KOEBERLINIACEAE 671 
Fruit subglobose, pubescent, separating into 5 carpels. Seeds solitary in each carpel. 
CREOSOTE BUSH. 
1. Covillea tridentata (Cav.) Vail. A diffuse shrub, 0.5-3 m. tall, finely pubes- 
cent throughout. Leaves numerous, excreting a resinous heavy-scented gum: leaflets 2, 
the blades leathery, oblong-ovate, 6-12 mm. long, inequilateral, acute, sessile: sepals 5, 
obovate, concave, 5-6 mm. long, finely pubescent: corolla bright yellow, nearly 2 cm. 
broad : petals 5, oval-obovate, about 10 mm. long, crisped and undulate at the apex ; blades 
narrowed into short claws: ovary densely bristly-pubescent, separating into 5 indehiscent 
carpels. 
On plains and prairies, Utah and Nevada to Texas, Arizona and Mexico. Spring to fall. 
4. GUAIACUM L. 
Shrubs or trees, with a pale, scaly bark and an exceedingly hard wood pervaded by a 
dark colored gum-resin. Leaves opposite, sometimes apparently fascicled : stipules small. 
Flowers irregular, on terminal peduncles. Sepals 5, or rarely 4, imbricated, unequal, 
deciduous. Disk inconspicuous or elevated. Petals blue or purple, 5 or rarely 4, imbri- 
cated, more or less clawed. Stamens 10, inserted on the disk: filaments filiform, naked : 
anthers cordate or sagittate. Ovary short-stalked, 2-5-celled, 2-5-angled : stigma entire 
or minutely 2-5-toothed. Ovules 8-10 in each cavity, pendulous, anatropous. Fruit 2-5- 
angled or winged, at maturity separating into 2-5 leathery carpels. Seeds solitary, with a 
thick fleshy testa. Endosperm horny-cartilaginous. LiGNUM-VITAE. 
1. Guaiacum sánctum L. An evergreen shrub, ora small tree, sometimes 10 m. 
tall : trunk rarely 1 m. in diameter, clothed with a very pale or white bark : branches 
forking : leaves 5-10 cm. long, becoming glabrous: leaflets 6-8, the blades oblong or 
obovate, 2-3 em. long, usually apiculate, entire, inequilateral, sessile : flowers terminal on 
solitary or clustered pedicels, which are shorter than the subtending leaves: sepals 5, 
obovate or oblong-obovate, 6-7 mm. long, concave, often ciliate: corolla blue, about 2.5 
cm. wide: petals 5, broadly obovate, cuneately narrowed below, twisted near the base, 
spreading : filaments glabrous, dilated at the base: ovary glabrous: fruit obovoid, 15-17 
mm. long, 5-angled, orange-colored : seeds elliptic, covered with a scarlet aril. 
In sand, Florida Keys. Also in the Bahamas and the West Indies. 
5. PORLIERIA R. & P. 
Rigid spreading shrubs. Leaves opposite: leaflets opposite, with narrow entire 
blades : stipules sometimes spine-like. Flowers terminal on clustered or solitary pedicels. 
Sepals 4-5, imbricated, broad, deciduous.  Petals 4—5, imbricated, short-clawed, surpassing 
the sepals. Stamens 8-10; filaments filiform, each with a 2-cleft or cut scale below the 
middle: anthers becoming ineurved. Ovary 2-5-celled, sessile or slightly immersed in 
the disk, 2-5-ribbed. Ovules 4 in each cavity, superposed in pairs. Fruit subglobose or 
ae 2-5-lobed, 2-5-celled. Seeds solitary in each cavity. Testa fleshy. Endosperm 
ard. 
„l. Porlieria angustifolia (Engelm.) A. Gray. A shrub or small tree, 1-7 m. tall, 
with spreading or straggling branches. Leaves 1.5-2 cm. long, glabrous : leaflets 8-12, 
the blades linear, 0.5-1.5 cm. long, reticulated, apiculate, entire or slightly crenate above, 
oblique at the base, sessile : flowers purple, about 12-20 mm. broad : sepals suborbicular, 
concave, 5 mm. long: petals nearly elliptic, 1 em. long, lilac, often notched at the apex : 
filaments pink : anthers bright yellow : ovary pubescent : capsule nearly 2-lobed, 2 cm. in 
diameter, reticulated. 
On plains or prairies, Texas and Mexico. Spring and summer. 
FAMILY 6. KOEBERLINIACEAE Engler. Junco FAMILY. 
Very much branched, nearly leafless Texano-Mexican shrubs or trees, with 
a red-brown scaly bark, the branches terete, the branchlets pale-green, ending 
in straight or curved rigid spines. Leaves scale-like, alternate, broadest above 
the middle, caducous. Flowers small, perfect, in short racemes near the ends 
of the branchlets. Calyx of 4 or rarely 3, distinct, imbricated sepals, deciduous. 
Disk obsolete. Corolla of 4 or rarely 3 white, convolute, somewhat clawed 
petals. Androecium of 8 stamens, inserted under the ovary. Filaments nar- 
