vot. 5]. New Tapirira from Baja California. 79 
ochroleucous; sepals 5, lobes 1 mm. long, pubescent, the female 
flower slightly larger than the male; ovary of the male flower 
immersed in the disk, styles 5, minute, stamens 10 inserted at the 
edge of the disk, filiform, anthers globose; ovary of the female 
flower encircled by the 1o-lobed cupulate disk, pubescent, stamens 
more slender and anthers smaller than those of the male flower, 
styles 5, conical, 2 mm. long; fruit oblique ovoid, 2%4 cm. long, 
slightly pubescent, smooth excepting five pointed projections 
from which the styles have fallen, light yellow when mature. 
In the Flora of the Cape Region,* this tree is mentioned as 
Cyrtocarpa procera, with which it was indentified owing to the 
lack of flowering specimens. A careful study of material since 
collected shows that it is nearest the genus apirira as elaborated 
by Engler + and although a few slight divergences are found they 
are not of generic value. It certainly does not belong to Cyrto- 
carpa which was reduced to Tapirira in Bentham and Hooker’s 
Genera Plantarum. ‘The ovary is five celled and by abortion 
becomes one seeded; of the aborted cells one is much the largest 
and its ovule is evident. The ovule is suspended from the vertex 
of the cell and by lengthening of the funicle the seed finally 
becomes inverted. The radicle is accumbent as in Engler’s 
Series of the Spondiee Curvembryee. Shortly after flowering 
the styles appear as if in a circle about the top of the forming 
fruit, but soon apparently the one belonging to the maturing 
seed becomes larger and its conical projection grows rapidly, thus 
making the fruit oblique. My specimens seem to show that the 
_ species is completely dicecious, but a careful examination in the 
field may prove it, like some other so called dicecious plants, to: 
be somewhat polygamous. ‘The trees in general appearance very 
much resemble Veatchia. It is called by the inhabitants of the 
Cape Region of Lower California, its habitat, ‘‘ciruela,’’ a 
Spanish word for plum, and a name also given to the cultivated 
species of Spondias. ‘The flowers appear in April and May, and 
the fruit is ripe in August and September, when its pleasing, 
slightly acid flavor causes it to be much sought. 
* Proc. Cal. Acad., Ser. 2, III, 103, 
} Suites au Prodromus, IV, 276. 
