100 RHAMNEX 



2. CONDALIA, Cat). 



Calyx free from the ovary, turbinate : lobes keeled on the inside. Petals : disc fleshy, 

 surrounding the free ovary. Drupe with a 2-1-locular putamen: cotyledons flat. — Leaves 

 alternate, or approximate by pairs, glabrous, quite entire ; flowers axillary, clustered or 

 solitary. 



2. C. ferrea, Gr. Unarmed; leaves oval or lanceolate-oval, usually emarginate, or blunt, 

 approximate by pairs ; cymes equalling the petiole, umbelliform, shortly pedunclcd, or sessile ; 

 calyx deeply 5-fid : lobes spreading, pointed, nearly as long as the stamens; stigma bi- 

 lobed. — Vahl, Symb. 3. t. 58. — Rhamnns, V. Zizyphus emarginatus, Sw. Ceanothus 

 ferreus, DC. Scutia, Brongn. — A shrub : branchlets powdery, but soon entirely glabrous ; 

 leaves arch-nerved, variable, 20"'-] 2"' long, 12"'-6'" broad: petiole 2"'-3"' long; calyx 

 scarcely 1'" long, spreading; filaments much longer than the anther, exceeding the pistil ; 

 ovary 2-locular : 5 stigma-lobes divergent, bluut. — Hab. Bahamas !, Swains. ; Jamaica !, 

 A I. ; Dominica!, Finl. ; S. Vincent !, Guild. 



3. SARCOMPHALTJS, P. Br. 



Calyx free from the ovary, turbinate, at length circumscissile, leaving its entire base below 

 the fruit: lobes spreading, keeled on the inside. Petals cucullate, long-clawed: disc filling 

 up the calyx-tube, and closely surrounding the free ovary. " Drupe with a bilocular puta- 

 men : cells perforated at their upper end." — A tree : branchlets thorny ; leaves alternate, 

 glabrous, quite entire ; flowers cernuous, in axillary panicles ; the divisions alternate along 

 the peduncle, few-flowered, corymbifotm. 



P. Browne's geuus, which is here restored, was considered by Brongniart as a doubtful 

 congener of Condalia ferrea : it is however distinguished (though nearly allied) by its per- 

 fect flowers, which resemble those of Ceanothus, by a thicker, glanduliferous disc, by its 

 high, arboreous growth, and chiefly by the peculiar inflorescence, which recalls that of many 

 Laurinece, and is without analogy among the Rhamneee I am acquainted with. The ripe 

 drupe, which I have not seen, seems to afford another generic character, if the following de- 

 scription (quoted from Lun. Ht. 1. p. 120) is correct : — " Fruit purple, globose, $"diam. ; nut 

 surrounded by a mealy, esculent pulp, ovate, penetrated above by 2 ovate holes, which lead 

 to the cells." — Kunth has described the anthers as beiug posticous, and Brongniart adopts 

 this structure as a differential character from all other Rhamnea, with the exception of 

 Zizyphus havanensis : in both plants however I find the anthers not very peculiar, the cells 

 being short, and obliquely diverging from the connective, so that they burst upwards and 

 somewhat laterally at the same time. 



3. S. laurinus, Gr. — Rhamnus sarcomphalns, Z. ; Ceanothus, DC. ; Scutia, Brongn. — ■ 

 A high tree, quite glabrous, with the exception of the puberulous peduncles and flowers ; 

 leaves ovate, or broadly oval, bluntly emarginate, arch-nerved, somewhat leathery, usually 2" 

 long, li" broad: petiole 3"'-4'" long; stipules minute ; panicles about half as long as the 

 leaf; calyx 1"' long : lobes equalling the petals and stamens ; ovary bilocular : stigma shortly 

 bilobed. — Hab. Jamaica !, Macf., March, common in the southern districts. 



4. COLUBRINA, Rich. 

 Calyx adnate at the base, spreading, at length circumscissile, with the persistent base ad- 

 nate to the fruit : lobes keeled on the inside. Petals spathulate. Ovary immersed into the 

 flat disc. Capsule tricoccous : cocci dehiscent on the inner side ; testa polished. — Shrubs or 

 trees; leaves alternate ; flowers clustered, in axillary cy mules. 



4. C. ferruginosa, Brong. Arboreous; branchlets rusty -tomentose ; leaves ovate or 

 oblong, quite entire, rusty-tomentose beneath, or glabrate with the exceptiou of the nerves ; 

 cyraules umbelliform, peduucled, usually 2-3-nate, nearly as long as the petiole ; calyx rusty- 

 tomentose on the outside ; style "i-lobed at the top ; capsule subgiobose, more than twice as 

 long as the adnate cupule. — Jacq. Amer. Pict. t. 74; Br. Jam. t. 12. f. 1? — Rhamnus 

 colubrinus, L. Ceanothus, Lam. — A low tree ; leaves variable, blunt or pointed, subcordate, 

 or rounded at the base, eglandular, arch-nerved (while those of C. cubensis are plicate, with 

 excurrent, pinnate veins), the larger ones 6" long; calyx 2'" diain. : lobes ovate, as long as 

 the petals; capsule black, 4'" diam. — Hab. Bahamas!, Swains.; Jamaica!, Al., March; 

 Antigua', Nichols.; [Cuba!]. 



