juices, the woodcutters arc obliged to make a fire round the body of ev 

 tree some time before they can venture to fell them"; they burn the bark 

 off, and so get rid of the acrid sap. Also sec Barhani. Hortus Americanos, ( J'J. 



27. GYMNANTHES Sw. 



- or >hrul.s. glabrous. Leaves alternate entire or cren.-ite- 

 serrulate. Flower^ monoecious, without sepaN or petal-, racem* 

 Racemes or spikes axillary, --onietinies also terminal, solitary or 

 clustered, often 2-sexual. Bracts ovate, enclosing the Mowers in 

 bud, sessile on a short peduncle. -"Mietimes glandular outside at 

 the back or at the side-. Male t lowers solitary, or :_'_7 together, 

 in the axil of a bract : femal<- ilowers solitarv in the axil of a 

 1 tract, one or two at the base of the raceme, or several in a 

 distinct raceme. Disk wanting. Male tinwers : each usuallv 

 subtended by one or two bracteoles (sepals of some author, 

 soon falling. Stamens 2-4 ; filaments free or united. Rudiment 

 of ovary wanting. Female flowers: bracteoles (sepals of >ome 

 authors), 2-4. Ovary sessile or stalked, 3-celled ; styles distinct, 

 or united half -way or only at the base, recurved, undivided ; 

 ovules solitary in each cell. Capsule splitting up from the 

 persistent axis into three 2 valved cocci. >.-eds generally 

 carunculate. 



Species 12. natives of the West Indies, of which one is also 

 found in Brazil, and one in Florida, while three specie- arc found 

 only in Mexico. 



Leaves oblanceolate. obovate, obovate-elliptical. Male 



bracts 3-flowered. 

 Apex of leaves obtuse. Ovary stalked above the 



bracteoles, long pedunculate 1. G'. lucidu. 



Apex of leaves abruptly and shortly acuminate'. 



Ovary sessile, shortly pedunculate 4. <!. int<'<jnt. 



Leaves ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate. Malt- 

 bracts 5 (3-7) -flowered. 



Ovary sessile, not pedunculate : -. G. glandules 



Leaves roundish elliptical to lanceolate-elliptical. Male 



bracts 1-flowered. 

 Ovary sessile, with peduncle not longer than ovary ... 3. G. 



1. G. lucida Su-. Pro,!,-. ( .if, (1788) : leaves :' ( .' cm. I.. ..blan- 



ct-olate, OF oblong-obovate, or e\ en olto\ ate elliptical, apex oht use, 

 leathery, shining on u]p-r surface, nerves and vein^ jtroinincnt ly 

 net-veined on the up]>er surface; hr.-i.-t^ broadly ovate, without 

 glands, male ." tlitwered ; filaments free ; n\ary stalked above the 

 bi-act coles, with a long peduncle incr-a>ini, r in fruit. SH nj. S/'/r. 

 //;. 30, /. :'." ( .> : P<i.c in En,/l. Pflanzenreich iv. 1 17. v. 82 ; Small 

 Fl. S.E. U.S. 703; Urb. Symb. \\.it. iv. 352 190 Ateramnus 



foliis obloncjis, A.V. ]3r<nrn< If/'xt. Jam. ' t >:'> 1 .' . Ivxc.ecaria. lucida 

 Sir. Fl. I,,<1. 0,-<: 1122 (1SOO): Jwxieu Kn^nn-b. T<nt. t. !;. 



