EBENACE^E. (EBONY FAMILY.) 273 



2. CLIFTONIA, Banks. Tin. 



Calyx minute, composed of 5-8 scale-like persistent sepals. Petals 5-8, 

 obovate, concave, sliort-clawed, spreading. Stamens mostly 10, in 2 rows ; the 

 filaments erect, thick, contracted above the middle ; those opposite the petals 

 longer: anthers round. Stigma sessile, 3- 4-lobed. Drupe dry, 3-4-winged, 

 3-4-celled, with a single linear seed in each cell. — A shrub or small tree. 

 Leaves oblong, smooth, and somewhat glaucous. Racemes terminal, many- 

 flowered, with leafy deciduous bracts. Drupes nodding. 



1. C. ligustrina, Banks. (Mylocarium, Willd.) — Pine-barren ponds and 

 swamps, Florida, and the lower districts of Georgia, westward. March and 

 April. — Leaves 2' long. Racemes 2' -4' long. Flowers white, fragrant. 



3. ELLIOTTIA, Muhl. 



Calyx minute, 4-sepalous. Petals 4, oblong-linear, slightly adhering at the 

 base. Stamens 8, included : anthers sagittate, thickened at the apex. Style 

 slender, slightly exserted : stigma capitate. Ovary 4-celled, the cells many- 

 ovuled. Fruit unknown. — A smooth shrub, 4° - 10° high. Leaves elliptical- 

 lanceolate, acuminate at each end, glaucous beneath. Racemes terminal, bract- 

 less, simple or compound. 



1. E. racemosa, Muhl. — Near Waynesboro', Georgia, Elliott. — June. 



Order 81. EBENACEjE. (Ebony Family.) 



Trees or shrubs, with watery juice. Leaves alternate, entire, without 

 stipules. Flowers polygamous ; the sterile cyniose ; the fertile ones larger, 

 solitary. — Calyx free from the 3 - 12-celled ovary, persistent, 3 - 7-lobed. 

 Corolla 3- 7-lobed, convolute in the bud, deciduous. Stamens mostly 16, 

 inserted on the base of the corolla, often united by pairs ; the filaments 

 short and hairy : anthers introrse. Ovules 1 - 2 in each cell, anatropous, 

 suspended. Styles distinct, or united below. Fruit baccate, roundish, 

 few-seeded ; the seeds large, compressed. Embryo in the axis of hard 

 albumen. Radicle superior. 



1. DIOSPYROS, L. Persimmon. 



Calyx 4-6-lobed. Corolla bell-shaped, 4-6-cleft. Stamens in the sterile 

 flower mostly 16 ; in the fertile 8, with the anthers sterile. Styles 2 or 4, united 

 below. Ovules solitary in the cells. Berry 4-8-seeded. 



1. D. Virginiana, L. Leaves ovate-oblong, mostly smooth, petioled; 

 calyx 4-parted ; corolla 4-cleft ; styles 4, each 2-lobed ; ovary 8-celled. — Woods 

 and old fields, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. May and June. — A 

 small tree. Flowers greenish. Berry eatable when fully ripe. 



