452 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



The flowers of the mamey or mammee are sweet-scented and used in the French West 

 Indies in the preparation of an aromatic water called eau des Creoles, said to be refresh- 

 ing and digestive. But the tree is known mainly through its fruits, which, according 

 to Perrot, attain sometimes 4 kilograms in weight. The thick, juicy mesocarp has a 

 sweet, aromatic taste, remotely suggesting the apricot, and, if this fruit were produced 

 in marketable quantities and were able to stand long-distance transportation, it would 

 constitute a valuable addition to our list of table fruits. It is also made into delicious 

 preserves. The skin is very thick and rather tough and its bitter interior lining has 

 to be removed carefully. The large seeds vary in number, to my knowledge, from 

 4 to none. Their rough, fibrous surface affords a good means of distinguishing this 

 fruit from that of the zapotillo and the common zapote, which, like the former, spo- 

 radically make their appearance in our markets, and often under the same name. 



The wood of Mammea americana is white, pretty hard, and moderately heavy and 

 splits easily; it is sometimes made into boards or otherwise used for building purposes. 

 According to Lanessan, its density is equal to 0.990, its elasticity to 1,000, and its 

 resistance to 790. The bark exudes a resinous gum, used by the natives of the French 



d ^ / T 



Fig. 79.— Hypericum eptgeium, leaf and floral details, a, Leaf; b, sepal; c, petal; d, base of stamens; 

 e, anther, showing insertion of filaments; /, pistil. Scale 6. 



West Indies to extract the chigoes or sand-flies. In other parts of the Antilles the 

 fermented sap is made into an intoxicating drink called "toddy." 



The mamey-tree is a native of the warmer zone (from the sea level to an altitude of 

 about 1,000 meters) of the West Indies, Central America, and the southern Caribbean 

 littoral from the Guianas westward. It is frequent in cultivation all over tropical 

 America, including Brazil and southern Mexico. In Costa Rica I have met it wild 

 only once, between Canas Gordas and Rio Chiriqui Viejo (i. e., in what is to-day Pana- 

 manian territory), but the fact that it has names in two of the aboriginal languages is 

 sufficient proof of its native standing. Seemann collected it near Panama, and accord- 

 ing to my personal information it is found wild in the forests of Veraguas. It is appar- 

 ently of more frequent occurrence, both as a forest tree and.a cultivated fruit tree, in 

 the Lessor Antilles and in the Guianas. 



Explanation of Plates 90, 91.— PI. 90, tree; pi. 91, fruits, one with part of flesh removed, showing 

 Stone. PI. 90 from a photograph by Pittier & Doyle, taken at La Mannelita, Colombia, 1905-fi; pi. 91, from 

 a photograph by G. N. Collins, taken at Ponce, I'orto Pico. The latter natural size. 



Clusia uvitana Pittier, sp. nov. 



Section Retinostemon. Low bush, with diffuse, spreading branches. 



Petioles 1 to 1.5 cm. long, broad and flattened. Leaf blades obovate, cuneate at 

 base, rounded or subacute at tip, 10 to 14 cm. long, 5 to 6.5 cm. broad; margin revo- 



