170 SAPODILLA FAMILY 



Myesine (Rapanea guyanensis {Myrsine Rapanea)) 



Myrsine bears its tiny greenish white flowers on short 

 spurs along the branches. Both calyx and corolla are 

 thickly dotted with reddish brown. This shrub may be 

 identified when not in bloom by the many little black ber- 

 ries borne close to the naked branches, below the leaves. 

 The latter are two to four inches in length, and are broad- 

 ened upward. 



EBONY FAMILY (Ebenaceae) 



Small tree. Leaves alternate, entire. Calyx and corolla 4-lobed. 

 Fruit yellow, edible, 4-8-seeded, about 1 inch in diameter. 



Persimmon (Genus Diospyros) 



In other southern states frosts ripen the persimmons, 

 but below the northern part of the peninsula frosts are 

 happily of rare occurrence, and the sun, instead, takes 

 from the fruit its unspeakable astringency. The peninsula 

 persimmon, D. Mosieri, is slightly different from the com- 

 mon D. virginiana of the southern states. 



The Japanese persimmon is cultivated in Florida for 

 its large and luscious fruit. Foreign trees of this genus 

 furnish valuable ebony. 



SAPODILLA FAMILY (Sapotaceae) 



Shrubs or trees. Sap gummy, often milky. Leaves alternate, 

 entire, evergreen. Flowers small, white or yellowish, 5-lobed, 

 clustered in leaf-axils, stamens 5. Fruit pulpy, usually 

 l-seeded. 



Satinleaf and Mastic (Genera Chrysophyllum and 



Sideroxylon) 



Exotic fruits of this family — sapodilla, mamey-sapote, 

 star-apple, and others — are cultivated in southern Florida, 



