302 MYRTACEAE. 



1. Terminalia Catappa L. Mant. 1: 128. 1767. 



Buceras Catappa Hitehc. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 4: 85. 1893. 



A tree, up to 24 m. high, with a trunk diameter of 1.5 m., usually much 

 smaller, the spreading branches whorled, the twigs stout, glabrous. Leaves 

 clustered at the ends of the twigs, obovate or broadly oblanceolate, 1-3 dm. 

 long, short-petioled, glabrous, rounded, or 'short-pointed at the apex, cuneate 

 at the base, dark green and shining above, pale green beneath; spikes slender, 

 many-flowered, 5-15 cm. long; calyx 8-10 mm. long, pubescent, its ovate 

 lobes about as long as the tube or longer; drupe ellipsoid, compressed, gla- 

 brous, 2-edged, pointed, 4-7 cm. long; seed 3-4 cm. long. 



In coppices, spontaneous after cultivation ; planted and sometimes spontaneous 

 near towns on all the larger islands : spontaneous after cultivation in Florida, in 

 manv of the West Indian islands and most inhabited parts of continental tropical 

 America. Native of the Old World tropics. Indian Almond. Almond-tree. 



4. CONOCAEPUS L. Sp. PI. 176. 1753. 



A shrub or tree of the seacoast, with alternate entire leathery leaves, 

 the petioles 2-glandular, the small greenish perfect flowers in racemose or pan- 

 icled heads. Calyx-tube flattened, not prolonged beyond the ovary; sepals 

 5, deciduous. Petals none. Stamens mostly 5, with slender elongated fila- 

 ments and cordate anthers. Style pubescent. Ovules 2. Drupes scale-like, 

 densely aggregated. Seeds flat; cotyledons convolute. [Greek, referring to 

 ihe cone-like heads of fruit.] A monotypic American genus. 



1. Conocarpus erecta L. Sp. PI. 176. 1753. 



A glabrate or silky-pubescent shrub or tree, sometimes 20 m. tall, some- 

 times less than 1 m. high, with angled or winged twigs. Leaves 2-5 cm. long, 

 elliptic to oval, acute or acuminate at both ends, entire, short-petioled; 

 racemes 3-5 cm. long, peduncled; heads 58 mm. in diameter at flowering 

 time; hypanthium funnel-like, greenish, a little over 1 mm. long; sepals tri- 

 angular-ovate, about as long as the limb of the hypanthium, pubescent; 

 stamens and style conspicuously exserted; heads of fruit 9-14 mm. long; 

 drupes scale-like, 2 -winged, 4-7 mm. long. 



Coastal mud, savannas and salina-borders. throughout the archipelago to Cay 

 Sal : Bermuda ; Florida ; West Indies and continental tropical America. A species 

 of many races, several of which have received varietal distinction from herbarium 

 specimens ; the distinctive characters are, however, not maintained in the field. 

 Bcttonwood. Catesby, 2 : pi. 33. 



Family 4. MYRTACEAE R. Br. 



Myrtle Family. 



Trees or shrubs, with simple, usually opposite and entire, pellucid- 

 punctate, estipulate leaves, the regular and perfect, often braeteolate 

 flowers mostly panieled. Calyx-tube (hypanthium) adnate to the ovary, 

 the limb usually 4-5-eleft. Petals usually 4 or 5, imbricated, rarely want- 

 ing. Disc mostly annular and fleshy. Stamens usually numerous, some- 

 times only as many as the petals; filaments filiform, distinct, or united at 

 the base; anthers small, 2-celled. Ovary inferior, 2-several-celled, or rarely 

 1-celled, style simple; stigma terminal, small; ovules usually 2-several in 

 each cavity. Fruit drupaceous or baccate, often crowned by the calyx- 

 limb, or in some genera capsular. Seeds various; endosperm usually 

 wanting. About 60 genera, including over 1700 species, mostly tropical in 

 distribution. 



