EHRETIACEAE. 357 



1. Marilaunidium jamaicense (L.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 434. 1891. 

 Nama jamaicense L. Syst. eel. 10. 950. 1759. 



Annual, much branched, the branches prostrate,, 0.7-4 dm. long. Leaves 

 thin, spatulate or obovate, 1-5 cm. long, obtuse or apiculate, narrowed to a 

 sessile, somewhat decurrent base ; peduncles 6 mm. long or less ; calyx-segments 

 hirsute, linear, 6-8 mm. long; corolla white or purplish, about as long as the 

 calyx, its lobes broad ; capsule oblong, a little longer than the calyx. 



Waste grounds. Great Bahama, Little Harbor Cay, New Providence, Eleuthera, 

 Watling's, Great Ragged Island, Crooked Island, South Caicos and Grand Turk : 

 Bermuda ; Florida ; Texas ; Cuba to St. Thomas and Martinique ; Barbadoes ; Jamaica ; 

 Curasao ; Mexico to Venezuela. JAMAICA WEED. 



Family 5. EHRETIACEAE Schrad. 

 EHRETIA FAMILY. 



Shrubs, trees or rarely herbs, with alternate, estipulate, simple and 

 mostly entire leaves, and perfect regular flowers in heads, spikes or cymes. 

 Calyx 2-5-lobed, persistent. Corolla garnopetalous, mostly 5-lobed, the 

 lobes spreading. Stamens mostly 5, borne on the base of the corolla-tube, 

 the anthers introrse. Ovary superior, 1-4-celled; styles 2, distinct or 

 rarely united, or 4, united in pairs; ovules 1 or 2 in each cavity of the 

 ovary. Fruit a drupe. Seeds 14. About 20 genera, including some 350 

 species, of tropical and warm-temperate regions. 



Styles twice bifid. 



Calyx wholly adnate to the large drupe ; corolla large, orange to 



red ; trees. 1. Sebesten. 



Calyx rupturing at the top or regularly dentate, not wholly adnate 



to the drupe; shrubs or small trees. 2. Varronia. 



Styles bifid or connate. 



Corolla salverform. 3. Bourreria. 



Corolla rotate. 4. Rochefortia. 



1. SEBESTEN Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 177. 1763. 



Trees or shrubs with alternate broad petioled, entire or few-toothed leaves, 

 and large showy flowers in terminal cymes or rarely solitary. Calyx tubular, 

 3-5-toothed. Corolla salverform, the tube nearly cylindric, the limb speading, 

 5-15-lobed. Stamens borne on the corolla-tube, as many as the corolla-lobes; 

 anthers sagittate. Ovary 2-4-celled; styles usually 2, each 2-cleft; stigmas 

 capitate. Drupe ovoid, adnate to the accrescent calyx and enclosed by it, the 

 stone bony. Seeds without endosperm. [Name Arabic, originally applied to a 

 different tree.] About 12 species, of tropical and subtropical America, the 

 following typical. 



1. Sebesten Sebestena (L.) Britton; Small, Fl. Miami 158. 1913. 

 Cordia Sebestena L. Sp. PI. 190. 1753. 



A tree, reaching a maximum height of about 10 m., with a trunk up 

 to 1.5 dm. in diameter, the scaly bark dark brown, the young twigs brown- 

 hairy. Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, thick, 8-20 cm. long, repand-dentate or 

 entire, dark green and scabrous above, paler green beneath, acuminate, acute 

 or obtu?e at the apex, rounded or subcordate at the base, the petioles 3-5 cm. 

 long; cymes compound, several-many-flowered; pedicels 5-15 mm. long; calyx 

 strigose, cylindric, 1-1.8 cm. long, its lobes short; corolla orange, its tube twice 



