OLACACEAE. Ill 



Family 2. OLACACEAE Lindl. 



Olax Family. 



Shrubs, trees or woody vines, mostly with alternate and entire, pinnately 

 veined, estipulate leaves, and regular perfect or polygamous flowers in 

 axillary clusters. Calyx 4-6-toothed or 4-6-parted. Corolla 4-6-lobed or 

 of 4-6 distinct petals. Disk various. Stamens 4-12; filaments distinct or 

 rarely monadelphous; anthers 2-celled. Ovary 1-3-celled, inferior, half- 

 superior, or partly immersed in the disk; ovules few, anatropous; style 

 short, usually simple; stigma entire or 2-5-lobed. Fruit drupaceous, 1- 

 celled. Testa of the seed membranous; endosperm fleshy, or rarely want- 

 ing. About 25 genera and 140 species, mostly tropical. 



Petals united to above the middle. 1- Schoepfia. 



Petals nearly separate. 2. Ximema. 



1. SCHOEPFIA Schreb.; Gmel. Syst. 376. 1791. 



Glabrous trees or shrubs, with coriaceous entire leaves and small perfect 

 flowers in axillary cymes. Calyx very small, 4-toothed. Petals united to above 

 the middle, forming a tubular or urceolate, 4-6-lobed corolla, the lobes valvate, 

 recurved. Stamens as many as the corolla-lobes and opposite them; filaments 

 filiform or short; anthers didymous. Ovary sessile, 3-celled, partly immersed 

 in the disk; style slender or short; stigma capitate or 3dobed; ovules usually 

 1 in each cavity. Fruit a small drupe nearly enclosed by the accrescent disk. 

 [Commemorates J. D. Sehoepf, 1752-1800, German botanist.] About 15 

 species, of tropical and subtropical America and Asia. Type species: 

 Schoepfia Schreberi Gmel. 



Leaves obovate, obtuse. 1. S. obovata. 



Leaves ovate, elliptic or lanceolate, acute. 2. S. chrysophyUoides. 



1. Schoepfia obovata C. Wright; Sauv. Anales Acad. Habana 5: 289. 1868. 



A glabrous shrub 1-3 m. high, or sometimes a tree up to 10 m. high, the 

 twigs slender, gray, the bark rough in narrow plates. Leaves obovate, oblong 

 or elliptic, coriaceous, 2-4 cm. long, rounded or obtuse at the apex, narrowed 

 or cuneate at the base, few-veined, the petioles 1-3 mm. long; peduncles soli- 

 tary or few together in the axils, 2-8 mm. long, 1-3 -flowered; flowers sessile; 

 corolla ovoid-cylindric, 4-5 mm. long, red to greenish yellow, the lobes ovate or 

 triangular-ovate; fruit globose-obovoid to ellipsoid, 5-8 mm. long; fruit yellow 

 or red when mature. 



Thickets and coppices, Abnco, Great Bahama, New Providence. Mariguana and 

 Acklin's : Cuba ; Hispaniola ; Porto Rico : Anegada. Referred to by Mrs. Northrop 

 as Elaeodcndron xylocarpum. White Beefwood. 



it 2. Schoepfia chrysophyUoides (A. Eich.) Planch. Ann. Sci. Nat. TV. 2: 261. 



1854. 



Diplocalyx chrysophyUoides A. Eich. in Sagra, Hist. Cub. 11: 81. 1S50. 



A shrub or small tree sometimes up to 8 m. high, with crooked branches and 

 slender glabrous twigs. Leaves subcoriaceous, ovate to lanceolate, 2-6 cm. 

 long, acute or obtusish at the apex, narrowed at the base, glabrous, the 

 margined petioles 4-8 mm. long; flowers solitary or 2 or 3 together in the 

 axils, reddish; calyx about 2 mm. long; corolla narrowly campanulate, about 



