ANACARDIACE^ 



607 



obtuse and often unequal at the base, the lower pairs short-petiolulate and smaller 

 than those above the middle of the leaf, the others sessile with the exception of the 

 terminal leaflet sometimes contracted into a long winged stalk, when they unfold 

 dark green and slightly puberulous above, especially along the midribs, and covered 



below with fine silvery white pubescence, at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and 

 lustrous above, pale and pubescent below, ll'-2^' long and about |' wide, with 

 slightly thickened revolute margins, prominent midribs and primary veins, turning in 

 the autumn before falling dark rich maroon color on the upper surface. Flowers 

 appearing from June at the south to August at the north, those of the staminate plant 

 opening in succession during nearly a month and continuing to unfold long after the 

 petals of the pistillate plant have fallen, on stout pubescent pedicels, ^'-\' long, in 

 short compact pubescent panicles, the lower branches from the axils of the upper leaves, 

 4'-6' long, 3'-4' broad, and usually smaller on the female than on the male plant, their 

 bracts and bractlets ovate or oblong, densely ciuereo-pilose, deciduous before the ex- 

 pansion of the flowers; calyx puberulous on the outer surface, with ovate acute lobes 

 one third as long as the ovate greenish yellow petals rounded at the apex, becom- 

 ing reflexed above the middle; disk red and conspicuous; stamens somewhat longer 

 than the petals, with slender filaments and large orange-colored anthers, in the 

 pistillate flower much shorter than the petals, with minute rudimentary anthers; 

 ovary ovate, pubescent, glabrous, much smaller in the staminate flower. Fruit 

 ripening in five or six weeks and borne in stout compact often nodding pubescent 

 clusters sometimes persistent on the branches until the beginning of the following 

 summer, 1' across, slightly obovate, more or less flattened, with a thin bright red coat 

 covered with short fine glandular hairs, and a smooth bony orange-brown stone; 

 seed reniforra, smooth, orange-colored, with a broad funicle. 



A tree, 25-30 high, with colorless watery juice, a short stout trunk 8'-10' in 

 diameter, erect spreading branches, and branchlets at first dark green tinged with 

 red and more or less densely clothed with short fine or sometimes ferrugineous pu- 

 bescence, appearing slightly zigzag at the end of the first season from the swellings 

 formed by the prominent leaf-scars, and then pale reddish brown, slightly puberulous 

 and marked by conspicuous dark-colored lenticels; or at the north a low shrub rarely 

 more than 4-5 tall. Winter-buds axillary, minute, nearly globose, and covered 

 with dark rusty brown tomentum. Bark of the trimk ^'-^' thick, light brown tinged 



