162 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM U. 8. NATIONAL RERRARIUM. 
Asa general rule, the species of Sapium are exceedingly polymor- 
phic. As in Ficus, the habit of the younger trees and the size and 
texture of their leaves are quite distinct from those of old individuals. 
On the same tree we have often large thick leaves on the young 
shoots, medium-sized and rather coarse leaves on the branchlets of 
older growth, and again small, narrow, and thin leaves at the base 
of the new inflorescences. The general shape, the indentation of the 
margin, and the glandular apparatus vary correspondingly. And 
again, between trees of the same species but growing in distinct sta: 
tions, we note striking variations in the same series of characters. 
But this is not all; it is very likely that most of the species, if not all, 
are proterandrous, the first flowers of the season being exclusively 
staminate, while a second flowering that immediately follows shows 
the usual androgynous spikes. This fact has given rise to the belief 
that some species are dicecious, which is certainly not the case, at 
least in the species of the subgenus Husapium. 
The generic name Sapium was used for the first time by Patrick 
Browne in 1756, being applied to one of the Jamaican species, 
although without specific designation. In the second edition of the 
same work, published in 1789, the Linnean name of ///ppomane glan- 
dulosa” is given as corresponding to Browne’s ‘* gum tree,” but as 
early as 1762 Jacquin® had upheld Sapium as a generic name and 
«The Natural History of Jamaica 338. 1756. Browne gives the following account 
of the genus without reference to any species: 
‘““Saprom 1.—Arboreum, foliis ellipticis, glabris, petiolis biglandulis, floribus 
spicatis. 
“The Gum TREE. 
“Flores alii masculini, alii feminini, in iisdem spicis; illi e superiore spicae parte, 
oriuntur; hi vero infra enascuntur. 
‘* Mas. 
“Periantium nullum. Corolla nulla. Stamina: KE singula lacuna’ biglandula 
emergunt filamenta quatuor, quinque, vel sex, brevissima; antheris globosis 
instructa. 
‘* Femina. 
“Periantium: EF lacunis paucis biglandulosis, circa basim spicae digestis, emergunt 
periantia totidem ventricosa, minima quadridentata. Corolla nulla. Pistillum: 
Germen oblongum, intra calicem sitaum; stylus brevis tripartitus, stigmata simplicia. 
Pericarpium: Capsula subrotunda, obtuse triloba, trilocularis, seminibus tribus soli- 
tariis referta. 
“This tree grows te a very considerable size and yields a great quantity of resin of 
a thick, sticky consistence, dirty color, opaque, and of little smell, which generally 
serves for the boiling-house lamps in every part of the country where the tree is 
frequent, and is much used for bird lime, which purpose it is observed to answer 
extremely well. The wood is soft and coarse and not much esteemed.”’ 
DL. Sp. PL 1191. 1753. . 
¢Enum. Pl. Carib. 31. 1762; Select. Stirp. Am. 249. 1763. 
