to Johnson City, Washington County. Tennessee, and to Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina.

15. Tilia georgiana Sarg.

Leaves ovate, abruptly short-pointed at apex, slightly unsymmetric and usually cordate on lateral branches and often oblique or truncate on leading branches at base, and finely dentate with glandular teeth pointing forward, when they unfold deeply tinged with red, covered above by fascicled hairs and tomentose below, when the flowers open the middle of June dark yellow-green, dull and scabrate above and covered below with a thick coat of tomentum, pale on those of lower branches and tinged with brown on those from the top of the tree, and conspicuously reticulate-venulose, and at maturity thick, dull yellow-green, pubescent or glabrous above, rusty or pale tomentose below, sometimes becoming nearly glabrous in the autumn, 2½′—4′ long and 2′—3′ wide; petioles slender, tomentose, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers ¼′—⅓′ long, on slender pubescent pedicels, in compact slender-branched pubescent mostly 10—15-flowered corymbs; peduncle slender, densely pubescent, the free portion 1′—1½′ in length, its bract oblong to obovate, rounded at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, pubescent, becoming nearly glabrous, 2½′—4′ long and ¾′—1½′ wide, decurrent to the base or to within 1′ of the base of the peduncle; sepals ovate, acuminate, coated on the outer surface with pale pubescence and on the inner surface with pale hairs longest and most abundant at the base, not more than one-half the length of the lanceolate acuminate narrow petals; staminodia oblong-obovate to spatulate, acute, about two-thirds as long as the petals; style glabrous or furnished with a few hairs at the very base. Fruit ripens early in September on pubescent pedicels, depressed-globose, occasionally slightly grooved and ridged, covered with thick rusty tomentum, ⅕′—¼′ in diameter.

A small tree, with slender branchlets thickly coated during their first season with pale tomentum, and dark red-brown or brown and puberulous in their second year. Winter-buds covered with rusty brown pubescence, ¼′—⅓′ long.

Distribution. Coast of South Carolina, near Charleston; Colonel’s Island near the mouths of the North Newport and Medway Rivers, near Dunham, Liberty County, and at Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia, to central and western Florida.

Tilia georgiana var. crinita Sarg.

Tilia pubescens Sarg., in part, not Vent.

Differing in the longer and more matted usually rusty brown hairs of the pubescence, usually less closely attached to the under surface of the leaves and often conspicuous on the young branches.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 15′ in diameter, and slender branchlets densely rusty pubescent during their first season, and during their third year becoming glabrous, red-brown, rugose and marked by occasional small lenticels. Winter-buds acuminate, dark reddish brown and covered with short reddish pubescence. Bark of the trunk ½′—¾′ thick, furrowed and divided into parallel ridges, the red-brown surface broken into short thick scales.

Distribution. Sandy woods near Bluffton, Beaufort County, and in the neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina, and on Colonel’s Island near the mouth of the North Newport and Medway Rivers, near Dunham, Liberty County, Georgia.

XL. STERCULIACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with bitter astringent juice, mucilaginous bark, and alternate simple leaves, with stipules. Flowers perfect, regular; calyx of 5 sepals, imbricated in the bud; corolla 0 (in Fremontia); anthers extrorse; pistil of 5 united carpels; ovary 5-celled; styles united; ovules anatropous.

A family of about fifty genera mostly confined to the tropics. Its most important species, Theobroma Cacao L., of the West Indies, produces chocolate from the cotyledons. Firmiana simplex F. N. Meyer, of this family and a native of southern China, is often planted as an ornamental tree in the southern states, where it has sometimes become naturalized, and in California.

1. FREMONTIA Torr.

A tree or shrub, with stellate pubescence and naked buds. Leaves broad-ovate, lobed, thick, prominently veined, usually rufous on the lower surface, persistent; stipules minute, deciduous. Flowers solitary, terminal or opposite the leaves, pedicellate, subtended by 3 or rarely 5 minute caducous bracts; calyx subcampanulate, hypogynous, deeply 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, petaloid, yellow, spreading, obovate, often mucronate, 1′ long, the 3 outer a little smaller than the others, pubescent on the outer surface, with a hairy cavity at the base of the inner surface; corolla 0; stamens 5; filaments alternate with the sepals, united to the middle into a column; anthers oblong-linear, incurved at the ends, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 5-celled, the cells opposite the sepals; style filiform, elongated, terminated by an acute undivided stigmatic point; ovules numerous in each cell, horizontal. Fruit an ovoid acuminate 4 or 5-valved loculicidally dehiscent capsule densely coated with long matted hairs, the inner surface of the cells villose-pubescent. Seeds oval; seed-coat crustaceous, puberulous, with a small fleshy marginal deciduous ariloid appendage on the chalaza; embryo straight, in thick fleshy albumen; cotyledons oblong, foliaceous, three or four times longer than the short radicle.

Fremontia, named in honor of John C. Frémont, the distinguished explorer of western North America, is represented by a single species.

1. Fremontia californica Torr. Slippery Elm.

Fremontodendron californicum Cov.

Leaves usually 3-lobed, rarely entire or sometimes 5—7-lobed, 1½′ in diameter; petioles stout, ½′—⅔′ in length. Flowers appearing in July in great profusion on short spur-like lateral branchlets. Fruit 1′ long; seeds very dark red-brown, about 3/16′ long.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a short trunk 12′—14′ in diameter, stout rigid branches spreading almost at right angles, and stout terete branchlets thickly coated when they first appear with rufous pubescence, becoming glabrous and light red-brown; more often a low intricately branched shrub. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ¼′ thick, deeply furrowed, the dark red-brown surface broken into numerous short thick scales. Wood hard, heavy, close-grained, dark brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood. The mucilaginous inner bark is sometimes used domestically in poultices.

Distribution. Lower slopes of the California mountains; western base of Mt. Shasta to the San Pedro Mártir Mountains, Lower California; nowhere common west of the Sierra Nevada, but of its largest size on their western foothills; most abundant east of the Sierra Nevada in the region of the Mohave Desert, growing as a low shrub and sometimes forming thickets several acres in extent.

Occasionally cultivated in western and southern Europe as an ornamental plant.

XLI. THEACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with simple alternate leaves, without stipules. Flowers perfect, regular, hypogynous; sepals and petals 5, imbricated in the bud; stamens numerous; anthers 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; pistil of 3—5 united carpels; ovary 3—5-celled; styles as many as the cells of the ovary, partly united. Fruit capsular; embryo with large cotyledons.

The Camellia family with eighteen genera is principally confined to the tropics of the New World and to southern and eastern Asia. Two genera are represented in the flora of the southern United States, and of these Gordonia is arborescent. Its most important genus, Camellia of eastern Asia, contains the Tea plant, Camellia Thea Link, and several species cultivated for the beauty of their flowers.

1. GORDONIA Ell.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, with an acuminate terminal bud, slender acuminate naked axillary buds, and watery juice. Leaves pinnately veined, entire or crenate, subcoriaceous and persistent, or thin and deciduous. Flowers axillary, solitary, long-stalked or subsessile; calyx subtended by 2—5 caducous bracts; sepals unequal, rounded, concave, coriaceous, persistent; petals free or slightly united, obovate, concave, white, deciduous; stamens numerous, filaments short, united at base into a fleshy cup adnate to the base of the petals and inserted with them, or long and inserted directly on the petals; anthers introrse, yellow; ovary sessile; style elongated, erect, 5-lobed at the stigmatic apex; ovules 4—8 in each cell, pendulous in 2 series from its inner angle, collateral, anatropous. Fruit a woody oblong or subglobose 5-celled capsule loculicidally 5-valved, with a persistent axis angled by the projecting placentas. Seeds 2—8 in each cell pendulous, flat, without albumen; seed-coat woody, usually produced upward into an oblong wing; embryo mostly straight or oblique, with oblong flat or oblique cotyledons; radicle short, superior.

Gordonia with sixteen species is confined to the south Atlantic states of North America and to tropical Asia and the Malay Archipelago.

The generic name is in honor of James Gordon (1728—1791), a well-known London nurseryman.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Flowers long-pedicellate; filaments united into a cup; capsule ovoid, the valves not splitting from the base; seeds winged; leaves persistent. 1. G. Lasianthus (C). Flowers subsessile; filaments distinct; capsule globose, the valves septicidally splitting from the base; seeds without wings; leaves deciduous. 2. G. alatamaha (C).

1. Gordonia Lasianthus Ell. Bay. Loblolly Bay.

Leaves coriaceous, lanceolate to oblong, acute at apex, gradually narrowed to the cuneate base, finely or remotely crenately serrate, usually above the middle only, dark green, smooth and lustrous, 4′—5′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, persistent; finally turning scarlet and dropping irregularly through the year; petioles stout, wing-margined toward the apex, channeled, about ½′ in length. Flowers pungently fragrant, about 2½′ in diameter, expanding in July and continuing to open successively during two or three months, on stout red pedicels thickening from below upward, 2½′—3′ long, and usually furnished with 3 or 4 ovate minute subfloral bractlets; sepals ovate to oval, ½′ long, ciliate on the margins with long white hairs, and covered on the outer surface with dense velvety pale lustrous pubescence; petals rounded at apex, gradually contracted at base, silky-puberulent on the back, white, incurved, 1¼′—1½′ long and 1′ broad, stamens united into a shallow fleshy deeply 5-lobed cup pubescent on the inner surface and adnate to the base of the petals; ovary ovoid, pubescent, gradually contracted into the stout style persistent on the fruit. Fruit ovoid, acute, pubescent, ¾′ long, and ½′ in diameter, splitting to below the middle; seeds winged, nearly square, slightly concave on the inner surface and rounded on the outer surface, rugose, dotted with small pale brown excrescences, nearly 1/16′ long and half the length of the thin membranaceous oblique pale brown wing pointed or rounded at apex; embryo filling the cavity of the seed, nearly straight; cotyledons subcordate, foliaceous.

A short-lived tree, 60°—75° high, with a tall straight trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, small branches growing upward at first and ultimately spreading into a narrow compact head, and dark brown rugose branchlets marked during several years by the horizontal slightly obcordate leaf-scars; or rarely a low shrub. Winter-buds ¼′—⅓′ long, and covered with pale silky lustrous pubescence. Bark of the trunk nearly 1′ thick, deeply divided into regular parallel rounded ridges, their dark red-brown scaly surface broken into many irregular shallow furrows. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not durable, light red, with lighter colored sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; occasionally used in cabinet-making.

Distribution. Shallow swamps and moist depressions in Pine-barrens; southeastern Virginia southward near the coast to the shores of Indian River on the east coast and to Cape Romano on the west coast of Florida, ranging to the interior of the peninsula from Lake to De Soto Counties, and westward along the Gulf coast to southern Mississippi; most abundant in Georgia and east Florida; gradually becoming less abundant westward.

2. Gordonia alatamaha Sarg. Franklinia.

Leaves obovate-oblong, rounded or pointed at apex, gradually narrowed to the long cuneate base, remotely serrate, usually above the middle only, with small glandular teeth, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 5′—6′ long and 1½′—2′ wide; turning scarlet in the autumn before falling; petioles stout, wing-margined above, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers 3′—3½′ in diameter, appearing about the middle of September, on short stout pedicels at first pubescent, finally glabrous, from the axils of crowded upper leaves, and marked by the broad conspicuous scars of 2 minute lateral subfloral pubescent bractlets; sepals nearly circular, ½′ in diameter, ciliate on the margins, and covered on the outer surface with short lustrous silky pale hairs; petals obovate, crenulate, white, membranaceous, 1′—1½′ long and 1′ broad, and densely coated on the outer surface with fine pubescence; filaments distinct, inserted on the petals; ovary conspicuously ridged, pubescent, truncate, and crowned with a slender deciduous style nearly as long as the stamens. Fruit globose, slightly pubescent, ¾′ in diameter, the valves splitting nearly to the middle and septicidally from the base to the middle; seeds 6—8, or by abortion fewer in each cell, closely packed together on the whole length of the thick axile placenta, nearly ½′ long, angled by mutual pressure, without wings.

A tree, 15°—20° high, with stout slightly angled dark red-brown branchlets covered with small pale oblong horizontal lenticels, and conspicuously marked by large prominent obcordate leaf-scars, with a marginal row of large fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Winter-buds compressed, reddish brown, puberulous, ¼′—⅓′ long. Bark of cultivated plants smooth, thin, dark brown.

Distribution. Near Fort Barrington on the Altamaha River, Georgia; not seen in a wild state since 1790, and now only known by cultivated plants.

Often cultivated in the eastern states and hardy as far north as eastern New York and occasionally in eastern Massachusetts, and rarely in western and central Europe.

XLII. CANELLACEÆ.

Trees, with pungent aromatic bark, and alternate pellucid-punctate entire penniveined persistent leaves, without stipules. Flowers perfect, regular, cymose; sepals and petals imbricated in the bud; stamens numerous, hypogynous, with filaments united into a tube inclosing the pistil, and narrow extrorse anthers adnate to the tube and longitudinally 2-celled; pistil of 2—3 united carpels; ovary free, 1-celled, with 2—5 parietal placentas; styles thick; stigmas 2—5-lobed; ovules 2 or many. Fruit a berry; seeds 2 or several; seed-coat thick, crustaceous; embryo small in fleshy oily albumen.

The Wild Cinnamon family with five genera and a few species is confined to tropical America, south Africa and Madagascar, one species reaching the shores of southern Florida.

1. CANELLA P. Br.

A tree, with scaly bark, stout ashy gray branchlets conspicuously marked by large orbicular leaf-scars, and minute buds. Leaves obovate, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed to the cuneate base, petiolate, coriaceous. Flowers small, in many-flowered subcorymbose terminal or subterminal panicles of several dichotomously branched cymes from the axils of upper leaves or from minute caducous bracts; sepals 3, suborbicular, concave, coriaceous, erect, their margins ciliate, persistent; petals 5, hypogynous, in a single row on the slightly convex receptacle, oblong, concave, rounded at apex, fleshy, twice as long as the sepals, white or rose color; stamens about 20, staminal tube crenulate at the summit and slightly extended above the anthers; ovary cylindric or oblong-conic, 1-celled, with 2 parietal placentas; style short, fleshy, terminating in a 2 or 3-lobed stigma; ovules numerous, arcuate, horizontal or descending, attached by a short funicle, imperfectly anatropous; micropyle superior. Fruit globose or slightly ovoid, fleshy, minutely pointed with the base of the persistent style, 2—4-seeded. Seeds reniform, suspended; seed-coat black and shining; embryo curved in the copious albumen; cotyledons oblong; radicle next the hilum.

The genus consists of a single West Indian species, extending into southern Florida and to Venezuela.

The generic name is from canella, the diminutive of the Latin cana or canna, a cane or reed, first applied to the bark of some Old World tree from the form of a roll or quill which it assumed in drying.

1. Canella Winterana Gærtn. Cinnamon Bark. White Wood. Wild Cinnamon.

Leaves contracted into a short stout grooved petiole, 3½′—5′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, bright green and lustrous. Flowers about ⅛′ in diameter, opening in the autumn. Fruit ripening in March and April, bright crimson, soft and fleshy, ½′ in diameter; seeds about 3/16′ long.

A tree, in Florida 25°—30° high, with a straight trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, and slender horizontal spreading branches forming a compact round-headed top. Bark of the trunk ⅛′ thick, light gray, broken on the surface into numerous short thick scales rarely more than 2′—3′ long and about twice as thick as the pale yellow aromatic inner bark. Wood very heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, dark red-brown, with thick light brown or yellow sapwood of 25—30 layers of annual growth. The bitter acrid inner bark is the wild cinnamon bark of commerce. It has a pleasant cinnamon-like odor and is an aromatic stimulant and tonic.

Distribution. Florida, region of Cape Sable, Munroe County (Flamingo [A. A. Eaton], East Cape, Madeira Hammock), and widely distributed on the southern keys, usually growing in the shade of other trees; on the Bahama Islands and many of the Antilles.

XLIII. KŒBERLINIACEÆ.

An intricately branched almost leafless tree or shrub, with thin red-brown scaly bark, stout alternate glabrous branchlets covered with pale green bark and terminating in a sharp rigid straight or slightly curved spine. Leaves minute, early deciduous, alternate, narrow-obovate, rounded at apex. Flowers perfect, on slender club-shaped puberulous pedicels from the axils of minute scarious deciduous bracts, in short umbel-like racemes below the end of the branches; calyx of 3 or 5 minute sepals imbricated in the bud, deciduous; petals 4, convolute in the bud, hypogynous, obovate or oblong, subunguiculate, white, much longer than the sepals; disk 0; stamens 8, free, hypogynous, as long as the petals; filaments thickened in the middle, subulate at the ends; anthers oval, attached on the back near the base, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary ovoid, 2-celled, contracted at base into a short stalk and above into a simple subulate style; stigma terminal, obtuse, slightly emarginate; ovules numerous, adnate in several series to the fleshy placenta, horizontal or dependent, anatropous. Fruit a 2-celled berry, black at maturity, subglobose, tipped with the remnants of the pointed style; flesh thin and succulent, the cells 1 or 2-seeded by abortion. Seed vertical, circinate-cochleate; seed-coat crustaceous, slightly rugose, striate; albumen thin; embryo annular; cotyledons semiterete; the radicle ascending.

The family is represented by a single genus.

1. KŒBERLINIA Zucc.

Characters of the family.

Kœberlinia with one species is North American.

The generic name is in honor of L. Koeberlin, a German botanist.

1. Kœberlinia spinosa Zucc.

Leaves not more than ⅛′ long. Flowers appearing in May and June, about ¼′ in diameter. Fruit 3/16′—¼′ in diameter.

A bushy tree, rarely 20°—25° high, with a short stout trunk sometimes 6°—8° long and a foot in diameter; more often a low branching shrub forming impenetrable thickets often of considerable extent. Wood very hard, heavy, close-grained, dark brown somewhat streaked with orange, becoming almost black on exposure, with thin yellow or nearly white sapwood of 12—15 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Dry gravelly mesas and foothills; valleys of the upper Colorado River (Big Springs, Howard County), and of the lower Rio Grande, Texas, westward through southern Texas and New Mexico to southern Arizona, and southward through northern Mexico, and in Lower California (San Jorge).

XLIV. CARICACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with bitter milky juice, and alternate long-petiolate persistent simple or digitately compound leaves, without stipules. Flowers unisexual or perfect, the perianth of the male and female flowers dissimilar; stamens in two series, inserted on the corolla; filaments free; anthers introrse. Fruit baccate.

The Pawpaw family with two genera is tropical American and Mexican, a single representative of the family reaching the shores of southern Florida.

1. CARICA L.

Short-lived trees, with erect simple or rarely branched stems composed of a thin shell of soft fibrous wood surrounding a large central cavity divided by thin soft cross partitions at the nodes, and covered with thin green or gray bark marked by the ring-like scars of fallen leaf-stalks, and stout soft fleshy roots. Leaves simple, palmately lobed or digitate, crowded toward the top of the stem and branches, large, flaccid, subpeltately palmately nerved, and usually deeply and often compoundly lobed. Flowers regular, monœcious or polygamo-diœcious, white, yellow, or greenish white, in axillary cymose panicles, the staminate elongated, pedunculate, and many-flowered, the pistillate abbreviated and few or usually 3-flowered, generally unisexual and diœcious, occasionally polygamo-diœcious, each flower in the axil of a minute ovate acute bract; calyx minute, 5-lobed, the lobes alternate with the petals; corolla of the staminate flower salverform, gamopetalous, the tube elongated, 5-lobed, the lobes oblong or linear, contorted in the bud; stamens 10; filaments free, those of the outer row alternate with the lobes of the corolla and elongated, the others alternate with them and abbreviated; anthers 2-celled, erect, opening longitudinally, often surmounted by their slightly elongated connective; ovary rudimentary, subulate; pistillate flower, calyx minute, 5-lobed, persistent under the fruit; corolla polypetalous, petals 5, linear-oblong, erect, ultimately spreading above the middle, deciduous; ovary free, sessile, 1-celled or more or less spuriously 5-celled; style 0 or abbreviated; stigmas 5, linear, radiating, dilated and subpalmately lobed at apex; ovules indefinite, inserted in two rows on the placenta, anatropous, long-stalked; micropyle superior; raphe ventral; hermaphrodite flower, corolla gamopetalous, tubular-campanulate, the lobes erect and spreading or subreflexed; stamens 10, in 2 ranks, or 5; ovary obovoid-oblong, longer than the tube of the corolla, more or less spuriously 5-celled below. Fruit slightly 5-lobed, l-celled or more or less completely 5-celled, filled with soft pulp, many-seeded, that produced from the hermaphrodite flower long-stalked, pendulous, usually unsymmetric, gibbous, and smaller than that from the pistillate flower. Seeds ovoid, inclosed in membranaceous silvery white sac-like arils, occasionally germinating within the fruit; seed-coat crustaceous, closely investing the membranaceous inner coat, the outer coat becoming thick, rugose, succulent, and ultimately dry and leathery; embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen; cotyledons ovate, foliaceous, compressed, longer than the terete radicle turned toward the minute pale subbasilar hilum.

Carica with about twenty species is distributed from southern Florida through the West Indies to southern Brazil and Argentina, and from southern Mexico to Chile. One species grows probably indigenously in Florida. The milky juice of Carica contains papain, which has the power of digesting albuminous substances, and the leaves are often used in tropical countries to make meat tender.

The generic name is formed from the Carib name of one of the species.

1. Carica Papaya L. Pawpaw.

Leaves ovate or orbicular, deeply parted into 5—7 lobes divided more or less deeply into acute lateral lobes, these secondary divisions entire or rarely lobed, the lowest lobes forming a deep basal sinus, thin, flaccid, yellow-green, 15′—24′ in diameter, with broad flat yellow or orange-colored primary veins radiating from the end of the petiole through the lobes, and small secondary veins extending to the point of the lateral lobes and connected by conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, yellow, hollow, enlarged and cordate at base, sometimes becoming 3°—4° in length before the leaves fall. Flowers often beginning to appear on plants only 3° or 4° high and a few months old, produced continuously throughout the year, the staminate in clusters on slender spreading or pendulous peduncles 4′—12′ long, the pistillate in 1—3-flowered short-stalked cymes; staminate flowers fragrant, filled with nectar, their corolla ¾′—1¼′ long, with a slender tube and acute lobes; anthers oblong, orange-colored, surmounted by the rounded thickened end of the connective, those of the inner row almost sessile and one third larger than those of the outer row, shorter than their flattened filaments covered, like the connectives, with long slender white hairs; pistillate flowers about 1′ long, with erect petals, without staminodia; ovary ovoid, ivory-white, slightly and obtusely 5-angled, 1-celled, and narrowed into a short slender style crowned by a pale green stigma divided to the base into 5 radiating lobes dilated and 3-nerved at apex. Fruits hanging close together against the stem at the base of the leaf-stalk, obovoid to ellipsoid, and obtusely short-pointed, yellowish green to bright orange color; in southern Florida not more than 4′ long and 3′ thick, and usually smaller, with a thick skin closely adherent to the sweet insipid flesh forming a thin layer outside the central cavity; seeds full and rounded, about 3/16′ long; outer portion of the seed-coat rugose at first when the fruit is fully grown but still green, ivory-white, very succulent, and usually separable from the smooth paler chestnut-brown lustrous interior portion, the outer part turning black as the fruit ripens and becoming adherent to the inner portion closely investing the thin lustrous light red-brown inner coat.

A short-lived tree, in Florida attaining a height of 12°—15°, with a trunk seldom more than 6′ in diameter; in the West Indies and other tropical countries often twice as large, with a trunk occasionally dividing into a number of stout upright branches. Bark thin, light green, becoming gray toward the base of the stem.

Distribution. Florida from the southern shores of Bay Biscayne on the west coast and of Indian River on the east coast to the southern keys, growing sparingly in rich hummocks; common in all the West Indian islands, in southern Mexico, and in the tropical countries of South America; now naturalized in most of the warm regions of the world, where it is universally cultivated for its fruit, which is considered one of the most wholesome of all tropical fruits, and has been much improved by selection.

XLV. CACTACEÆ.

Succulent trees or shrubs, with copious watery juice, numerous spines springing from cushions of small bristles (areolæ), and minute caducous alternate leaves, or leafless. Flowers large and showy, perfect, usually solitary; calyx of numerous spirally imbricated sepals forming a tube, those of the inner series petal-like; corolla of numerous imbricated petals, in many series; stamens inserted on the tube of the calyx, very numerous, in several series, with slender filaments and introrse 2-celled oblong anthers, the cells opening longitudinally; pistil of several united carpels; ovary 1-celled, with several parietal placentas; styles united, terminal; stigmas as many as the placentas; ovules numerous, horizontal, anatropous. Fruit a fleshy berry. Seeds numerous, with albumen; cotyledons foliaceous; radicle turned toward the hilum.

The Cactus family with twenty genera and a very large number of species is most abundant in the dry region adjacent to the boundary of the United States and Mexico, with a few species ranging northward to the northern United States and southward to the West Indian islands, Brazil, Peru, Chile and the Galapagos Islands. Two of the genera have arborescent representatives in the flora of the United States.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Branches and stems columnar, ribbed, continuous; leaves 0; flower-bearing and spine-bearing areolæ distinct; flowers close above spine-bearing areolæ; tube of the flower elongated; seeds dark-colored. 1. Cereus. Branches jointed, tuberculate; leaves scale-like; flower-bearing and spine-bearing areolæ not distinct; tube of the flower short and cup-shaped; seeds pale. 2. Opuntia.

1. CEREUS Haw.

Trees or shrubs, with columnar ribbed stems, and buds on the back of the ridges from the axils of latent leaves, geminate, superposed, the upper producing a branch or flower, the lower arrested and developed into a cluster of spines surrounded by an elevated cushion or areola of chaffy tomentose scales. Flowers lateral, elongated, the calyx-lobes forming an elongated tube, those of the outer ranks adnate to the ovary, scale-like, only their tips free, those of the inner ranks free, elongated; petals cohering by their base with the top of the calyx-tube, larger than its interior lobes, spreading, recurved; stamens numerous; filaments adnate by their base to the tube of the calyx, those of the interior ranks free, the exterior united into a tube; style filiform, divided into numerous radiating linear branches stigmatic on the inner face; stalks of the ovules long and slender, becoming thick and juicy in the fruit. Seeds with very thin albumen; embryo straight; cotyledons abbreviated, hooked at apex; radicle conic.

Cereus with at least two hundred species inhabits the dry southwestern region of North America, the West Indies, tropical South America, and the Galapagos Islands. Of the numerous species found within the territory of the United States only one assumes the habit and size of a tree. The fruit of several species is edible, and the ribs of the durable woody frames of the stems of the large arborescent species are used for the rafters of houses and for fuel. Many of the species are planted in warm dry countries in hedges to protect cultivated fields, and others are popular garden plants valued for their beautiful flowers, which are sometimes nocturnal and exceedingly fragrant.

The generic name relates to the candle-like form of the stem of some of the species.

1. Cereus giganteus Engelm. Suwarro.

Leaves 0. Flowers 4′—4½′ long and 2½′ wide, opening from May to July in great numbers near the top of the stem, each surrounded on the lower side by the radial spines of the cluster below it; ovary ovoid, 1′ long, rather shorter than the stout tube of the flower, and covered, like the base of the tube, by the thick imbricated green outer scale-like sepals, with small free triangular acute scarious mucronate tips, furnished in their axils with short tufts of rufous hairs and occasionally with clusters of chartaceous spines, gradually passing into thin oblong-ovate or obovate larger sepals, mucronate or rounded at apex and closely imbricated in many ranks; petals 25—35, obovate-spatulate, obtuse, entire, thick and fleshy, creamy white, ⅔′ long and much reflexed after anthesis; stamens, with linear anthers emarginate at the ends, and filaments united for half their length to the walls of the calyx-tube, those of the exterior rows joined below into a long tube, surrounding the stout columnar style glandular at base and divided at apex into 12—15 green stigmas. Fruit ripening in August, ovoid or slightly obovoid, 2½′ long and 1⅓′ wide, truncate and covered at apex by the depressed pale scar left by the falling of the flower, light red at maturity, separating into 3 or 4 fleshy valves bright red on their inner surface and inclosing the bright scarlet juicy mass of the enlarged funiculi and innumerable seeds; seeds obovoid, rounded, ⅙′ long, lustrous, dark chestnut-brown.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk sometimes 2° in diameter, thickest below the middle and tapering gradually toward the ends, marked by transverse superficial lines into rings 4′—8′ long, representing the amount of annual longitudinal growth, 8—12-ribbed at base with obtuse ribs 4′—5′ broad, and at summit 18—20-ribbed with obtuse deep compressed ribs, branchless or furnished above the middle with a few, usually 2 or 3, stout alternate or sometimes opposite upright branches shorter but otherwise resembling the principal stem composed of a thick tough green epidermis, a fleshy covering 3′—6′ thick saturated with bitter juice, and a circle of bundles of woody fibres making, with annual layers of exogenous growth, dense tough elastic columns placed opposite the depressions between the ribs, ½′—3′ in diameter and frequently united by branches growing at irregular intervals between them, the woody frame remaining standing after the death of the plant and the decomposition of its fleshy covering. Areolæ pale, elevated, about ½′ in diameter, bearing clusters of stout straight spines with a large dark fulvous base, sulcate or angled, tinged with red, with thick stout spines in the centre of each cluster, the 4 basal horizontal or slightly inclined downward, the lowest being the longest and stoutest and sometimes 1½′ long and 1/12′ thick, the upper shorter, more slender and slightly turned upward, with a row of shorter and thinner radial spines 12—16 in number surrounding the central group. Wood of the columns strong, very light, rather coarse-grained, with numerous conspicuous medullary rays, and light brown tinged with yellow; almost indestructible in contact with the ground, little affected by the atmosphere and largely used for the rafters of houses, for fences, and by Indians for lances, bows, etc. The fruit is consumed in large quantities by Indians.

Distribution. Low rocky hills and dry mesas of the desert; valley of Bill Williams River through central and southern Arizona to the valley of the San Pedro River and to the eastern border of the Colorado Desert between the Needles and Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona, and southward in Sonora.

2. OPUNTIA Adans.

Trees or usually shrubs, in the arborescent species of the United States with subcylindric or clavate articulate tuberculate branches, covered with small sunken stomata, and containing tubular reticulated woody skeletons, and thick fleshy or fibrous roots. Leaves scale-like, terete, subulate, caducous, bearing in their axils oblong or circular cushion-like areolæ of chaffy or woolly scales terminal on the branches and furnished above the middle with many short slender slightly attached sharp barbed bristles and toward the base with numerous stout barbed spines surrounded in some species, except at apex, by loose papery sheaths. Flowers diurnal, lateral, produced from areolæ on branches of the previous year between the bristles and spines, sessile, cup-shaped; sepals flat, erect, deciduous; corolla rotate; petals obovate, united at base, spreading; stamens shorter than the petals; filaments free or slightly united below; anthers oblong; style cylindric, longer than the stamens, obclavate below, divided at apex into 3—8 elongated or lobulate lobes stigmatic on the inner face. Fruit sometimes proliferous, covered by a thick skin, succulent and often edible, or dry, pyriform, globose or ellipsoid, concave at apex, surmounted by the marcescent tube of the flower, tuberculate, areolate, or rarely glabrous, truncate at base, with a broad umbilicus at apex. Seeds immersed in the pulpy placentas, compressed, discoid, often margined with a bony raphe; testa pale, bony, sometimes marked by a narrow darker marginal commissure; embryo coiled around the copious or scanty albumen; cotyledons large; radicle thin, obtuse.

Opuntia with many species is distributed from southern New England southward in the neighborhood of the coast to the West Indies, and through western North America to Chile, Brazil, and Argentina, the largest number of species occurring near the boundary of the United States and Mexico. Of the species of the United States at least three attain the size and habit of small trees. Cochineal is derived from a scale-insect which feeds on the juices of some of the Mexican species, and the fruit of several species is refreshing and is consumed in considerable quantities in semitropical countries. The large-growing species with flat branches are employed in many countries to form hedges for the protection of gardens and fields; and the branches saturated with watery juice are sometimes stripped of their spines and bristles and fed to cattle.

Opuntia is the classical name of some plant which grew in the neighborhood of the city of Opus in Bœotia.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Tubercles of the branches full and rounded below the areolæ. Joints pale olive color, easily separable, their tubercles broad, mammillate; spines yellow; flowers pink; fruit proliferous, usually spineless, often sterile. 1. O. fulgida (H). Joints green or purple, their tubercles narrow, ovoid; spines white to reddish brown; flowers purple; fruit yellow, sparingly spinescent, rarely proliferous. 2. O. spinosior (H). Tubercles of the branches not full and rounded below the areolæ; joints elongated, dark green or purple, their tubercles elongated; spines brown or reddish brown; flowers green, tinted with red or yellow; fruit green, spinescent, rarely proliferous. 3. O. versicolor (H).

1. Opuntia fulgida Engelm. Cholla.

Leaves light green, gradually narrowed to the acuminate apex, ½′—1′ long. Flowers appearing from June to September, the earliest from tubercles at the end of the branches of the previous year, the others from the terminal tubercles of the immature fruit developed from the earliest flowers of the season, 1′ in diameter when fully expanded, with ovaries nearly 1′ long, 8—10 obtuse crenulate sepals, 5 erect stigmas, and 8 light pink petals, those of the outer ranks cuneate, retuse, crenulate on the margins, shorter than the lanceolate acute petals of the inner ranks, the whole strongly reflexed at maturity. Fruit proliferous, oval, rounded, 1′—1¼′ long and nearly as broad, more or less tuberculate, conspicuously marked by large pale tomentose areolæ bearing numerous small bristles, usually spineless or occasionally armed with small weak spines, hanging in pendulous clusters usually of 6 or 7 and occasionally of 40—50 fruits in a cluster, one growing from the other in continuous succession, the first the largest and containing perfect seeds, the others frequently sterile, dull green when fully ripe, with dry flesh, falling usually during the first winter or occasionally persistent on the branches during the second season, and then developing flowers from the tubercles; seeds compressed, thin, very angular, 1/12′—⅙′ in diameter.

A tree, with a more or less flexuous trunk occasionally 12° in height and sometimes a foot in diameter, a symmetric head of stout wide-spreading branches and thick pendulous joints sometimes almost hidden by the long conspicuous spines and beginning to develop their woody skeletons during their second or occasionally during their third season, the terminal or ultimate joints ovoid or ovoid-cylindric, tumid, crowded at the end of the limbs, pale olive color, 3′—8′ long, often 2′ in diameter, with broad ovoid-oblong tubercles, ½′—¾′ in length. Areolæ of pale straw-colored tomentum and short slender pale bristles, each areola bearing at first 5—15 stout stellate-spreading light yellow spines of nearly equal length, ¾′-1′ long and inclosed in loose lustrous sheaths, additional spines developing in succeeding years at the upper margin of the areolæ, the tubercles of old branches being sometimes furnished with from 40-60 spines persistent on the branches for 4-6 years. Bark of the trunk and of the large limbs about ¼′ thick, separating freely on the surface into large thin loosely attached scales varying in color from brown to nearly black on the largest stems, and unarmed, the spines mostly falling with the outer layers from branches 3′—4′ thick. Wood of old trunks light, hard, pale yellow, with broad conspicuous medullary rays, well marked layers of annual growth, and a thick pith.

Distribution. Plains of Arizona south of the Colorado plateau, and in the adjacent region of Sonora; not rare; apparently most abundant and of its largest size in the United States on the mesas near Tucson, Pima County, at altitudes between 2000° and 3000°.

2. Opuntia spinosior Toumey. Tassajo.

Leaves terete, tapering gradually to the setulose apex, about ¼′ long, remaining on the branches from four to six weeks. Flowers opening in April and May and remaining open for two or three days, 2′—2½′ in diameter, with ovaries about 1′ long, obovate sepals, broad-obovate dark purple petals, sensitive red stamens, and a 6—9-parted stigma. Fruits clustered at the end of the branches of the previous year, persistent during the winter and occasionally during the following summer and then sometimes proliferous, oval or rarely globose or hemispheric, frequently 2′ long and 1½′ thick, with yellow acrid flesh and 20—30 tubercles very prominent during the summer, nearly disappearing as the fruit ripens and enlarges, leaving it marked only by the small oval areolæ covered with short bristles, and bearing numerous slender spines deciduous in December as the fruit begins to turn yellow; seeds nearly orbicular, slightly or not at all beaked, ⅙′—⅕′ in diameter, and marked by linear conspicuous commissures.

A tree, with an erect trunk occasionally 10° high and 5′-10′ in diameter, numerous stout spreading limbs forming an open irregular head, and branches with joints 4′—12′ long and ¾′—1′ thick, covered with a thick epidermis varying from green to purple, and usually developing woody skeletons during their second season, their tubercles prominent, compressed, ovoid, ⅓′—½′ long. Areolæ oval, clothed with pale tomentum and short light brown bristles, their spines 5—15 on the tubercles of young joints and 30—50 on those of older branches, and slender, white to light reddish brown, closely invested in white glistening sheaths, stellate-spreading, ½′—¾′ long, those in the interior sometimes considerably longer than the radial spines. Bark of the trunk and of the larger limbs about ¼′ thick, spineless, nearly black, broken into elongated ridges, and finally much roughened by numerous closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, pale reddish brown, and conspicuously reticulate, with conspicuous medullary rays and well defined layers of annual growth; sometimes used in the manufacture of light furniture, canes, picture-frames, and other small articles.

Distribution. Widely scattered over the mesas of southern Arizona south of the Colorado plateau and of the adjacent regions of Sonora.

3. Opuntia versicolor Coult.

Leaves terete, abruptly narrowed to the spinescent apex, ⅓′—½′ long, persistent on the branches from four to six weeks. Flowers opening in May, about 1½′ in diameter, with ovaries ⅝′ long, broad-ovate acute sepals, and narrow obovate petals rounded above and green tinged with red or with yellow. Fruit usually clavate, 2′—2½′ long, nearly 1½′ in diameter, with areolæ generally only above the middle and usually furnished with 1—3 slender reflexed persistent spines about ½′ long, or occasionally spineless, rarely nearly spherical and only about ¾′ in diameter, ripening from December to February, and at maturity the same color as the joint on which it grows, usually withering, drying, and splitting open on the tree, or remaining fleshy and persistent on the branches until the end of the following summer, and sometimes through a second winter, or often becoming imbedded in the end of a more or less elongated joint; seeds irregularly angled, with narrow commissures.

A tree, with an erect trunk occasionally 6°—8° high and 8′ in diameter, numerous stout irregularly spreading or often upright branches, and cylindric terminal joints generally 6′—12′ but sometimes 2° in length, ¾′—1′ in diameter, and covered with a thick dark green or purple epidermis, marked by linear flattened tubercles, their woody skeletons usually formed during their second season. Areolæ large, oval, clothed with gray wool, generally bearing a cluster of small bristles, and slender stellate-spreading brown or reddish brown spines, with close early deciduous straw-colored sheaths, 4—14 and on old tubercles 20—25 in number, the inner 1—4 in number, usually deflexed and unequal in length, the longest about ⅓′ long and longer than the radial spines. Bark of the trunk and of the large branches smooth, light brown or purple, usually unarmed, ½′—¾′ thick, finally separating into small closely appressed black scales. Wood reticulate, hard, compact, light reddish brown and rather lustrous, with thin conspicuous medullary rays, well-defined layers of annual growth, and thick pale or nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Foothills and low mountain slopes of southern Arizona and northern Sonora; very abundant.

XLVI. RHIZOPHORACEÆ.

Glabrous trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, and usually opposite coriaceous entire persistent leaves, with interpetiolar stipules. Flowers in axillary clusters; calyx-lobes valvate in the bud, persistent; petals inserted on the tube of the calyx and as many as its lobes; stamens inserted at the base of a conspicuous disk; anthers 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; pistil of 2—5 united carpels; ovary 2—5-celled; ovules usually 2 in each cell, suspended from its apex, collateral, anatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit usually indehiscent, 1-celled and 1-seeded.

The Mangrove family is tropical, with most of its seventeen genera confined to the Old World.

1. RHIZOPHORA L. Mangrove.

Trees, with pithy branchlets, thick astringent bark, and adventitious fleshy roots. Leaves ovate or elliptic, glabrous, petiolate; stipules elongated, acuminate, infolding the bud, caducous. Flowers perfect, yellow or creamy white, sessile or pedicellate, bibracteolate, the bractlets united into an involucral cup, in pedunculate dichotomously or trichotomously branched clusters, the base of their branches surrounded by an involucre of 2 ovate 3-lobed persistent bracts, or 1-flowered; calyx 4-lobed, the lobes acute, coriaceous, ribbed on the inner surface and thickened on the margins, two or three times longer than the turbinate globose tube, reflexed at maturity, persistent; petals 4, induplicate in the bud, alternate with and longer than the calyx-lobes, inserted on a fleshy disk-like ring in the mouth of the calyx-tube, involute on the margins, coated on the inner surface with long pale hairs, or flat and naked, caducous; stamens 8—12; filaments short or 0; anthers attached at the base, introrse, elongated, connivent, areolate; ovary partly inferior, conic, 2-celled, contracted into two subulate spreading styles stigmatic at apex. Fruit a conic coriaceous berry surrounded by the reflexed calyx-lobes and perforated at the apex by the germinating embryo. Seed germinating in the fruit before falling, the apex surrounded by a thin albuminous cup-like aril; seed-coat thick and fleshy; embryo surrounded by a thin layer of albumen; cotyledons dark purple; radicle elongated, clavate, and when fully grown separating from the narrow exserted woody tube inclosing the plumule and developed from the cotyledons after the ripening of the fruit.

Rhizophora with three species is widely and generally distributed on the shores of tidal marshes in the tropical regions of the two hemispheres, one specie reaching those of southern Florida. It possesses astringent properties; the bark has been used in tanning leather, in dyeing, and as a febrifuge. The wood is hard, durable, and dark-colored. By means of the aerial germination of its seeds and in its power to develop roots from trunks and branches, Rhizophora is especially adapted to maintain itself on low tidal shores and is an important factor in protecting and extending them into the ocean. Roots springing from the stems at a considerable distance above the ground and arching outward descend into the water and fix themselves in the mud beneath, while roots growing down from the branches enter the ground and gradually thicken into stems. The fully grown radicle ready to put forth roots and leaves, and often 10′—12′ long, is thicker and heavier at the root end than at the other, and in detaching itself from the cotyledons and in falling the heavy end sticks in the mud, while the plumule at the other end, held above the shallow surface of the water, soon unfolds its leaves.

The generic name, from ῥίζα and φέρειν, was used by early authors to designate various climbing plants with thickened roots.

1. Rhizophora Mangle L.

Leaves ovate or elliptic, rounded or acute at apex, gradually narrowed at base, dark green and very lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 3½′—5′ long and 1′—2′ wide, with slightly thickened margins, a broad midrib, and reticulate veinlets; persistent for one or two years; petioles ½′—1½′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acute, 1½′ long, deciduous as the leaf unfolds. Flowers produced through the year, 1′ in diameter, pedicellate, in 2 or 3-flowered clusters on peduncles 1½′ long from the axils of young leaves; petals pale yellow, coated on the inner surface with long pale hairs; stamens 8 with villose filaments. Fruit 1′ long, rusty brown, slightly roughened by minute bosses, the hard woody thick-walled tube developed from the cotyledons protruding ½′—⅔′ from its apex after the germination of the seed, covering the plumule, and holding the dark brown radicle marked with occasional orange-colored lenticels and when fully grown 10′—12′ long and ¼′—⅓′ thick near the apex.

A round-topped bushy tree, with spreading branches usually 15°—20° high, forming almost impenetrable thickets with its numerous aerial roots, or occasionally 70°—80° high, with a tall straight trunk clear of branches for more than half its length, a narrow head, and stout glabrous dark red-brown branchlets, becoming lighter colored in their second year and then conspicuously marked by large oval slightly elevated leaf-scars. Bark of young stems and of the branches smooth, light reddish brown, becoming on old trunks ⅓′—½′ thick, and gray faintly tinged with red, the surface irregularly fissured and broken into thin appressed scales. Wood exceedingly heavy, hard, close-grained, strong, dark reddish brown streaked with lighter brown, with pale sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; used for fuel and wharf-piles.

Distribution. Shores of Florida from Mosquito Inlet on the east coast and Cedar Keys on the west coast to the southern keys; most abundant south of latitude 29°, following the coast with wide thickets and ascending the rivers for many miles; on Cape Sable and the shores of Bay Biscayne sometimes growing at a little distance from the coast on ground not submerged by the tide, and here attaining its largest size, with tall straight trunks and few aerial roots; on Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Antilles, the west coast of Mexico, lower California, the Galapagos Islands, and from Central America along the northeast coast of South America to the limits of the tropics.

XLVII. COMBRETACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with astringent juice, naked buds, and alternate or opposite simple entire coriaceous persistent leaves, without stipules. Flowers regular, perfect, or polygamous; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes valvate in the bud; petals 5, valvate in the bud, inserted at the base of the calyx, or 0; disk epigynous; stamens 5—10, inserted on the limb of the calyx; filaments slender, filiform, distinct, exserted; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 1-celled; style slender, subulate; stigma minute, terminal, entire; ovules usually 2, suspended from the apex of the cell, collateral, anatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit drupaceous, often crowned with the accrescent calyx. Seed solitary; albumen 0; embryo straight, with convolute cotyledons; radicle minute, turned toward the hilum.

Of the fifteen genera of this family, widely distributed through the tropics, three have arborescent representatives in southern Florida.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Corolla 0; leaves alternate. Calyx persistent; flowers in spikes; seeds without wings. 1. Bucida. Calyx deciduous; flowers in capitate heads; seeds winged. 2. Conocarpus. Corolla of 5 petals; calyx persistent; leaves opposite. 3. Laguncularia.

1. BUCIDA L.

A tree or shrub, with terete often spinescent branchlets. Leaves crowded at the end of spur-like lateral branchlets much thickened and roughened by the large elevated crowded leaf-scars, alternate, obovate to oblong-lanceolate, rounded and slightly emarginate or minutely apiculate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, coriaceous, bluish green on the upper surface and yellow-green on the lower surface, pubescent while young, especially beneath, and glabrous at maturity with the exception of rufous hairs on the under surface of the stout midrib, and on the short stout petiole. Flowers perfect, greenish white, hairy on the outer surface, sessile in the axils of minute bracts, in lax elongated axillary clustered rufous-pubescent spikes; calyx-tube ovoid, constricted above the ovary, the limb campanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes valvate in the bud, persistent; petals 0; stamens 10, in two ranks, inflexed in the bud, unequal, 5 longer than the others and inserted opposite the calyx-lobes under the hairy 5-lobed disk, the others shorter, alternate with them and inserted higher on the calyx-tube; filaments incurved near the apex; anthers minute, sagittate; ovary included in the tube of the calyx; style thickened and villose at the base; ovules suspended on an elongated slender funiculus. Fruit ovoid, conic, oblique, and more or less falcate, irregularly 5-angled, coriaceous, light brown, puberulous on the outer surface, with thin membranaceous flesh inseparable from the crustaceous stone porous toward the interior. Seed ovoid, acute; seed-coat coriaceous, chestnut-brown; cotyledons fleshy; radicle superior.

Bucida with a single species is confined to tropical America, where it is distributed from southern Florida and the Bahama Islands through the West Indies to Guiana and Central America.

The generic name is from βοῦς, in allusion to the fancied resemblance of the fruit to the horns of an ox.

1. Bucida Buceras L. Black Olive-tree.

Leaves 2′—3′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, their petioles ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers appearing in Florida in April, ⅛′ long, on spikes 1½′—3′ in length. Fruit about ⅛′ long.

A tree, with a single straight trunk, or often with a short prostrate stem 2°—3° in diameter, producing several straight upright secondary stems 40°—50° high and 12′—18′ in diameter, stout branches spreading nearly at right angles with the trunk and forming a broad head, and branchlets clothed when they first appear with short pale rufous pubescence mostly persistent for two or three years, becoming light reddish brown and covered with bark separating into thin narrow shreds. Bark of the trunk and of the large branches thick, gray tinged with orange-brown, and broken into short appressed scales. Wood exceedingly heavy, hard, close-grained, light yellow-brown sometimes slightly streaked with orange, with thick clear pale yellow sapwood of 30—40 layers of annual growth. The bark has been used in tanning leather.

Distribution. Florida, only on Elliott’s Key; widely distributed in brackish marshes through the West Indies to the shores of the Caribbean Sea and the Bay of Panama.

2. CONOCARPUS L.

A tree or shrub, with angled branchlets. Leaves alternate, short-petiolate, narrow-ovate or obovate, acute, gradually contracted and biglandular at base, glabrous or sericeous. Flowers perfect, minute, in dense capitate heads in narrow leafy terminal panicles, with acute caducous bracts and bractlets coated with pale hairs, on stout hoary-tomentose peduncles bibracteolate near the middle; calyx-tube truncate, obliquely compressed at base, clothed with pale hairs, the limb campanulate, parted to the middle, the lobes ovate, acute, erect, pubescent on the outer and puberulous on the inner surface, deciduous; petals 0; disk 5-lobed, hairy; stamens usually 5, inserted in 1 rank, or rarely 7 or 8 in 2 ranks; anthers cordate, minute; style thickened and villose at base. Fruits scale-like, broad-obovoid, pointed, recurved, and covered at apex with short pale hairs, densely imbricated in ovoid reddish heads; flesh coriaceous, corky, produced into broad lateral wings; stone thin-walled, crustaceous, inseparable from the flesh. Seed irregularly ovoid; seed-coat membranaceous, pale chestnut-brown.

The genus consists of a single species of tropical America and Africa.

The generic name, from χῶνος and καρπὸς, is in allusion to the cone-like shape of the heads of fruits.

1. Conocarpus erecta L. Buttonwood.

Leaves slightly puberulous on the lower surface when they first appear or coated with pale silky persistent pubescence (var. sericea, DC.), 2′—4′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, lustrous, dark green or pale on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, with a broad orange-colored midrib, obscure primary veins, and reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, broad, ½′ in length. Flowers produced throughout the year, in heads ⅓′ in diameter on peduncles ½′—1½′ in length, in panicles 6′—12′ long. Cone of fruit about 1′ in diameter.

A tree, 40°—60° high, with a trunk 20′—30′ in diameter, small branches forming a narrow regular head, and slender branchlets conspicuously winged, light red-brown, usually glabrous, or silky pubescent (var. sericea, DC.), becoming terete and marked by large orbicular leaf-scars in their second year; or sometimes a low shrub, with semiprostrate stems. Bark of the trunk dark brown, divided by irregular reticulating fissures into broad flat ridges broken on the surface into small thin appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, dark yellow-brown, with thin darker colored sapwood of about 10 layers of annual growth; burning slowly like charcoal and highly valued for fuel. The bark is bitter and astringent, and has been used in tanning leather, and in medicine as an astringent and tonic.

Distribution. Low muddy tide-water shores of lagoons and bays; Florida, Cape Canaveral and Cedar Keys to the southern keys; of its largest size in Florida on Lost Man’s River near Cape Sable; at its northern limits a low shrub; common on the Bahama Islands, in the Antilles, on the shores of Central America and tropical South America, on the Galapagos Islands, and on the west coast of Africa.

3. LAGUNCULARIA Gærtn.

A tree, with scaly bark, terete pithy branchlets, and naked buds. Leaves opposite, glabrous, thick and coriaceous, oblong or elliptic, obtuse or emarginate at apex, marked toward the margin with minute tubercles; their petioles conspicuously biglandular. Flowers usually perfect or polygamo-monœcious, minute, flattened, greenish white, sessile, in simple terminal axillary tomentose spikes generally collected in leafy panicles, with ovate acute hoary-tomentose bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube turbinate, with 5 prominent ridges opposite the lobes of the limb and 5 intermediate lesser ridges, furnished near the middle with 2 minute appendages, and coated with dense pale tomentum, the limb urceolate, 5-parted to the middle, the divisions triangular, obtuse or acute, erect, persistent; disk epigynous, flat, 10-lobed, the 5 lobes opposite the petals broader than those opposite the calyx-lobes, hairy; petals 5, nearly orbicular, contracted into a short claw inserted on the bottom of the calyx-limb, ciliate on the margins, caducous; stamens 10, inserted in 2 ranks; anthers cordate, apiculate; ovary 1-celled; style short, crowned with a slightly 2-lobed capitate stigma. Fruit 10-ribbed, coriaceous, hoary-pubescent, elongated, obovoid, flattened, crowned with the calyx-limb, unequally 10-ribbed, the 2 lateral ribs produced into narrow wings, 1-seeded; flesh coriaceous, corky toward the interior, inseparable from the thin-walled crustaceous stone dark red and lustrous on the inner surface. Seed suspended, obovoid or oblong; seed-coat membranaceous, dark red; radicle elongated, slightly longer and nearly inclosed by the green cotyledons.

Laguncularia consists of a single species of tropical America and Africa.

The generic name is from laguncula, in allusion to the supposed resemblance of the fruit to a flask.

1. Laguncularia racemosa Gærtn. Buttonwood. White Mangrove.

Leaves slightly tinged with red when they unfold, and at maturity dark green on the upper and lighter green or pale on the lower surface, 1½′—2½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide; petioles red, ½′ in length. Flowers ¼′ long, in hoary-tomentose spikes produced throughout the year from the axils of young leaves and 1½′—2′ long. Fruit about ½′ long.

A tree, 30°—60° high, with a trunk 12′—20′ in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets somewhat angled at first, often marked with minute pale spots and dark red-brown, becoming in their second year terete, light reddish brown or orange color, thickened at the nodes, and marked by conspicuous ovate leaf-scars; or northward in Florida a low shrub. Bark of the trunk ¼′ thick, brown slightly tinged with red, the surface broken into long ridge-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, dark yellow-brown, with lighter colored sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth. The bark contains a large amount of tannic acid and is sometimes used in tanning leather, and is astringent and tonic.

Distribution. Muddy tidal shores of bays and lagoons; southern Florida from Cape Canaveral and Cedar Keys to the southern keys; common and of its largest size in Florida on the shores of Shark River, Monroe County; common in Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Antilles, tropical Mexico and Central America, tropical South America and western Africa.

XLVIII. MYRTACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs abounding in pungent aromatic volatile oil, with minute scaly buds. Leaves opposite, simple, mostly entire, pellucid-punctate, penniveined, persistent, the slender obscure veins arcuate and united within the thickened revolute margins; stipules 0. Flowers perfect, regular; calyx 4—5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, or lid-like and deciduous; petals 2—5, imbricated in the bud, inserted on the margin of the disk, or 0; stamens very numerous, inserted in many ranks with the petals; filaments slender, inflexed in the bud, exserted; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 2—4-celled; style simple, filiform, crowned with a minute stigma; ovules numerous or 2 or 3 in each cell, attached on a central placenta, anatropous or semianatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit baccate, crowned with the persistent calyx-lobes, 1—4-seeded. Seeds without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous.

The Myrtle family with seventy-four genera is chiefly tropical and Australasian, with representatives in southern Europe, extratropical Africa, and extratropical South America. Two genera are represented by small trees in the flora of southern Florida. To this family, beside the Myrtle, belong the Australian Eucalypti, large and important timber-trees largely planted in California, and the Guava, cultivated in Florida for its fruit.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Calyx closed in the bud by a lid-like deciduous limb; petals 0. 1. Calyptranthes. Calyx 4 or 5-lobed with persistent lobes; petals 4 or 5. 2. Eugenia.

1. CALYPTRANTHES Sw.

Aromatic trees or shrubs, with terete or angled branchlets. Leaves complanate in the bud, penniveined, petiolate. Flowers minute, in subterminal and axillary pedunculate many-flowered panicles, their primary and secondary branches often racemose, the ultimate branches cymose; calyx-tube turbinate, produced above the ovary, closed in the bud by a slightly 4 or 5-lobed lid-like orbicular limb, opening in anthesis by a circumscissile line, the limb at first attached laterally, finally deciduous; disk lining the tube of the calyx; petals 2—5, minute, or 0; ovary 2 or 3-celled; ovules 2 or 3 in each cell, collateral, ascending, anatropous. Fruit 2—4-seeded. Seed subglobose or short-oblong; seed-coat shining; cotyledons foliaceous, contortuplicate; radicle elongated, incurved.

Calyptranthes with eighty species is confined to tropical America, with two species reaching southern Florida.

The generic name is from χαλύπτρα and ἄνθη, in reference to the peculiar lid-like limb which closes the calyx before the opening of the flower.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Leaves acuminate, pubescent below; petioles up to ½′ in length; inflorescence and young branchlets covered with silky rufous tomentum. 1. C. pallens (D). Leaves abruptly pointed or obtuse at apex, glabrous; petioles not more than ⅙′ in length; inflorescence and young branchlets glabrous. 2. C. Zuzygium (D).

1. Calyptranthes pallens Griseb.

Chytraculia Chytraculia Sudw.

Leaves oblong or oblong-ovate, acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, pellucid-punctate above, marked with dark glands below, when they unfold pink or light red and covered with pale silky hairs, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, coated with pale pubescence on the lower surface, 2½′—3′ long and ½′—¾′ wide, with a broad midrib orange-colored beneath; petioles stout, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers sessile, ⅛′ long, in long-stalked many-flowered clusters 2½′—3′ long and wide, covered like their bracts and the flower-buds with silky rufous pubescence, with slender divaricate branches, the ultimate divisions 3-flowered; petals 0. Fruit short-oblong or nearly globose, dark reddish brown and puberulous, with thin dry flesh; seeds short-oblong, rounded at the ends.

A tree, in Florida 20°—25° high, with a trunk 3′—4′ in diameter, small branches forming a narrow head, and slender branchlets at first wing-angled between the nodes and coated with short rufous silky tomentum, becoming in their second or third year terete, thickened at the nodes, light gray tinged with red and covered with small thin scales. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, with a generally smooth light gray or almost white surface occasionally separating into irregular plate-like scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, brown tinged with red, with lighter colored sapwood of 30—40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, shores of Lake Worth, in the neighborhood of Bay Biscayne, Dade County, and on Big Pine Key, Elliott’s Key, Key Largo and Key West; on the Bahama Islands, on many of the Antilles and in southern Mexico.

2. Calyptranthes Zuzygium Sw.

Leaves elliptic, abruptly or gradually narrowed into a blunt point or obtuse at apex, cuneate at base, entire, covered with minute pellucid dots, glabrous, dark yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 1½′—2¼′ long and ⅗′—1¼′ wide, with a broad low midrib and slender primary veins arcuate and connected within the slightly revolute somewhat undulate margins; petioles deeply grooved, ⅛′—⅙′ in length. Flowers on slender pedicels ⅙′—⅕′ long, in axillary 1—3-branched few-flowered axillary cymes ¾′ long and ½′ wide, on slender peduncles 1′—1¼′ in length, the ultimate divisions of the inflorescence 1—3-flowered; petals wanting; style rather longer than the stamens. Fruit about ⅓′ in diameter.

A tree, in Florida sometimes 40° high, with a tall trunk 4′ or 5′ in diameter, covered with smooth pale gray bark, small branches and slender terete ascending ashy gray branchlets.

Distribution. Florida, Paradise and Long Keys in the Everglades, Dade County; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba, Jamaica and Hayti.

2. EUGENIA L.

Trees or shrubs, with hard durable wood and scaly bark. Flowers often large and conspicuous, on short bibracteolate pedicels, in axillary racemes or fascicles or dichotomously branched cymes, with minute caducous bracts and bractlets; calyx campanulate, scarcely produced above the ovary, the limb 4 or rarely 5-lobed; petals usually 4, free and spreading; ovary 2 or rarely 3-celled; ovules numerous in each cell, semianatropous. Fruit 1—4-seeded. Seeds globose or flattened; seed-coat membranaceous or cartilaginous; embryo thick and fleshy; cotyledons thick, more or less conferruminate into a homogeneous mass; radicle very short, turned toward the hilum.

Eugenia with some five hundred species is common in all tropical regions, with eight species reaching the shores of southern Florida, of these 6 are small trees. Several species are valued for their stimulant and digestive properties; some produce useful timber or edible fruit, and others are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers. Cloves are the flower-buds of Eugenia aromatica Baill., a native of the Molucca Islands; and Eugenia Jambos L., the Rose Apple, of southeastern Asia, is cultivated in all tropical countries as a shade-tree and for its delicately fragrant fruit.

The generic name commemorates the interest in botany and gardening taken by Prince Eugène of Savoy, who built the Belvidere Palace near Vienna in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and made a collection of rare plants in its gardens.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Flowers in axillary racemes or fascicles. Flowers in short solitary or clustered axillary racemes. Leaves ovate or obovate, rounded at apex, short-petiolate; fruit subglobose to short-oblong. 1. E. buxifolia (C, D). Leaves ovate, contracted at apex into a broad point, distinctly petiolate; fruit globose, black, ½′ in diameter. 2. E. axillaris (C, D). Flowers in axillary fascicles. Leaves usually broad-ovate, narrowed at apex into a short point, subcoriaceous; fruit subglobose, rather broader than high, ⅔′—1′ in diameter, becoming black at maturity. 3. E. rhombea (D). Leaves oblong-ovate, narrowed at apex into a long point, coriaceous; fruit subglobose to obovoid, ¼′—⅓′ long, bright scarlet. 4. E. confusa (D). Flowers in dichotomously branched cymes. (Anamomis.) Leaves ovate or obovate; cymes usually 3-flowered; flowers not more than ¼′ in diameter; fruit black. 5. E. dicrana (D). Leaves oblong or broad-elliptic; cymes 3—15-flowered; flowers up to ½′ in diameter; fruit red. 6. E. Simpsonii (D).

1. Eugenia buxifolia Willd. Gurgeon Stopper. Spanish Stopper.

Leaves ovate or obovate, rounded at apex, sessile or narrowed into a short thick petiole, occasionally slightly and remotely crenulate-serrate above the middle, thick and coriaceous, dark green on the upper surface, yellow-green and marked with minute black dots on the lower surface, 1′—1½′ long and about 1′ wide, with a narrow conspicuous midrib; usually unfolding in November and remaining on the branches until the end of their second winter, and often turning red or partly red before falling. Flowers appearing in Florida from midsummer until early autumn, ⅛′ in diameter, on short thick pedicels, in short rufous-pubescent racemes clustered in the axils of old or fallen leaves, with minute lanceolate acute persistent bracts, and broad-ovate acute bractlets immediately below the flowers; calyx glandular-punctate, pubescent on the outer surface, with 4 ovate rounded lobes much shorter than the 4 ovate white petals rounded at apex, ciliate on the margins, and glandular-punctate. Fruit subglobose to short-oblong, black, glandular-roughened, crowned with the large calyx-lobes, usually 1-seeded, and about ⅓′ in diameter, with thin aromatic flesh; seeds ⅛′ in diameter, with a thick pale brown lustrous cartilaginous coat and a pale olive-green embryo.

A shrubby tree, in Florida rarely 20° high, with a short trunk occasionally a foot in diameter, small mostly erect branches, and terete slender branchlets coated at first with rufous pubescence, becoming at the end of a few months ashy gray or gray tinged with red, and often more or less twisted or contorted. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ⅛′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and broken into small thick square scales. Wood very heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, dark brown shaded with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 15—20 layers of annual growth; sometimes used for fuel.

Distribution. Florida, Cape Canaveral to the southern keys, and on the west coast from the banks of the Caloosahatchee River to Cape Sable; one of the commonest plants on the keys, forming on coral rock a large part of the shrubby second growth now occupying ground from which the original forest has been removed; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

2. Eugenia axillaris Willd. Stopper. White Stopper.

Leaves ovate, gradually or abruptly narrowed at apex into a short wide point, rounded at the narrowed base, thick and coriaceous, dark green on the upper surface, paler and covered with minute black dots on the lower surface, 1½′—2½′ long and ½′ wide, with a broad midrib deeply impressed above; petioles stout, slightly winged, about ⅓′ in length. Flowers appearing at midsummer, about ⅛′ in diameter, in short axillary racemes, on stout pedicels 1/16′—½′ long, covered with pale white hairs, and furnished near the middle or toward the apex with 2 acute minute persistent bractlets; calyx glandular-punctate, covered on the outer surface with pale hairs, 4-lobed, with ovate rounded lobes shorter than the 4 ovate glandular white petals. Fruit ripening in succession from November to April, globose, black, glandular-punctate, usually 1-seeded, ½′ in diameter, edible, rather juicy, with a sweet agreeable flavor; seeds subglobose, ¼′ in diameter, with a pale brown chartaceous coat, and light olive-green cotyledons.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk occasionally a foot in diameter, small branches, and terete stout rigid ashy gray branchlets often slightly tinged with red and covered with small wart-like excrescences; or toward the northern limits of its range a low shrub. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick and divided by irregular shallow fissures into broad ridges finally separating on the surface into small thin light brown scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, very close-grained, brown often tinged with red, with thin darker colored sapwood of 5—6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, shores of the St. John’s River to the southern keys; nowhere common; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

3. Eugenia rhombea Kr. & Urb. Stopper.

Leaves broad-ovate, narrowed into a broad point rounded at apex, and abruptly or gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, when they unfold thin and light red, and at maturity subcoriaceous, conspicuously marked with black dots, olive-green on the upper surface and paler on the lower surface, 2′—2½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with a narrow midrib; unfolding in Florida in May; petioles narrow-winged, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers ½′ in diameter, appearing in Florida in April or May on slender glandular pedicels ⅓′—⅔′ long and furnished at apex with 2 lanceolate acute persistent bractlets ciliate on the margins, in sessile axillary many-flowered clusters; calyx-tube much shorter than the limb divided into 4 glandular narrow lobes rounded at apex and one half the length of the broad-ovate rounded glandular white petals. Fruit ripening in Florida from September to November, ⅔′—1′ in diameter, slightly glandular-roughened, orange color, with a bright red cheek when fully grown, becoming black at maturity; flesh thin and dry; seeds almost globose, nearly ½′ in diameter, with a thick pale chestnut-brown lustrous coat and olive-green cotyledons.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk usually a foot in diameter, small branches, and slender terete branchlets at first light purple and covered with a glaucous bloom, becoming ashy gray or almost white. Bark of the trunk about 1/16′ thick, with a smooth light gray surface slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light brown, with hardly distinguishable sapwood.

Distribution. Florida, Key West and Umbrella Key; on the Bahama Islands and on many of the Antilles.

4. Eugenia confusa DC. Red Stopper.

Leaves oblong-ovate, abruptly or gradually contracted into a long narrow point rounded or acute at apex, cuneate or occasionally rounded at base, thin and light red when they unfold, and at maturity dark green and very lustrous on the upper surface, paler and marked with minute black dots on the lower surface, 1½′—2′ long and ⅓′—⅔′ wide, with a thick orange-colored midrib barely impressed above and prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, about ¼′ in length. Flowers barely ⅛′ in diameter, appearing in September on slender pedicels ¼′—½′ long and furnished near the apex with 2 minute acute bractlets, in many-flowered axillary clusters; calyx glandular-punctate, with 4 ovate acute lobes much shorter than the 4 broad-ovate rounded white petals. Fruit ripening in March and April, subglobose to obovoid, bright scarlet, ¼′—⅓′ long, glandular-roughened, usually solitary and 1-seeded, with thin dry flesh; seed nearly globose, about ⅛′ in diameter, with a thin crustaceous light brown lustrous coat and an olive-green embryo.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a straight trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, stout upright branches forming a narrow compact head, and slender terete ashy gray branchlets. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, bright cinnamon-red, separating freely into small thin scales. Wood very heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, bright red-brown, with thick dark-colored sapwood of 50—60 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, rich hummocks near the shores of Bay Biscayne, Dade County, and on Old Rhodes and Elliotts Keys; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

5. Eugenia dicrana Berg. Naked Wood.

Anamomis dichotoma Sarg.

Leaves ovate or obovate, acute or rounded and occasionally emarginate at apex, cuneate at base, chartaceous when they unfold, becoming subcoriaceous, glabrous, covered with minute black dots, 1′—1¼′ long and ½′—⅔′ wide, with a stout midrib; petioles stout, enlarged at base, coated at first with silky hairs, finally glabrous. Flowers appearing in Florida in May, ¼′ in diameter, in cymes produced near the end of the branches, in the axils of leaves of the year, on slender peduncles coated with pale silky hairs, sometimes 1-flowered and not longer than the leaves, more often longer than the leaves, dichotomously branched and 3-flowered, with 1 flower at the end of the principal division in the fork of its branches, or occasionally 5—7-flowered by the development of peduncles from the axils of the bracts of the secondary divisions of the inflorescence, each branch of the inflorescence furnished immediately beneath the flower with 2 lanceolate acute bractlets nearly as long as the calyx-tube; calyx hoary-tomentose, the lobes ovate, rounded at apex and much shorter than the ovate acute glandular-punctate white petals. Fruit ripening in Florida in August, reddish brown, ¼′ long, obliquely oblong, obovate or subglobose, roughened by minute glands; flesh thin, rather dry and aromatic; seeds reniform, light brown, exceedingly fragrant.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, and slender terete branchlets light red and coated with pale silky hairs when they first appear, becoming glabrous in their second year and covered with light or dark brown bark separating into small thin scales; or often a shrub, with numerous slender stems. Bark of the trunk 1/16′—⅛′ thick, with a smooth light red or red-brown surface separating into minute thin scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, light brown or red, with thick yellow sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Florida, rocky woods, Mosquito Inlet to Cape Canaveral on the east coast, and from the banks of the Caloosahatchee River to the shores of Cape Romano on the west coast, on Key West, and in the neighborhood of Bay Biscayne, Dade County; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

6. Eugenia Simpsonii Sarg.

Anamomis Simpsonii Small.

Leaves oblong, rounded and abruptly short-pointed or occasionally emarginate at apex, cuneate at base, or broad-elliptic, silky pubescent and ciliate on the margins when they unfold, soon glabrous, and at maturity coriaceous, dark yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler and dull on the lower surface, 1½′—2′ long and ½′—1′ wide, with a prominent midrib impressed on the upper side and obscure spreading primary veins united before reaching the thickened revolute entire margins of the leaf; petioles covered at first with snowy white tomentum, soon glabrous, slender, ⅛′—¼′ in length. Flowers fragrant, about ½′ in diameter, sessile in lateral 3—15-flowered cymes on slender finely appressed-pubescent peduncles longer or shorter than the subtending leaves, their bractlets acuminate and ⅓′ long; calyx-tube short-obconic, thickly covered with silky white hairs, the lobes rounded at apex, green, punctate, two of them orbicular-reniform, the others orbicular-ovate, shorter than the white concave, obovate to suborbicular erose ciliate sparingly punctate petals. Fruit ellipsoid, red, mostly ⅓′—⅖′ long; seed reniform, usually solitary.

A tree, occasionally 60°—70° high, with a trunk 15′—16′ in diameter, small erect and spreading smooth gray-brown or reddish brown branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets covered when they first appear with snowy white tomentum, soon glabrous, and bright or dull reddish brown, and marked in their second year with the nearly orbicular elevated conspicuous scars of fallen leaves. Bark of the trunk thin, smooth, reddish, marked by pale blotches.

Distribution. Florida, Arch Creek Hummock north of Little River, and on Paradise and Long Keys in the Everglades, Dade County.

XLIX. MELASTOMACEÆ.

Trees, shrubs, or herbs with watery juice. Leaves opposite, rarely verticellate, 3—9-nerved, usually petiolate; stipules 0. Flowers regular, perfect, usually showy, rarely fragrant, in terminal clusters; calyx usually 4 or 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals as many as the lobes of the calyx, inserted on its throat, imbricated or convolute in the bud; stamens as many or twice as many as the petals, inserted in 1 series with them, often inclined or decimate; anthers 2-celled, attached at the base, opening by a terminal pore; ovary 2 or many-celled; style terminal, simple, straight or declinate; stigma capitate, simple or lobed; ovules numerous, minute, anatropous. Fruit capsular or baccate, inclosed in the calyx-tube; seeds minute; testa coriaceous or crustaceous; hilum lateral or basal; embryo without albumen.

This family with 164 genera and a large number of species is chiefly confined to the tropics, and is most abundant in those of South America.

1. TETRAZYGIA A. Rich.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets. Leaves opposite, petiolate, oblong-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, entire or denticulate, 3—5-nerved, persistent, scurfy, like the young branchlets, peduncles and calyx-tube. Flowers perfect in many-flowered terminal panicles or corymbs; calyx-tube urceolate or globose, adnate to the ovary, the limb constricted above the ovary and dilated below the apex, the lobes short or elongated; petals obovate, obtuse, convolute in the bud; stamens twice as many as the petals; filaments subulate; anthers linear-subulate, erect or slightly recurved, attached at base, 2-celled, opening by a minute pore at apex, their connective not extended below the cells; ovary 3—6-celled; style filiform, curved, exserted, surrounded at base by a short sheath 8—10-toothed at apex; ovules indefinite, minute, sessile on an axile placenta. Fruit a 3 or 4-celled berry, crowned by the persistent tube of the calyx; seeds numerous, minute, obpyramidal, thickened and incurved at apex; testa coriaceous, slightly pitted; hilum basal; cotyledons thick; radicle short, turned toward the hilum.

Tetrazygia with 14 species is confined to the West Indies and southern Florida where one species has been discovered, the only tree of the great family of the Melastomaceæ found in the United States.

The generic name is from τέτρα and ζυγόν in allusion to the often 4-parted flowers.

1. Tetrazygia bicolor Cogn.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, gradually narrowed and rounded at base, 3-nerved, entire, undulate and slightly thickened on the revolute margins, dark green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 3′—4½′ long and 1′—1¾′ wide; petioles stout, ¾—1′ in length. Flowers appearing from March to May, ⅘′ in diameter, short-stalked, in open cymose panicles; calyx urceolate, 4 or 5-lobed, the lobes nearly obsolete; petals 4 or 5, oblong-obovate, reflexed after anthesis, white; ovary 3-celled, style surrounded at base by a short sheath 10-toothed at apex. Fruit ripening in late autumn or early winter, oblong to ovoid, conspicuously constricted at apex, ¼′—⅓′ in length and ⅙′—⅕′ in diameter.

In Florida a shrub, or in the dense woods of the keys of the Everglades a slender tree, often 30° high, with an erect trunk 3′ or 4′ in diameter, covered with thin light gray-brown slightly fissured bark, small spreading branches becoming erect toward their apex and gracefully drooping leaves; or in the sandy soil of open Pine-woods often less than 3° in height.

Distribution. Florida, on the Everglade Keys, Dade County; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.

L. ARALIACEÆ.

Trees, shrubs, or herbs, with watery juice and scaly buds. Leaves alternate, compound or simple, petiolate, with stipules. Flowers in racemose or panicled umbels; parts of the flower in 5’s; disk epigynous; ovule solitary, suspended from the apex of the cell, anatropous; raphe ventral, the micropyle superior. Fruit baccate. Seeds, with albumen.

The Aralia family with fifty-four genera is chiefly tropical, with a few genera extending beyond the tropics into the northern hemisphere, especially into North America and eastern Asia. The widely distributed and largely extratropical genus Aralia is represented by one arborescent species in the flora of the United States. Hedera, the Ivy, of this family, is commonly cultivated in the temperate parts of the United States, and some species of Panax and Acanthopanax from eastern Asia are found in gardens in the northeastern states.

1. ARALIA L.

Aromatic spiny trees and shrubs, with stout pithy branchlets, and thick fleshy roots, or bristly or glabrous perennial herbs. Leaves digitate or once or twice pinnate, the pinnæ serrulate; stipules produced on the expanded and clasping base of the petiole. Flowers perfect, polygamo-monœcious or polygamo-diœcious, on slender jointed pedicels, small, greenish white; calyx-tube coherent with the ovary, the limb truncate, repand or minutely toothed, the teeth valvate in the bud; petals imbricated in the bud, inserted by their broad base on the margin of the disk, ovate, obtuse or acute and slightly inflexed at apex; stamens inserted on the margin of the disk, alternate with the petals; filaments filiform; anthers oblong or rarely ovoid, attached on the back, introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 2—5-celled; styles 2—5, in the fertile flower distinct and erect or slightly united at base, spreading and incurved above the middle, or incurved from the base and sometimes inflexed at apex, crowned with large capitate stigmas, in the sterile flower short and united. Fruit fleshy, laterally compressed or 3—5-angled, crowned with the remnants of the style; nutlets 2—5, orbicular, ovoid or oblong, compressed, crustaceous, light reddish brown, 1-seeded. Seed compressed; seed-coat thin, light brown, adnate to the thin fleshy albumen; cotyledons ovate-oblong, as long as the straight radicle.

Aralia with forty species is confined to North America and Asia.

The name is of obscure meaning.

1. Aralia spinosa L. Hercules’ Club.

Leaves clustered at the end of the branches, twice pinnate, 3°—4° long and 2½° wide, with a stout light brown petiole 18′—20′ in length, clasping the stem with an enlarged base and armed with slender prickles, or occasionally unarmed; pinnæ unequally pinnate, usually with 5 or 6 pairs of lateral leaflets and a long-stalked terminal leaflet, and often furnished at base with a pinnate or simple leaflet; leaflets ovate, acute, dentate or crenate, cuneate or more or less rounded at base, short-petiolulate, when they unfold lustrous, bronze-green, and slightly pilose on the midrib and primary veins, and at maturity thin, dark green above, pale beneath, 2′—3′ long and 1½′ wide, with a thin midrib occasionally furnished with small prickles and slender primary veins nearly parallel with their margins; in the autumn turning light yellow before falling; stipules acute, about 1′ long, at first puberulous on the back and ciliate on the margins. Flowers 1/16′ long, appearing at midsummer on long slender pubescent straw-colored pedicels, in many-flowered umbels arranged in compound panicles, with light brown puberulous branches becoming purple in the autumn, forming a terminal racemose cluster 3°—4° long, and rising solitary or 2 or 3 together above the spreading leaves; bracts and bractlets lanceolate, acute, scarious, persistent; petals white, acute, inflexed at apex; ovary often abortive; styles connivent. Fruit ripening in autumn, black, ⅛′ in diameter, globose, 3—5-angled, crowned with the blackened styles, with thin purple very juicy flesh; seeds oblong, rounded at the ends, about 1/10′ long.

A tree, 30°—35° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches, and branchlets ½′—⅔′ in diameter, armed like the branches and young trunks with stout straight or slightly incurved orange-colored scattered prickles, and nearly encircled by the conspicuous narrow leaf-scars marked by a row of prominent fibro-vascular bundle-scars, light orange-colored in their first season, lustrous and marked irregularly with oblong pale lenticels, becoming light brown in their second year, with bright green inner bark; more often a shrub, with a cluster of unbranched stems 6°—20° tall. Winter-buds: terminal conic, blunt at apex, ½′—¾′ long, with thin chestnut-brown scales; axillary triangular, flattened, about ¼′ long and broad. Bark of the trunk dark brown, about ⅛′ thick, and divided by broad shallow fissures into wide rounded ridges irregularly broken on the surface. Wood close-grained, light, soft, brittle, brown streaked with yellow, with lighter colored sapwood of 2 or 3 layers of annual growth. The bark of the roots and the berries are stimulant and diaphoretic, and are sometimes used in medicine and in domestic practice.

Distribution. Deep moist soil in the neighborhood of streams; southern Pennsylvania to southern Indiana, southeastern Iowa and southeastern Missouri, and southward to northern Florida, western Louisiana, and eastern Texas; probably of its largest size on the foothills of the Big Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the eastern states and in western Europe; hardy in eastern Massachusetts.

LI. NYSSACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, scaly buds, alternate entire dentate or serrate deciduous leaves, without stipules. Flowers diœcious, polygamo-diœcious or perfect; staminate, calyx minute, 5-toothed or lobed; petals 5 or more, imbricated in the bud, or 0; stamens as many, twice as many, or fewer than the petals, usually in 2 series; filaments sometimes of 2 lengths, elongated, filiform or subulate; disk fleshy, depressed at apex; pistillate flowers, calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; petals 5 or more, imbricated in the bud; ovary 1-celled or 6—10-celled; ovule solitary, pendulous from the apex of the cell, anatropous; micropyle superior; disk epigynous, pulvinate, the apex depressed or convex, or 0; style subulate, curved or spirally involute at apex, or 2-parted, or conic and divided into as many stigmatic lobes as the cells of the ovary. Fruit drupaceous or subsamaroid, crowned with the remnants of the calyx, 1-celled and 1-seeded, or 3—5-celled, the cells thin, 4-seeded; seed pendent, testa membranaceous or thin, albumen fleshy; cotyledons foliaceous or thin; radicle cylindric.

Nyssaceæ with 3 genera, Nyssa L., Camptotheca Decne. and Davidia Baill. and 8 species is confined to eastern North America, western China, Thibet, the Himalayas and the Malay Archipelago.

1. NYSSA L.

Trees, with leaves conduplicate in the bud, petiolate, sometimes remotely angulate or toothed, mostly crowded at the end of the branches. Flowers polygamo-diœcious, minute, greenish white; staminate on slender pedicels from the axils of minute caducous bracts, in simple or compound clusters on long axillary peduncles bibracteolate near the middle or at the apex or sometimes without bractlets; calyx disciform or cup-shaped, the limb 5-toothed; petals 5, imbricated in the bud, equal or unequal, ovate or linear-oblong, thick, inserted on the margin of the conspicuous pulvinate entire or lobed disk, erect; stamens 5—12, exserted; filaments filiform; anthers oblong; ovary 0; pistillate flowers on axillary peduncles, in 2 or few-flowered clusters, sessile or nearly so, in the axils of conspicuous bracts and furnished with 1 or 2 small lateral bractlets, or solitary and surrounded by 2—4 bractlets; calyx-tube campanulate, sometimes slightly urceolate, the limb 5-toothed; petals small, thick, and spreading; stamens 5—10; filaments short; anthers fertile or sterile; disk less developed than in the staminate flower, depressed in the centre; ovary 1 or 2-celled; style terete, elongated, recurved, stigmatic toward the apex or the inner face; raphe ventral. Fruit drupaceous, short-oblong, fleshy, urceolate at apex; flesh thin, oily, acidulous; stone thick-walled, bony, terete or compressed, ribbed or winged, 1 or rarely 2-celled, usually 1-seeded. Seed filling the cavity of the stone; seed-coat pale; embryo straight.

Nyssa with six species is confined to the eastern United States and to southern and eastern Asia, where one species is distributed from the eastern Himalayas to the island of Java and another occurs in central and western China. The American species produce tough wood, with intricately contorted and twisted grain.

Nyssa, the name of a nymph, was given to this genus from the fact that one of the species grows in water.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Pistillate flowers in 2 or few-flowered clusters, their calyx disciform; fruit blue, not more than ⅔′ long; stone with broad rounded ribs. Stone indistinctly ribbed; leaves linear-oblong to oval or obovate. 1. N. sylvatica (A, C). Stone prominently ribbed; leaves oblanceolate to oblong or elliptic. 2. N. biflora (C). Pistillate flowers solitary, their calyx cup-shaped; fruit 1′ or more long. Fruit red; stone with prominent wings; leaves oblong-oval or obovate, usually obtuse at apex. 3. N. ogeche (C). Fruit purple; stone with acute ridges; leaves oval or oblong, acute or acuminate at apex. 4. N. aquatica (A, C).

1. Nyssa sylvatica Marsh. Tupelo. Pepperidge. Sour Gum.

Leaves crowded at the end of lateral branchlets or remote on vigorous shoots, linear-oblong, lanceolate, oval or obovate, acute or acuminate or sometimes contracted into a short broad point at apex, cuneate or occasionally rounded at base, entire, with slightly thickened margins, or rarely coarsely dentate, coated when they unfold with rufous tomentum, especially on the lower surface, or pubescent or sometimes nearly glabrous, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green and lustrous above, pale and often villose below, principally along the broad midrib and on the primary veins, 2′—5′ long and ½′—3′ wide; turning early in autumn bright scarlet on the upper surface only; petioles slender or stout, terete or wing-margined, ciliate, ¼′—1½′ in length, and often bright red. Flowers appearing in early spring when the leaves are about one third grown on slender pubescent or tomentose peduncles ½′—1½′ long, staminate in many-flowered dense or lax compound heads, pistillate in 2 to several-flowered clusters, sessile in the axils of conspicuous often foliaceous bracts, and furnished with 2 smaller acute hairy bractlets; calyx of the staminate flower disciform; petals thick, ovate-oblong, acute, rounded at apex, erect or slightly spreading, early deciduous; stamens exserted in the staminate flower, shorter than the petals in the pistillate flower; stigma stout, exserted, reflexed above the middle, 0 in the staminate flower. Fruit ripening in October, 1—3 from each flower-cluster, ovoid, ⅓′—⅔′ long, dark blue, with thin acrid flesh; stone light brown, ovoid, rounded at base, pointed at apex, terete or more or less flattened, and 10—12-ribbed, with narrow indistinct pale ribs rounded on the back.

A tree, with thick hard roots and few rootlets, often surrounded by root-sprouts, occasionally 100° or rarely 125° high, with a trunk sometimes 5° in diameter, numerous slender pendulous tough flexible branches forming a head sometimes short, cylindric and flat-topped, sometimes low and broad, or on trees crowded in the forest narrow, pyramidal or conic, and sometimes inversely conic and broad and flat at the top, and branchlets when they first appear light green to orange color, and in their first winter nearly glabrous or pale or rufous-pubescent, light red-brown marked by minute scattered pale lenticels and by small lunate leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 conspicuous groups of fibro-vascular bundles, later becoming darker and developing short stout spur-like lateral branchlets; generally in the northern and extreme southern states much smaller, and rarely more than 50°-60° tall. Winter-buds obtuse, ¼′ long, with ovate acute apiculate dark red puberulous imbricated scales, those of the inner ranks accrescent, bright-colored at maturity, and marking the base of the branchlet with obscure ring-like scars. Bark of the trunk ¾′—1½′ thick, light brown often tinged with red, and deeply fissured, the surface of the ridges covered with small irregularly shaped scales. Wood heavy, soft, strong, very tough, not durable, light yellow or nearly white, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 80—100 layers of annual growth; used for the hubs of wheels, rollers in glass factories, ox-yokes, wharf-piles, and sometimes for the soles of shoes.

Distribution. Borders of swamps in wet imperfectly drained soil, and often especially southward on high wooded mountain slopes; valley of the Kennebec River, Maine, to southern Ontario, central Michigan, southeastern Missouri and eastern Oklahoma, and southward to northern Florida, and to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas; of its largest size on the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in the eastern states, but difficult to transplant except when very young. The first tree in the eastern states to assume autumn colors of the leaves.

2. Nyssa biflora Walt.

Leaves oblanceolate, oblong, elliptic or rarely ovate, acute or acuminate or occasionally rounded at the narrow apex, cuneate or rounded at the gradually narrowed base, and entire, when they unfold silky-villose above and hoary-tomentose beneath, soon becoming glabrous, dark yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler and sometimes glaucous on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long and ¾′—1′ wide, with a prominent midrib and numerous slender veins; petioles stout, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers appearing when the leaves are nearly fully grown; staminate on slender villose pedicels, in many-flowered loose clusters on slender hairy peduncles 1′—1½′ in length; pistillate in pairs on rather stouter peduncles usually about 1′ long; calyx of the staminate flower disciform; petals oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, white, erect or slightly spreading, early deciduous. Fruit solitary or in pairs, on peduncles 1′—1½′ in length, oval or ellipsoid, dark blue, lustrous, about ⅓′ long, with acrid pulp; stone oval, compressed, narrowed at the ends, and prominently ribbed.

A tree, rarely more than 30° high, with a slender trunk gradually tapering upward from a swollen and much enlarged base, small spreading branches forming a narrow pyramidal or round-topped head, branchlets slightly villose when they first appear, soon glabrous, bright reddish brown in their first winter, becoming darker the following year, and numerous erect thick roots rising above the surface of the water. Winter-buds acute, dark red-brown, puberulous, and about ⅛′ long, the inner scales hoary-tomentose. Bark about 1′ thick, deeply furrowed, gray to very dark reddish brown.

Distribution. Small Pine-barren ponds of the coastal plain from North Carolina to central and eastern Florida, southern Alabama and Mississippi, and western Louisiana (near Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish).

3. Nyssa ogeche Marsh. Ogeechee Lime. Sour Tupelo.

Leaves oblong, oval or obovate, acute, rounded or rarely obtuse, and apiculate at apex, gradually or abruptly cuneate or sometimes rounded at base, and entire, covered on the lower surface when they unfold with thick hoary tomentum and on the upper surface with short scattered pale hairs, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green, lustrous and slightly pilose above, pale below, 4′—6′ long and 2′—2½′ wide, with a stout midrib, 9 or 10 pairs of primary veins covered on the lower side with rufous pubescence or often nearly glabrous, and obscure reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, grooved, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers appearing in March and April; staminate in capitate clusters on slender hairy peduncles ½′ long, bibracteolate near the middle, and developed from the axils of the inner scales of the terminal bud, covered with long pale hairs on the outer surface of the short obscurely 5-toothed cup-shaped calyx and on the oblong petals rounded at apex; filaments longer than the petals; anthers oval and conspicuously tuberculate-roughened; pistillate solitary, 1/16′ long, on short stout woolly peduncles from the axils of bud-scales, and furnished at apex with 2 acute hairy bractlets; calyx coated, like the minute rounded spreading petals, with hoary tomentum; stamens included, with short filaments, and small mostly fertile anthers; style stout, exserted, reflexed from near the base. Fruit bright or dull red, on slender tomentose stems enlarged at apex and ½′—⅔′ long, ripening in July and August, and sometimes persistent on the branches until after the falling of the leaves, oblong or obovoid, 1′—1½′ in length, tipped with the thickened and pointed remnants of the style; flesh thick, juicy, very acid; stone oblong, compressed, narrowed at the ends, rounded at base, acute at apex, with walls produced into 10 or 12 broad thin papery white wings, about 1′ long, and 1 or rarely 2-seeded.

A tree, rarely 60°—70° high, with 1 or several stems occasionally 2° in diameter, spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets coated when they first appear with rufous tomentum, light reddish brown or green tinged with red and puberulous during their first summer, turning gray or reddish brown in their first winter, and marked by large lunate or nearly triangular leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 groups of fibro-vascular bundles; often a shrub, with numerous slender clustered diverging stems. Winter-buds obtuse, ⅛′ long, with ovate apiculate imbricated scales rounded on the back and clothed with thick hoary tomentum, those of the inner ranks becoming at maturity ovate-oblong or obovate, rounded at apex, bright red, and ½′—¾′ long. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, irregularly fissured, with a dark brown surface broken into thick appressed persistent plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, tough, not strong, white, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood of about 10 layers of annual growth. A preserve with an agreeable subacid flavor, known as Ogeechee limes, is sometimes made from the fruit in Georgia and South Carolina. The flowers abound in nectar, and are much visited by bees.

Distribution. Deep often inundated river swamps or their borders; South Carolina in the neighborhood of the coast, through the valley of the lower Ogeechee River, Georgia; in northern and in western Florida to the mouth of the Choctawhatchee River (R. H. Harper), and in the valley of the lower Apalachicola River; rare and local.

4. Nyssa aquatica Marsh. Cotton Gum. Tupelo Gum.

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