Leaves crowded at the end of the branches, oblong-obovate, obtuse or retuse at apex, gradually narrowed and contracted at base, coriaceous, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 2¾′—3½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with thickened revolute margins, a thick midrib and obscure veins; petioles stout, narrowly wing-margined, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers in November, minute, short-pedicellate in short pedunculate clusters usually 5, rarely 4-merous, white more or less marked with purple, about ⅙′ in diameter; calyx divided to the middle, the lobes broad-ovate, acute or rounded at apex, slightly ciliate, persistent under the fruit; corolla 2 or 3 times longer than the calyx, the lobes spreading, narrowed and rounded at apex, slightly ciliate on the margins; staminate flowers dimorphous; anthers sagittate-apiculate, inserted below the middle of the petals; ovary in one form crowned by a minute discoid sessile stigma and probably abortive, in the other form gradually narrowed into a slender style, terminating in an oblique stigma and fertile; pistillate flowers, anthers smaller and rudimentary; ovary crowned by a large nearly sessile irregularly lobed papillate stigma deciduous from the fruit. Fruit in clusters crowded on the elongated somewhat thickened spur-like peduncle of the flower-cluster covered with imbricated persistent bracts, dark blue or nearly black, tipped with the persistent style, ⅙′—⅕′ in diameter; exocarp thin and fleshy; endocarp crustaceous, white.
A tree, in Florida occasionally 18°—20° high, with a tall usually more or less crooked trunk 2′—3′ in diameter, small ascending branches forming an open irregular head, and slender gray or light red-brown branchlets roughened for a year or two by the persistent spur-like peduncles of the fallen fruit and later marked by circular scars in the axils of the small transverse leaf-scars; more often a shrub. Bark of the trunk thin, close, pale gray.
Distribution. Florida, shores of Indian River on the east coast and Palmetto, Manatee County, on the west coast, southward to the southern keys; common; on the Bahama Islands, Cuba, Porto Rico, Jamaica and Trinidad, to southern Brazil, and to Mexico and Bolivia.
LVI. SAPOTACEÆ.
Trees or shrubs, with milky juice. Leaves alternate, simple, entire, pinnately veined, mostly coriaceous, petiolate, without stipules. Flowers perfect, regular, small, in axillary clusters; calyx of 5-8 sepals imbricated in the bud, persistent under the fruit; corolla hypogynous, 5—8-cleft, the divisions imbricated in the bud, often with as many or twice as many internal appendages borne on its throat; disk 0; fertile stamens as many as and opposite the divisions of the corolla and inserted on its short tube, often with sterile filaments (staminodia) alternate with them; anthers generally extrorse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; pistil of united carpels; ovary sessile, usually 5-celled; style simple; ovules solitary in each cell, attached to an axile placenta, ascending, anatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle inferior. Fruit baccate, bearing at apex the remnant of the style, usually 1-celled and 1-seeded. Seed with or without albumen; embryo large; radicle terete, inferior.
This family with fifty genera is chiefly tropical and subtropical, with only Bumelia extending in North America into temperate regions. Some of the species produce valuable timber or edible and agreeable fruits. From Palaquium gutta Burkh., of the Malay Peninsula, gutta-percha is obtained. Five genera are represented by trees in the flora of the United States.
CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.
- Calyx of 5 sepals in a single series.
- Staminodia 1 in each sinus of the corolla.
- Appendages of the corolla 0; staminodia slender, scale-like.
- 1. Sideroxylum.
- Appendages of the corolla present; staminodia petaloid.
- Staminodia linear, fimbriate; seeds, with copious albumen.
- 2. Dipholis.
- Staminodia petaloid, entire or denticulate; seeds, without albumen.
- 3. Bumelia.
- Staminodia and appendages of the corolla 0; leaves covered below with lustrous copper-colored or golden pubescence.
- 4. Chrysophyllum.
- Calyx of 6—8 sepals in 2 series; corolla 6—8-lobed, with 2 appendages in each sinus inside of a scale-like or petaloid staminodia.
- 5. Mimusops.
1. SIDEROXYLUM L.
Trees, with terete branchlets, naked buds, and long-petiolate persistent leaves, the veins remote and connected by reticulate veinlets. Flowers minute, on ebracteolate pedicels from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, in crowded many-flowered axillary fascicles; calyx 5-parted, the divisions in one series, nearly equal, corolla furnished with 5 or 6 staminodia, and 5 or rarely 6-lobed; filaments slender, elongated, bent outward at the apex; anthers oblong, the cells at first extrorse, sometimes becoming sublateral; staminodia linear, scale-like; ovary contracted into a subulate style tipped with a minute slightly 5-lobed stigma. Fruit dry, 1-seeded, oblong, with thin coriaceous flesh. Seed obovoid or oblong; seed-coat lustrous, light brown, folded on the inner face into 2 obscure lobes rounded at apex; hilum elevated, subbasilar or lateral, oblong or linear; embryo erect in thick fleshy albumen; radicle much shorter than the oblong fleshy cotyledons.
Sideroxylum with a hundred species is widely distributed through the tropics of the two hemispheres, and occurs also with a few species in Australia, Madeira, southern Africa, New Zealand, and Norfolk Island, a single species reaching the shores of southern Florida. Some of the species are large and valuable timber-trees, producing hard handsome durable wood.
The generic name, from σίδηρος and ξύλον, is in reference to the hardness of the wood.
1. Sideroxylum fœtidissimum Jacq. Mastic.
Sideroxylum Mastichodendron Jacq.
Leaves mostly clustered near the end of the branches, appearing irregularly from early spring until autumn, oval, acute or rounded and slightly emarginate at apex, and gradually narrowed at base, with thickened cartilaginous slightly involute margins, silky-canescent beneath when they unfold, and at maturity thin and firm, glabrous, bright green and lustrous above, lustrous and yellow-green below, 3′—5′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, with a broad pale conspicuous midrib deeply impressed on the upper side and inconspicuous primary veins arcuate near the margins; petioles slender, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers usually appearing in Florida in the autumn and also in early spring and during the summer on stout orange-colored puberulous pedicels from the axils of minute acute scarious bracts usually deciduous before the opening of the flower-buds, from the axils of young leaves or on the branches of the previous year from leafless nodes; calyx yellow-green, puberulous on the outer surface and deeply divided into broad-ovate rounded lobes rather shorter than the oblong-ovate rounded divisions of the light yellow corolla; staminodia lanceolate, nearly entire, tipped with a subulate point and much shorter than the stamens; ovary oblong-ovoid, glabrous, gradually contracted into an elongated style stigmatic at apex. Fruit ripening in March and April on a much thickened woody stem erect or nearly at right angles to the branch, 1′ long, separating from the calyx in falling, with tough yellow skin, and thick juicy flesh of a pleasant subacid flavor; seed obovoid, rounded above, narrowed at base, ½′ long and ⅓′ wide.
A tree, in Florida 60°—70° high, with a massive straight trunk 3°—4° in diameter, stout upright branches forming a dense irregular head, and thick terete branchlets orange-colored and slightly puberulous when they first appear, becoming glabrous, brown more or less tinged with red, and marked by the conspicuous nearly orbicular leaf-scars displaying 3 large fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and conspicuously roughened by the thickened persistent bases of the fruit stalks. Bark of the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick, dark gray to light brown tinged with red and broken into thick plate-like scales separating into thin layers. Wood heavy, hard, strong, bright orange-colored, with thick yellow sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; in Florida used in boat-building.
Distribution. Florida, Cape Canaveral and Cape Romano to the southern keys; on the Bahama Islands and many of the Antilles.
2. DIPHOLIS A. DC.
Trees or shrubs, with naked buds, and persistent leaves, the slender veins arcuate and united near the margins. Flowers minute, on clavate ebracteolate pedicels from the axils of minute deciduous bracts, in the axils of existing leaves or from the leafless nodes of previous years; calyx ovoid, deeply 5-lobed, the lobes nearly equal, ovate, rounded at apex; corolla campanulate, white, 5-lobed, the spreading lobes furnished on each side at the base with a linear or subulate appendage; stamens exserted; filaments filiform; anthers oblong-sagittate, extrorse; staminodia 5, petaloid, ovate, acute, fimbriately cut on the margins, oblique, keeled on the back, inserted in the same rank and alternate with the stamens; ovary oblong or narrow-ovoid, gradually contracted into a slender style shorter than the corolla and stigmatic at the apiculate apex. Fruit oblong-ovoid, with thin dry flesh. Seed ovoid; seed-coat thick, coriaceous and lustrous; hilum oblong, basilar or slightly lateral; embryo erect in thick fleshy albumen; cotyledons ovate, flat, much longer than the short radicle turned toward the hilum.
Dipholis with three species is confined to the West Indies and southern Florida.
The generic name, from δίς and φολίς, relates to the appendages of the corolla.
1. Dipholis salicifolia A. DC. Bustic. Cassada.
Leaves oblong-lanceolate or narrow-obovate, acute, acuminate, or rounded at apex, gradually contracted at base, with slightly thickened cartilaginous wavy margins, thickly coated when they unfold with lustrous rufous pubescence, and at maturity thin and firm, dark green and lustrous above, pale yellow-green below, 3′—5′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, and glabrous, or slightly puberulous on the lower side of the narrow pale midrib, with inconspicuous veins and reticulate veinlets; appearing in Florida in the spring and remaining on the branches between one and two years; petioles slender, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers opening during March and April, ⅛′ long, on thick pedicels ¼′ in length from the axils of minute ovate acute scarious bracts, and coated with rufous pubescence, in dense many-flowered fascicles crowded on branchlets of the year or of the previous year for a distance of 8′—12′; calyx half the length of the corolla, coated on the outer surface with rusty silky pubescence; appendages of the corolla as long as the oval acute irregularly toothed staminodia; ovary narrow-ovoid, glabrous, gradually contracted into a slender style shorter than the corolla and stigmatic at apex. Fruit solitary or rarely clustered, ripening in the autumn, short-oblong to subglobose, black, ¼′ in length; seed pale brown, about 3/16′ in length.
A tree, in Florida sometimes 40°—50° high, with a straight trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, small upright branches forming a narrow graceful head, and slender branchlets coated with rufous pubescence when they first appear, becoming ashy gray or light brown tinged with red and marked by numerous circular pale lenticels and by small elevated orbicular leaf-scars displaying near the centre a compact cluster of fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Bark of the trunk about ⅓′ thick and broken into thick square plate-like brown scales tinged with red. Wood very heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, dark brown or red, with thin sapwood of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth.
Distribution. Florida, rich hummock soil, shores of Bay Biscayne and on the Everglade Keys, Dade County, and on several of the southern keys; on the Bahama Islands and on many of the Antilles.
3. BUMELIA Sw.
Small trees or shrubs, with terete usually spinescent branchlets, scaly buds, and fibrous roots. Leaves often fascicled on spur-like lateral branchlets, conduplicate in the bud, coriaceous or thin, short-petiolate, obovate and obtuse or elliptic, silky-pubescent or tomentose below, or nearly glabrous, with rather inconspicuous veins arcuate near the entire margins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, deciduous or persistent. Flowers minute, on slender clavate ebracteolate pedicels from the axils of lanceolate acute scarious deciduous bracts, in many-flowered crowded fascicles in the axils of existing leaves or from the leafless nodes of previous years; calyx ovoid to subcampanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes in one series, imbricated in the bud, ovate or oblong, rounded at apex, nearly equal; corolla campanulate, white, with 5 spreading broad-ovate lobes rounded at apex and furnished on each side at base with a minute acute ovate or lanceolate appendage; stamens 5; filaments filiform; anthers ovoid-sagittate, attached on the back below the middle, the cells opening by subextrorse slits; staminodia petal-like, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, entire or obscurely denticulate, flattened or keeled on the back, sometimes furnished at base with a pair of minute scales; ovary hirsute, ovoid to ovoid-conic, gradually or abruptly contracted into a slender short or elongated simple style stigmatic at the acute apex. Fruit oblong-obovoid or globose, black, solitary or in 2 or 3-fruited clusters; flesh thin and dry or succulent. Seed ovoid or oblong, apiculate or rounded at apex, without albumen; seed-coat thick, crustaceous, light brown, smooth and shining, folded more or less conspicuously on the back into 2 lobes rounded at apex; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons thick and fleshy, hemispheric, usually consolidated; radicle short, turned toward the basilar or subbasilar orbicular or elliptic hilum.
Bumelia, with about twenty-five species is confined to the New World, where it is distributed from the southern United States through the West Indies to Mexico, Central America, and Brazil. Of the twelve species in the United States which have been distinguished five are small trees.
Bumelia produces hard heavy strong wood, that of the North American species containing bands of numerous large open ducts defining the layers of annual growth and connected by conspicuous branched groups of similar ducts, presenting in cross-section a reticulate appearance.
The generic name is from βουμελία, a classical name of the Ash-tree.
CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
- Lower surface of the leaves pubescent or lanuginose.
- Leaves short-obovate to oblanceolate or elliptic, covered below with pale or ferrugineous silky pubescence.
- 1. B. tenax (C).
- Leaves oblong-obovate, lanuginose below with ferrugineous or silvery white hairs.
- 2. B. lanuginosa (A, C, H).
- Leaves glabrous or nearly so.
- Leaves deciduous.
- Leaves oblong-obovate, thick.
- 3. B. monticola.
- Leaves elliptic to oblanceolate, usually acute or acuminate, thin.
- 4. B. lycioides (A, C).
- Leaves persistent, obovate; fruit oblong.
- 5. B. angustifolia (C, D).
1. Bumelia tenax Willd. Ironwood. Black Haw.
Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate or elliptic, rarely oval or ovate on leading shoots, rounded or acute at apex, cuneate at base, thin, dark dull green, and finally reticulate-venulose on the upper surface, thickly covered below with soft silky pale or gold-colored pubescence, usually becoming dark rusty brown by midsummer, 1′—3′ long and 1⅛′—1½′ wide, with slightly thickened and revolute margins and a prominent midrib; turning yellow and falling irregularly during the winter; petioles slender, hairy, grooved, ¼′—1′ in length. Flowers appearing from May in Florida to July in South Carolina, ⅛′ long, on pedicels ½′—1′ in length and coated like the calyx with rufous silky pubescence, in many-flowered crowded fascicles; calyx ovoid, with oblong lobes; appendages of the corolla large, ovate, acute, crenate, shorter than the ovate staminodia about as long as the lobes of the corolla; ovary narrow-ovoid, gradually contracted into an elongated style. Fruit ripening and falling in the autumn, short-oblong to ellipsoid, ⅓′—½′ in length; flesh sweet and edible; seed oblong, short-pointed at apex, ¼′—⅓′ long.
A tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk occasionally 5′—6′ in diameter, straight spreading flexible tough branches unarmed or armed with straight stout rigid spines sometimes 1′ in length, and slender branchlets coated when they first appear with silky pale pubescence often tinged with red and soon rusty brown, becoming glabrous before winter, and then dark red and slightly roughened by occasional minute dark lenticels; or often a shrub only a few feet high. Winter-buds minute, subglobose, with imbricated ovate scales rounded at apex and clothed with rusty brown tomentum. Bark of the trunk thick, brown tinged with red, and divided irregularly by deep fissures into narrow flat reticulate ridges covered with minute appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light brown streaked with white, with lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution. Dry sandy soil; South Carolina (Saint Helena Island and Bluffton, Beaufort County), southward in the coast region of Georgia and east Florida to Cape Canaveral and through the interior of the peninsular to Cedar Keys on the west coast; near Bainbridge, Decatur County, southwestern Georgia.
2. Bumelia lanuginosa Pers. Gum Elastic. Chittam Wood.
Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded and often apiculate at apex and gradually narrowed at base, coated when they unfold with pale ferrugineous tomentum dense on the lower and loose on the upper surface, and at maturity thin and firm, dark green and lustrous above, more or less lanuginose below with rusty brown or silvery white (var. albicans Sarg.) hairs, 1′—2½′ long and ⅓′—¾′ wide; falling irregularly during the winter; petioles slender, rusty brown or pale pubescent, ⅛′—¾′ in length. Flowers opening in summer on hairy pedicels ⅛′ in length, in 16—18-flowered fascicles; calyx ovoid, with ovate rounded lobes coated on the outer surface with ferrugineous or pale tomentum and rather shorter than the tube of the corolla; appendages of the corolla small, ovate and acute; staminodia ovate, acute, remotely and slightly denticulate, as long as the corolla-lobes; ovary abruptly contracted into a slender elongated style. Fruit on a slender drooping stalk ripening and falling in the autumn, oblong or slightly obovoid, ½′ long, with thick flesh; seed short-oblong, rounded at apex, about ¼′ in length.
A tree, often 40°—50° high, with a tall straight trunk 1°—2° in diameter, short thick rigid branches forming a narrow-oblong round-topped head, unarmed, or armed with stout rigid straight or slightly curved spines frequently developing into spinescent leafy lateral branchlets, and slender often somewhat zigzag branchlets coated with thick rufous or pale tomentum when they first appear, becoming in their first winter red-brown to ashy gray and glabrous or nearly so, and marked by occasional minute lenticels and by small semiorbicular leaf-scars displaying 2 clusters of fibro-vascular bundle-scars; of its largest size in the Texas coast region; much smaller east of the Mississippi River, and there rarely more than 20° tall. Winter-buds obtuse, ⅛′ long, covered with broad-obovate rusty-tomentose scales. Bark of the trunk ½′ thick, dark gray-brown and usually divided into narrow ridges broken into thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, rather soft, not strong, close-grained, light brown or yellow, with thick lighter colored sapwood; producing in Texas considerable quantities of clear viscid gum from the freshly cut wood.
Distribution. Southern and southeastern Georgia, western Florida southward to the neighborhood of Lake City, Columbia County and to Cedar Key, coast of Alabama and inland to Dallas County, southern Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas to the valley of the San Antonio River and over the Edwards Plateau (Kendall, Kerr and Brown Counties) to the valley of the upper Brazos River (Palo Pinto County), and northward through western Louisiana and western Arkansas to western Oklahoma (Seiling, Dewey County), and to southeastern Kansas (Cherokee County) and southern Missouri as far north as the valley of the Meramec River (near Allenton, St. Louis County), and southern Illinois (near Mound City, Pulaski County); at Calcasieu Pass, on the sandy beaches of the Louisiana coast forming thickets of plants 6°—8° high, and uninjured by salt spray; the var. albicans in eastern Texas from the valley of the lower Brazos to that of the San Antonio River and in the neighborhood of Monterey, Nuevo Leon; most distinct and of its largest size on the bottoms of the Guadalupe River, near Victoria, Victoria County, and here occasionally 70°—80° high, with a trunk 3° in diameter.
Passing into the var. rigida A. Gray, with smaller rather narrower leaves and often more spinescent branches. Brown and Uvalde Counties, Texas; in Coahua and Nuevo Leon, and in the cañons of the mountains of southern Arizona up to altitudes of at least 4000°—5000°; in Texas shrubby in habit; in Arizona forming dense thickets of slender stems often 20°—25° tall and only 2′—3′ in diameter.
3. Bumelia monticola Buckl.
Leaves oblong-obovate, narrowed and acute or rounded and rarely slightly emarginate at apex, cuneate at base, entire, covered above with matted pale hairs and densely below with snow white pubescence when they unfold, and at maturity coriaceous, dark yellow-green, lustrous and glabrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 1¼′—3′ long and ⅓′—1¼′ wide, with slightly revolute margins, a slender yellow midrib glabrous or slightly pubescent below toward the base and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, deciduous; petioles slender pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous. Flowers opening from the middle of June to the middle of July, on villose pedicels, becoming sometimes nearly glabrous in the autumn, ⅛′—¼′ in length; calyx pale green, villose-pubescent, its lobes ovate, ciliate on the margins, shorter than the lobes of the corolla, their appendages lanceolate; staminodia rounded at apex, longer than the corolla-lobes. Fruit ripening in September, subglobose to oblong-obovoid, ¼′—⅓′ long and ¼′—⅓′ in diameter; seed oblong, rounded at the ends, about ⅖′ long.
A tree, in favorable positions 20°—25° high, with spinose branches forming an irregular open head, and slender often zigzag red-brown lustrous branchlets, the lateral branchlets often ending in stout spines; more often an irregularly branched shrub 10°—15° high, spreading on the banks of streams into great thickets. Bark of the trunk thick, pale and dark gray, rough and scaly, exfoliating in large scales.
Distribution. Texas, dry limestone cliffs and cañon bottoms and by streams dry during a large part of the year, valley of the upper Guadalupe River (Comal, Kendall and Kerr Counties) to the valley of the Rio Grande (Uvalde County), and northward to the valley of the upper Brazos River (Palo Pinto County); in Cohahuila (near Saltillo).
4. Bumelia lycioides Gærtn. f. Ironwood. Buckthorn.
Leaves elliptic to oblanceolate, acute, acuminate, or rarely rounded at apex, gradually narrowed at base, covered when they unfold especially below with silky villose pubescence, soon glabrous, and at maturity bright green and glabrous on the upper surface, light green and sometimes coated on the lower surface with pale pubescence, thin and rather firm, finely reticulate-venulose, 3′—6′ long and ½′—2′ wide, with a pale thin conspicuous midrib sometimes slightly pubescent below near the base, deciduous in the autumn; petioles slender, slightly grooved, mostly pubescent early in the season, usually becoming glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers appearing at midsummer on slender glabrous pedicels ½′ long, in crowded many-flowered fascicles; calyx glabrous, ovoid-campanulate, with rounded lobes rather shorter than the corolla; staminodia broad-ovate, denticulate, nearly as long as the narrow appendages; ovary ovoid, slightly hairy toward the base only, gradually contracted into a short thick style. Fruit ripening and falling in the autumn, ovoid or obovoid, about ⅔′ in length; flesh thick; seed short-oblong to subglobose, rounded at apex, nearly ¼′ long, with a pale conspicuous hilum.
A tree, 25°—30° high, with a short trunk rarely more than 6′ in diameter, stout flexible branches usually unarmed or furnished with short stout slightly curved spines occasionally developing into leafy spinescent branches, and short thick spur-like lateral branchlets slightly puberulous when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, light red-brown, rather lustrous, and marked by numerous pale lenticels, and in their second year dark or light brown tinged with red or ashy gray. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, nearly immersed in the bark, with pale dark brown glabrous scales. Bark of the trunk thin, light red-brown, the generally smooth surface broken into small thin persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, close-grained, light brown or yellow, with thick lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution. Usually in low moist soil on the borders of swamps and streams; rocky bluffs of the Ohio River near Cannelton, Perry County, southern Indiana, southern Illinois (Hardin, Pope and Pulaski Counties), to southeastern Missouri (Butler County) and to western Kentucky, western and central Tennessee, central Mississippi and northern Louisiana (West Feliciana Parish); and through western Arkansas to the coast region of eastern Texas (Beaumont, Jefferson County, and Columbia, Brazoria County); central Alabama; Florida southward to St. Mark’s, Wakulla County, and to Taylor, Alachua and Volusia Counties, and to northwestern Georgia (Catoosa County), and the valley of the Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina, and northward through eastern North Carolina to southeastern Virginia (Norfolk County).
5. Bumelia angustifolia Nutt. Ants’ Wood. Downward Plum.
Leaves obovate, rounded at apex, and gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, with slightly thickened revolute margins, glabrous, thick and coriaceous, pale blue-green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 1′—1½′ long and ¼′—1¼′ wide, with a pale slender midrib, and very obscure veins and veinlets; usually persistent on the branches until the end of their second winter; petioles stout, grooved, rarely ¼′ in length. Flowers generally appearing in October and November, on slender glabrous pedicels seldom more than ½′ in length, in few or many-flowered crowded fascicles; calyx glabrous, divided nearly to the base into narrow-ovate lobes rounded at apex and half as long as the divisions of the corolla furnished with linear-lanceolate appendages as long as the ovate acute denticulate staminodia; ovary narrow-ovoid, slightly hairy at base only, gradually contracted into an elongated style. Fruit ripening in the spring, on slender drooping stems, usually 1 fruit only being developed from a fascicle of flowers, oblong or slightly obovoid, rounded at the ends, ½′—¾′ long and ¼′ in diameter, with thick sweet flesh; seed oblong, rounded at apex, ½′ long.
A tree, sometimes 20° high, with a short trunk rarely exceeding 6′—8′ in diameter, graceful pendulous branches forming a compact round head, and rigid spinescent divergent lateral branchlets often armed with acute slender spines sometimes 1′ in length, and when they first appear thickly coated with loose pale or dark brown deciduous tomentum, becoming light brown tinged with red or ashy gray. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, and covered with rufous tomentum. Bark of the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick, gray tinged with red, and deeply divided by longitudinal and cross fissures into oblong or nearly square plates. Wood heavy, hard, although not strong, very close-grained, light brown or orange-colored, with thick lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution. Florida, shores of Indian River to the southern keys, and on the west coast from Cedar Keys to East Cape, and here less abundant and usually on rocky shores and in the interior of low barren islands; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.
4. CHRYSOPHYLLUM L.
Trees, with terete branchlets usually coated while young with dense tomentum, and naked buds. Leaves short-petiolate, bright green and glabrous on the upper surface and coated on the lower surface with brilliant silky pubescence or tomentum, persistent. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of minute acute bracts, in dense many-flowered fascicles; calyx usually 5-parted, the divisions nearly equal, obtuse; corolla 5 or rarely 6 or 7-lobed, tubular, campanulate or subrotate, white or greenish white; filaments short, subulate or filiform, enlarged into broad connectives; anthers ovoid or triangular, extrorse or rarely partly introrse, the cells spreading below; ovary usually 5-celled, style crowned by a 5-lobed stigma. Fruit short-oblong, ovoid or globose. Seed ovoid; seed-coat coriaceous, dull or lustrous; hilum subbasilar, elongated, conspicuous; embryo erect, surrounded by more or less pungent fleshy albumen; cotyledons oblong, foliaceous.
Chrysophyllum is tropical, with fifty or sixty species most abundant in the New World, with a small number of species in western and southern tropical Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Hawaiian Islands, and with one species in southern Florida. The most valuable species, Chrysophyllum Cainito L., a native of the West Indies and now cultivated in all tropical countries and naturalized in many parts of Central and South America, produces the so-called star-apple, a succulent edible blue or purple and green fruit the size and shape of a small apple.
The generic name, from χρυσός and φύλλον, is in allusion to the golden covering of the under surface of the leaves.
1. Chrysophyllum oliviforme Lam. Satin-leaf.
Leaves revolute in the bud, oval, acute or contracted into a short broad point or sometimes rounded at apex, abruptly cuneate at base, thick and coriaceous, bright blue-green on the upper surface and covered on the lower surface and on the petiole with brilliant copper-colored pubescence, 2′—3′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, with a broad prominent midrib deeply impressed on the upper side and numerous straight veins arcuate hear the margins; petioles stout, ½′—⅔′ in length. Flowers appearing in Florida irregularly throughout the year and often found on a branch with ripe or half-grown fruits, on stout pedicels shorter than the petioles, covered like the calyx with rufous tomentum, in few or many-flowered fascicles in the axils of leaves or at the base of lateral branchlets in those of earlier years; calyx divided nearly to the base into broad rounded lobes rather shorter than the tube of the subrotate white corolla with short spreading rounded lobes; ovary 5-celled, pubescent, gradually contracted into a short style crowned by a broad 5-lobed stigma. Fruit usually 1-seeded by abortion, on stems 1′ long, usually only a single fruit being produced from a flower-cluster, ovoid or sometimes nearly globose, dark purple, roughened by occasional excrescences, with a thick tough skin inclosing the juicy sweet mawkish flesh light purple on the exterior, lighter toward the interior, and quite white in the centre; seed narrowed at the ends, ½′ long, covered with a thin light brown coat closely invested with a white glutinous aril-like pulpy mass.
A tree, 25°—30° high, with a tall straight trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, upright branches forming a compact oblong head, and slender slightly zigzag branchlets coated when they first appear with ferrugineous tomentum, becoming in their second year light red-brown or ashy gray and covered with small pale elevated circular lenticels; in sandy soil under the shade of Pine-trees in the Everglade Keys a shrub 6° high or less. Bark of the trunk ¼′ thick, light brown slightly tinged with red, and broken by shallow fissures into large irregularly shaped plates separating on the surface into small thin scales. Wood very heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light brown shaded with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution. Florida, rich hummocks, from Mosquito Inlet on the east coast to the Everglade Keys, Dade County and to the southern keys, and on the west coast from the shores of the Caloosahatchie River to the neighborhood of Cape Sable; local and nowhere common; on the Bahama Islands, and in Cuba, Porto Rico and Jamaica.
5. MIMUSOPS L.
Trees or rarely shrubs, with stout terete branchlets, small naked buds, and sweet juice. Leaves usually clustered at the end of the branches, with slender inconspicuous transverse veins and minute reticulate veinlets, persistent. Flowers on clavate pedicels from the axils of minute deciduous bracts; calyx 6—8-parted, the divisions in 2 series, those of the exterior series almost valvate in the bud; corolla white, barely longer than the calyx, subrotate, usually dilated at the throat, 6—8-lobed, the lobes furnished at base with a pair of petal-like appendages; stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla; filaments short, dilated; anthers lanceolate, their connectives excurrent, acute, or sometimes aristate at apex; staminodia as many as the lobes of the corolla, scale-like or petaloid, entire, 2-lobed or laciniate; ovary ovoid, hirsute or puberulous, gradually narrowed into a slender style stigmatic at apex. Fruit globose, 1 or 2-seeded, tipped with the much thickened elongated style; skin crustaceous, indurate; flesh thick and dry. Seed oblong-ovoid, slightly compressed; seed-coat crustaceous, chestnut-brown and lustrous; hilum elongated, lateral or minute, basilar; embryo surrounded by thick fleshy albumen; cotyledons flat, thick and fleshy, much longer than the short erect radicle.
Mimusops with thirty or forty species is widely distributed through the tropics of the two hemispheres, a single species reaching the shores of southern Florida. Several species produce hard heavy timber, edible fruits, or valuable milky juices.
The significance of the generic name, from μιμώ and ὄψις in allusion to the shape of the corolla, is not apparent.
1. Mimusops emarginata Britt. Wild Dilly.
Mimusops Sieberi Chap., not A. DC.
Leaves clustered at the end of the branches, involute in the bud oblong-elliptic, or occasionally slightly obovate, rounded or retuse at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, with slightly thickened revolute margins, bright red when they unfold, and slightly puberulous on the under surface of the midrib, and at maturity thick and coriaceous, bright green and lustrous, covered on the upper surface with a slight glaucous bloom, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, 3′—4′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with a stout midrib glabrous, or puberulous with rusty hairs below, and deeply impressed above; appearing in Florida in April and May and deciduous during their second year; petioles slender, grooved, rusty-pubescent, especially while young, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers opening in the spring on slender pedicels near the end of the branches, coated with rusty tomentum and 1′ or more long, from the axils of leaves of the year or from those of fallen leaves of the previous year; calyx narrow-ovoid, divided nearly to the base into 6 lobes, those of the outer row lanceolate, acute, covered on the outer surface with rusty brown tomentum and on the inner surface with pale pubescence, thickened and usually marked at the base on the outer surface by black spots, those of the inner row ovate, acute, keeled toward the base, light greenish yellow and pale-pubescent; corolla light yellow tinged with green, ⅔′ in diameter, with 6 spreading lanceolate acute divisions entire or erosely toothed toward the apex, their appendage slender, acute and from one half to two thirds their length; staminodia minute, nearly triangular, entire; ovary narrow-ovoid, dark red, puberulous toward the base with pale hairs, and gradually narrowed into an elongated exserted style stigmatic at apex. Fruit ripening at the end of a year, in the spring or in early autumn, on a stout erect stem about 1′ long, and persistent until after the tree flowers the following year, subglobose to slightly obovoid, flattened and compressed at apex, 1′—1½′ in diameter, usually 1-seeded by abortion, with a thick dry outer coat roughened by minute rusty brown scales, and thick spongy flesh filled with milky juice; seed ½′ long, with an elongated lateral hilum.
A tree, in Florida rarely more than 30° high, with a short gnarled trunk 12′—15′ in diameter and usually hollow and defective, thick branches forming a compact round head, and stout branchlets clustered at the end of the branches of the previous year, coated when they first appear with dark rufous pubescence, becoming glabrous and light orange-brown at the end of a few weeks, and in their second year covered with thick ashy gray or light red-brown scaly bark and marked by elevated obcordate leaf-scars displaying 3 large dark conspicuous fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, rusty-tomentose. Bark of the trunk about ¼′ thick and irregularly divided by deep fissures into ridges rounded on the back and broken into small nearly square plates. Wood very heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, rich very dark brown, with light-colored sapwood.
Distribution. Florida, only on the southern keys; not common; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.
LVII. EBENACEÆ.
Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, and alternate simple entire leaves, without stipules. Flowers diœcious or polygamous, regular, axillary, articulate with the bibracteolate pedicels; calyx persistent; corolla hypogynous, regular; disk 0; stamens more numerous than the lobes of the corolla, inserted on its base, fewer and rudimentary or 0 in the pistillate flower; filaments short; anthers introrse, 2-celled; ovary several-celled; ovules 2 in each cell, suspended from its apex, anatropous; raphe dorsal; micropyle superior. Fruit a 1 or several-seeded berry. Seeds with copious albumen; embryo axile.
The Ebony family with seven genera and a large number of species is widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions, with two representatives of its most important genus, Diospyros, in the flora of the United States.
1. DIOSPYROS L.
Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, without a terminal bud, scaly axillary buds, coriaceous leaves revolute in the bud, and fibrous roots. Flowers mostly diœcious, from the axils of leaves of the year or of the previous year; staminate smaller than the pistillate and usually in short few-flowered bracted cymes; pistillate generally solitary; calyx 4-lobed, the lobes valvate in the bud, accrescent under the fruit; corolla 4-lobed, the lobes sinistrorsely contorted in the bud, more or less contracted in the throat, the lobes spreading or recurved; stamens usually 16, inserted on the bottom of the corolla in two rows and in pairs, those of the outer row rather longer than and opposite those of the inner row; filaments free, slender; anthers oblong, apiculate, the cells opening laterally by longitudinal slits; stamens rudimentary or 0 in the pistillate flower; ovary usually 4-celled, each cell more or less completely divided by the development of a false longitudinal partition from its anterior face, rudimentary or 0 in the staminate flower; styles 4, spreading, 2-lobed at apex; stigmas 2-parted or lobed; ovule solitary in each of the divisions of the cells. Fruit globose, oblong or conic, 1—10-seeded, surrounded at base by the enlarged persistent calyx. Seeds pendulous, oblong, compressed; seed-coat thick and bony, dark, more or less lustrous; embryo axile, straight or somewhat curved; cotyledons foliaceous, ovate or lanceolate; radicle superior, cylindric, turned toward the small hilum.
Diospyros, which is chiefly tropical, is widely distributed with more than two hundred species in the two hemispheres, with a few species extending beyond the tropics into eastern North America, eastern Asia, southwestern Asia, and the Mediterranean region.
Diospyros produces hard close-grained valuable wood, with dark or black heartwood and thick soft yellow sapwood. The ebony of commerce is partly produced by different tropical species. The fruit is often edible, and some of the species are important fruit-trees in China and Japan.
The generic name, from Διός and πυρός, is in allusion to the life-giving properties of the fruit.
CONSPECTUS OF THE SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
- Flowers on branchlets of the year; anthers opening longitudinally nearly throughout their entire length; filaments pubescent; pistillate flowers with 8 rudimentary stamens; ovary nearly glabrous; leaves oval; fruit green, yellow, orange color or rarely black.
- 1. D. virginiana (A, C).
- Flowers on branchlets of the previous year; anthers opening only near the apex; filaments glabrous; pistillate flowers without rudimentary stamens; ovary pubescent; leaves cuneate-oblong or obovate; fruit black.
- 2. D. texana (C).