248 CELASTRACEAE. 



2. Rhacoma Crossopetalum L. Syst. ed. 10, 896. 1759. 



Myginda Rhacoma Sw. Prodr. 39. 1788. 



Myginda pollens J. E. Smith in Rees Cycl. 25: no. 4. 1813. 

 Crossopetalum pallens Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 116. 1891. 

 Crossopetalum Rhacoma Hitche. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 4: 70. 1893. 

 Rhacoma pallens Maza, Anal. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 19: 239. 1900. 



A shrub or tree up to 8 m. high, with smooth grey bark and angular twig3. 

 Leaves opposite or whorled, linear to oblong or obovate, short-petioled, 1-4 cm. 

 long, somewhat erenate, glabrous, acutish or blunt at the apex, narrowed at the 

 base, paler green beneath than above ; flowers clustered in the axils, the clusters 

 slender-peduncled; calyx urceolate, with 4 obtuse lobes; petals 4; disk 4-lobed; 

 stamens 4, inserted between the lobes of the disk; ovary 4-celled; drupe about 

 6 mm. long, slightly oblique, red. 



Coppices, thickets and scrub-lands, throughout the archipelago from Abaco and 

 Great Bahama to Grand Turk, Inagua and the Anguilla Isles : Florida ; Bermuda ; 

 West Indies ; Colombia. Species composed of a large number of races, the leaf-form 

 from linear-spathulate to suborbicular. Poison* Cherry. Wild Cherry. 



>C 3. Rhacoma aquifolia (Griseb.) Urban, Symb. Ant. 5: 77. 1904. 



Myginda aquifolia Griseb. Cat. PI. Cub. 55. 1866. 



Crossopetalum aquifolium Hitche. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 4: 70. 1893. 



A shrub, 3 dm. high or less, branched at the base, the branches prostrate 

 or nearly so, 1-3 dm. long, the young twigs densely pilose. Leaves coriaceous, 

 sessile or very short-petioled, opposite, ovate in outline, 1-3 cm. long, spinulose- 

 dentate with long rigid teeth, densely puberulent on both sides or becoming 

 glabrous above, strongly pinnately veined ; inflorescence glomerate, few-flowered, 

 nearly sessile in the axils; sepals semiorbicular ; petals greenish, about 1 mm. 

 long; fruit obliquely obovoid, red, 4-7 mm. long. 



Mangrove swamps and pine-lands, Andros and Eleuthera : Cuba. Spiny-leaved 

 Rhacoma. 



4. Rhacoma ilicifolia (Poir.) Trelease in A. Gray, Syn. Fl. I 1 : 399. 1897. 



Myginda ilicifolia Poir. in Lam. Encycl. 4: 396. 1796. 

 Crossopetalum ilicifolium Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 116. 1891. 

 Crossopetalum floridanum Gardner; Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 736. 1903. 



A low, nearly glabrous shrub, 3 dm. high or less, branched from the base, 

 the branches ascending or nearly prostrate, 2-4 dm. long, the young twigs 

 puberulent. Leaves subcoriaceous, mostly opposite, very short-petioled, ovate 

 to elliptic, 1-2.5 cm. long, acute at the apex, narrowed or obtuse at the base, 

 pinnately veined, sharply dentate with spinulose-tipped teeth; cymes axillary, 

 short-peduncled, few-several-flowered ; sepals half-orbicular ; petals red, ovate 

 to suborbicular, 1-1.5 mm. long; fruit obovoid, oblique, 3.5-5 mm. long. 



Coppices and pine-lands, Great Bahama : Florida ; Hispaniola. Holly-leaved 

 Rhacoma. 



3. GYMINDA Sargent, Gard. & For. 4: 4. 1891. 



Trees or shrubs, with opposite, short-petioled leaves, and small greenish 

 dioecious flowers in axillary cymose clusters. Calyx deeply 4-lobed. Petals 4, 

 longer than the calyx. Staminate flowers Avith 4 stamens about as long as the 

 petals, and a minute abortive ovary. Pistillate flowers with a 2-celled ovary, 

 each cavity with a single pendulous ovule; style none; stigma peltate. Fruit 

 a small drupe. Seeds usually solitary, with copious endosperm. [Anagram of 

 Myginda.] Two known species, the following typical one, the other Costa 

 Rican. 



