212 FLOKA OF JAMAICA Ocotca 



Works ; Spanish River ; below Vinegar Hill, 4000 ft. ; St. George ; 

 Mt. Moses ; Chepstow, 800 ft. ; near New Market, 1200 ft. ; Toms Cave, 

 Clarendon, 2500 ft.; Peckham, Clarendon, 2500 ft.; Jlarrisl Fl. Jam. 

 5229, 5320, 5466, 5588, 5683, 5855, 5984, 9839, 10,854, 10,963. Cuba, 

 Hispaniola, Porto Rico, St, Thomas, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, 

 Grenada. 



A tree to 80 ft. high. Leaves, base obtuse or rounded or rarely acute, 

 apex obtuse or acute, 1-2 dm. 1., 3-9 cm. br. Flowers pale yellow, yellowish- 

 green or white. Male flowers : ijerianth, tube almost none ; segments 

 2 mm. 1., elliptical-oblong; stamens 1-5 mm. 1.; anthers subrectangular ; 

 instil sterile, stalk-like, with a discoid stigma. Female flowers : stamens 

 minute, sterile. Berry black, about 1 cm. 1. ; cupule greenish-brown. 



This species is used as a timber-tree. It splits and saws freely, so that 

 shingles and staves are made from it, and headings of hogsheads and 

 barrels. Boards, however, do not last well. 



2. 0. noribunda Mez in Jahrh. Bot. Gart. Berl. v. 325 (1889) ; 

 leaves lanceolate to oblong-elliptical, on upper surface areolate, 

 beneath nerves and veins prominulous-reticulate ; intlurescence 

 sparingly puberulous a.bove, shorter than the leaves ; flowers 

 dioecious, sparingly puberulous ; filaments glabrous ; staminodes 

 stalk-like, glabrous, or abortive ; berry subglobose ; cupule flat, 

 2-ma.rginal, with the enlarged reflexed perianth-segments 

 occasionally persistent ; pedicel scarcely thickened. TJrh. Syinh. 

 Ant. iv. 246. Laurus floribunda Sw. Prodr. 65 (1788) & FL Ind. 

 Occ. 721. Strychnodaphne floribunda Griseb. loc. cit. (1860); 

 Meisn. torn. cit. 143. 



Black Sweet-wood, Black Candle-wood. 



In fl. Oct. -Jan. ; infr. March; Wright I Swartzl Purdie ; Wullschaegel ; 

 Prior ; March ; Green Valley, 2000 ft. Harris ! John Crow (Blake) Mts., 

 1200 ft., Harris d; Brittonl Fl. Jam. 5799, 5923, 10,706. Cuba, Hispaniola, 

 Porto Rico, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Trinidad, Venezuela, Guiana, 

 Nicaragua. 



A tree 30-60 ft. high. Leaves base acute, apex acuminate, with very 

 sparse reddish hairs when young, 6-18 cm. 1., 2-6 cm. br. Floivers greenish- 

 white. Male flowers : i^eriantli, tube very short ; segments 2 -3-2 -4 mm. 1., 

 elliptical and broadly elliptical ; anthers subrectangular ; filaments those of 

 the inner ring with 2 large glands ; x^istil sterile with stigma well developed. 

 Female flowers : stamens developed, but anthers without valves. Berry 

 globose, 1-3 cm. 1., 1 cm. br. ; cupule flat, spreading above the slightly 

 thickened pedicel, double-margined, and often with the enlarged reflexed, 

 perianth-segments still remaining. 



The specimens from Wright and Swartz have monstrous flowers which 

 are larger, with all the stamens transformed into perianth-like scales. 



3. 0, jamaieensis Mez in Bull. Herb. Boiss. ser. 2, v. 241 

 (1905) ; leaves elliptical or oblong-elliptical, nerves and veins 

 very slightly prominulous above, prominent beneath ; inflorescence 

 white-tomentellous, generally longer than the leaves ; flowers 

 subdioecious, white-tomentellous ; filaments slightly hairy at the 

 back ; staminodes conspicuous ; berry ellipsoidal ; cupule small, 

 flattish, 4*5 mm. in diam. ; pedicel somewhat thickened. 



