LINACEAE. 199 



grant ; calyx cleft to about the middle, nearly 2 mm. long, its triangular-ovate 

 lobes acute; petals white or yellowish white, oblong, obtuse, 2-3 mm. long, the 

 ligule about one-fourth as long as the blade ; drupes red, oblong, 6-9 mm. long. 



Coppices, thickets and scrub-lands, Andros, Mangrove Cay, Eleuthera, Cat 

 Island, Wntling's and Long Islands: Cuba to Porto Rico; Jamaica; Colombia. 

 THIN-LEAVED ERYTHROXYLON. 



3. Erythroxylon reticulatum Northrop, Mem. Torr. Club 12: 43, pi. 8. 1902. 



A tall shrub, with slender, reddish brown branches. Leaves oblong-oblance- 

 olate to obovate, rather firm in texture, 3 i fin. long, obtuse or retuse at the 

 apex with the midvein slightly excurrent, cuntate-narrowed at the base, finely 

 and distinctly reticulate-veined, dark-green above, pale and prominently areo- 

 late beneath, the petioles 2-3 mm. long; stipules triangular, acuminate, 2 mm. 

 long; flowers solitary or 2 or 3 together in the axils; pedicels slender, 5-8 mm. 

 long, thickened above; calyx about 2 mm. long, its ovate-lanceolate lobes acute; 

 petals oblong, white, 3-3.5 mm. long, the ligule-lobes contorted; young drupes 

 oblong, purplish black, pointed, 5 mm. long. 



White-lands and coppices, Andros at Deep Creek and near Conch Sound : 

 Endemic. BAHAMA ERYTHROXYLON. 



4. Erythroxylon confusum Brittou. 



1 Erythroxylon affine A. Eich. in Sagra, Hist. Cub. 10: 106. 1845. Not 



St. Hil. 1829. 

 Erythroxylon obovatum Griseb. Fl. Br. W. I. 113. 1859. Nat Macf. 1837. 



A tree, 4-8 m. high, with a trunk-diameter of 1 dm. or more, the pale bark 

 fissured. Leaves obovate or oblong-obovate, rather firm in texture, 3-7 cm. 

 long, 3 cm. wide or less, rounded or emarginate at the apex, narrowed or 

 cuneate at the base, dull-green above, pale-green beneath, not areolate, or but 

 faintly so, not prominently reticulate-veined, the petioles 4-9 mm. long; 

 stipules lanceolate, 2-4 mm. long; pedicels fascicled in the axils, or some of 

 them solitary, shorter than the petioles; calyx about 2 mm. long, cleft to about 

 the middle, the ovate-lanceolate lobes acute; petals oblong, obtuse, about 3 mm. 

 long, the ligule about one-third as long as the blade, its lobes acute; drupes 

 Dblong, red, somewhat longer than the pedicels. 



Rocky coppices, scrub-lands and palmetto-lands, Andros, Mangrove Cay, New 

 Providence and Great Exuma : Cuba ; Jamaica. OBOVATE-LEAVED ERYTHROXYLON. 



Family 3. LINACEAE Dumort. 

 FLAX FAMILY. 



Herbs or shrubs, with perfect regular nearly symmetrical flowers. 

 Stipules mostly small or none. Sepals 5, rarely 4, imbricated, persistent. 

 Petals of the same number and alternate with the sepals, imbricated, gen- 

 erally contorted. Stamens of the same number, alternate with the petals; 

 filaments rnonadelphous at the base; anthers versatile, 2-celled. Ovary 

 2-5-celled, or by false septa 4-10-celled. Ovules anatropous. Styles 2-5. 

 Fruit mainly capsular. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cavity, oily ; ( endosperm little 

 or none ; embryo straight ; cotyledons flat. About 14 genera and about 160 

 species of wide distribution. 



1. CATHARTOLINUM Echb. Handb. 307. 1837. 



Annual or perennial, branched herbs. Leaves alternate or occasionally 

 opposite, without stipules but sometimes with stipular glands, entire or serru- 



