GUAIACUM OFFICINALE. 
THE SECONDARY CHARACTERS. 
Guatacum. Calyx five—partite, obtuse. Petals, five. Sta- 
mens, ten, with filaments naked or sub-appendiculated. Style and 
Stigma one. Capsule substipitate, five—celled, five—angled, 
or from abortion two to three—celled. Seeds solitary, fixed to the 
axis pendulous. Albumen cartilaginous, rimulose. Cotyledons 
thickish. 
Sepals five, obtuse, unequal. Petals five, equal. Stamens ten. Filaments naked. 
le and Sti, united. Capsule led, two—five celled. Leaves abruptly 
pi Sma ip ang! 
THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS, 
Guatacum Orricwwate. Leaves, opposite. Peduncles axillary 
one to three together, one flowered, filiform, minutely puberu- 
lous. Sepals five. Petals, five thrice the length of the sepals, 
oblong, bluntish, blue, hairy. Filaments, ten. Anthers, bifid 
at the base, arcuate, yellow. Fruit, a fleshy capsule. 
Leaves bijugate. Leaflets sessile, more or less obovate, rounded at the apex, nerved, 
glabrous. The common petioe terete, channelled above. Peduncles axillary, one to 
three together, germinate. 
THE ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS. 
Crass Decanpria.—Stamens ten. Orper Monocynta. Fruit, 
notalegume. Leaves not sensitive. Calyx five—cleft, unequal. 
Petals five, inserted into the calyx. Capsule angular, three or 
five celled. 
: NATURAL HISTORY. 
The Gvatacum is a native of the West India islands, growing in 
Cuba, St. Domingo, Jamaica and the warmer parts of America. 
It rises from forty to sixty feet high, and is four or five in cir- 
eumference with crowded flexuose branches. The bark is 
thick and smooth, and of a grayish color. The wood is exceed- 
ingly hard. It is known as the Lignum-vite of commerce, used 
by turners in the fabrication of articles requiring density and 
strength. The leaves are abruptly pinnate, consisting of two or 
three pairs of smooth, shining, veined, obovate, dark green 
“ leaflets, almost sessile. ‘The flowers are peduncled in a kind 
_ of umbels which spring from the divisions of the smaller branches. 
_ The calyx consists of five concave, oblong, blunt, spreading, 
unequal, deciduous leaves. The petals are five, of a blue color, 
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