70 NYCTAGINE^. 



ish, concolor, and with white pimples beneath j flowers umbellate : umbels terminal, on 

 simple, axillary peduncles ; calyx-tube ellipsoidal, at length clavate, ecostate, subtruncate and 

 glandular at the top. — Jacq. Ht. Find. v.l. t. 4. — Flowers yellow, 3'" long : limb spreading, 

 equalling the tube, which is dark-coloured. — Hab. Jamaica (SI., P. Br.) ; Bahamas !, Swains.; 

 [Cuba!, Mexico!, to Peru; Galapagos Islands!]. 



3. PISONIA, L. 



flowers polygamous, or dioecious by abortion. Calyx-limb 5-lobed or 5-toothed. Sta- 

 mens 6-8 (5-10), exserted in the male flower. Stigma multifid. Pericarp included within 

 the indurated or baccate calyx -tube. Embryo straight. — Trees or shrubs; leaves opposite 

 or partly alternate ; flowers supported by 3 (-1) minute bracts, glomerate or fascicled: the 

 clusters arranged in axillary and terminal cymes. 



Sect. 1. Tragularia. — Fruit-bearing calyx-tube indurated, glutinous from Jive series of 

 thick glands. Central perisperm cylindrical, lengthwise incised by a thin pericarpial 

 plate. 



6. P. aculeata, L. Trailing, armed with axillary spines ; leaves elliptical, shortly ta- 

 pering at both ends, petioled ; cymes stalked, pubescent, most of them axillary : flowers glo- 

 merate ; male calyx infundibular : limb 5-fid; female calyx campamilate, at length clavate- 

 prismatical : angles glandular to the base: glands prominent, capitate, with thickened, 

 compressed, glabrous stalks: interstices pubescent. — Lam. III. t. 861 ; SI. t. 167- f 3, 4: 

 badly. — A scandent shrub, 8'-20' high : spines strong (4'" long), perpendicular to the branch, 

 and somewhat crooked ; leaves leathery, but deciduous, either eoetaneous with the flowers 

 or serotine, glabrous or glabrescent : petiole nearly equalling the stalk of the axillary cyme ; 

 flowers in both sexes 1'" long, greenish-yellow ; stamens usually 8, twice the length of the 

 male calyx : female calyx-tube at length 5"'-6'" long, 1"' diam. (2'" with the glands), trun- 

 cate and minutely perforated at the top. — Hab. Jamaica!, Al., Antigua!; Nichols.; Do- 

 minica !, Imr., in hedges and among trees ; [Mexico ! to Brazil, as far south as Rio Grande 

 do Sul!, Madagascar!, East Indies!]. 



7. P. nigricans, Sw. ! (non alior.). Unarmed, or spiny below ; leaves ovate or elliptical, 

 petioled ; cymes stalked, divaricate, villous-pubescent : flowers fascicled, with the pedicels 

 nearly equalling the male calyx ; tube of the male calyx turbinate : limb spreadiug, 5-fid ; 



female calyx campanulate, at length clavate-oblong or oblong, obtuse-angled : angles glan- 

 dular to the base: glands short, sessile: sides pubescent. — P. discolor, Spr.? (non Chois. 

 descr.). — Branches glabrescent (unarmed in the Jamaica specimens, but old branches, collected 

 in Cuba by Wright, bearing crooked spines, just as in P. aculeatd) ; leaves similar to those 

 of the preceding, 2"-3" long, lV'-lf" broad, blunt, glabrous* green on both sides, but paler 

 beneath, (often brown by being dried) : petiole 6"'-10'" long, glabrescent, enlarged at the 

 top ; cymes terminal on the brancblets, or lateral, the male more spreading (2" diam.) than 

 the female ones, the pedicels of which are also shorter, when flowering ; male calyx 1'" long 

 and broad, pubescent, more than twice exceeded by the 6-7 stamens, including an abortive 

 pistil ; female calyx f "' long, narrow, 5-toothed, villous, exceeded by the style, and including 

 abortive stamens : at length 4'" long, 2'" broad, tapering shortly at the base, perforated at the 

 rounded or subtruncate top (the enclosed fruit not yet quite ripe in our specimens). — Hab. 

 Jamaica !, AL, March, in woods, e.g. S. Thomas in the Vale ; [eastern Cuba !]. 



8. P. subcordata, 8w. I (non Chois.). Unarmed; leaves cordate-roundish, petioled; 

 cymes stalked, minutely pubescent; flowers glomerate; male calyx infundibular, shortly 5- 

 lobed ; female calyx at length c/avate-linear, cylindrical, with serial sessile glands above 

 the middle : hairs minute, scattered. — A tree : branches glabrous, cylindrical ; leaves leathery, 

 glabrous, brown by being dried, 4"-5" long and broad, rounded at the top or with a short 

 point : petiole 8'"— 12'" long; cymes contracted, mostly terminal, precocious ; flowers green- 

 ish ; male calyx 1'" long : stamens 6-8, shortly exserted ; fruit-bearing calyx 4"'-6"' long, 

 \ '" broad, striate, tapering at the base, bluntish at the top, which is nearly closed : glands 

 small, cuboid.— Hab. S. Kitts, Antigua !, Ponthieu, on chalky hills j [S. Thomas to Gua- 

 deloupe !]. 



