334 APOCYNACEAE. 



1. PLUMIERA L. Sp. PI. 209. 1753. 



Trees or shrubs, with very stout branches, copious milky sap, alternate 

 petioled feather-veined leaves, and large bracted flowers in terminal, peduncled 

 cymes. Calyx small, fleshy, 5-cleft, eglandular. Corolla salverform, the tube 

 subcylindric, the 5 lobes sinistrorse. Stamens borne near the base of the 

 corolla-tube, included; anthers obtuse, their sacs unappendaged. Carpels 2, 

 distinct; ovules many in each carpel; style very short; stigma oblong, not 

 annulate, obtusely 2-lobed at the apex. Follicles 2, coriaceous, usually linear 

 and divaricate, many-seeded. Seeds flat, winged, the endosperm fleshy. [Com- 

 memorates Charles Plumier, a distinguished French botanist, born 1646.] About 

 45 species, of tropical America. Type species: Plumiera rubra L. 



Leaves glabrous or very nearly so. 

 Leaves obtuse or emarginate. 



Corolla-tube as long as the lobes ; leaves oblong to oblong- 



obovate. 1. P.obtusa. 



Corolla-tube shorter than the lobes ; leaves obovate. 2. P. inaguensis. 



Leaves acute or mucronate. 



Leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate ; color of flowers 



unknown. 3. P. bahamcnsis. 



Leaves broadly elliptic to obovate ; flowers red or purple. 4. P. rubra. 

 Leaves densely pubescent beneath. 5. P. sericifolia. 



1. Plumiera obtusa L. Sp. PL 210. 1753. 



A tree, 4-6 m. high, often flowering when not more than 1.5 m. high, the 

 stout twigs, the leaves and the inflorescence glabrous. Leaves oblong to oblong- 

 oblanceolate or oblong-obovate, 7-20 cm. long, rounded or emarginate at the 

 apex, mostly narrowed or somewhat cuneate at the base, the lateral veins nearly 

 straight and rather widely spreading, the slender petioles 2-6 cm. long; panicles 

 few-several-flowered; peduncle as long as the leaves or shorter; pedicels 

 short; calyx about 3 mm. long; corolla white with a yellow eye, the lobes 

 obovate or oblong-obovate, rounded at the apex, 1.5-2 cm. long, about as long 

 as the tube; follicles 7-12 cm. long, about 1 cm. in diameter. 



Scrub-lands and coppices, Abaco and Great Bahama to Andros, Watling's, Provi- 

 denciales, Caicos and Grand Turk : Cuba ; Hispaniola ; Mona ; recorded from 

 Jamaica. Hitchcock's Governor's Harbor specimen referred to P. emarginata is this 

 species. Recorded by Schoepf as P. alba L. Blunt-leaved Plumiera. Frangi- 

 panni. Catesby, 2 : pi. 93. 



2. Plumiera inaguensis Britton, Bull. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 3: 448. 1905. 



A glabrous tree, 5 m. high or less. Leaves obovate, rather thin, the blade 

 6-10 cm. long, 46 em. wide, emarginate or rounded at the apex, narrowed or 

 cuneate at the base, dark green and shining above, bright green and dull 

 beneath, the numerous veins diverging from the midrib at an angle of about 

 80, the midrib impressed on the upper surface, elevated beneath; petioles stout, 

 1-2 cm. long; peduncle stout, 4-10 cm. long; cyme compound, 8 cm. broad or 

 less, densely many-flowered; pedicels slender, 8-12 mm. long; calyx short- 

 campanulate, slightly 5-lobed, the lobes broad, rounded; corolla white, its tube 

 slender, about 1 cm. long, its 5 lobes narrowly obovate, rounded or slightly 

 emarginate, somewhat longer than the tube ; stamens about one-third the length 

 of the corolla-tube; follicles linear, terete, 9 cm. long, 8 mm. in diameter. 



Scrub-lands, Fortune Island and the Inaguas. Endemic. Inagua Plumieea. 



3. Pulmiera bahamensis Urban, Symb. Ant. 1: 387. 1900. 



A small tree, about 3 m. high, the twigs about 1 cm. thick. Leaves lanceo- 

 late or linear-lanceolate, glabrous, 8-16 cm. long, 1-3.5 cm. wide, chartaceous, 

 acute or acuminate at the apex, narrowed at the base, the midvein impressed 



