204 Britton : The genus Ernodea 



minor character, such as leaf-form, tint of the corolla, prostrate or 

 bushy habit. That such small characters are transmittable by 

 seed is also evidenced by plants with identical features forming 

 colonies at some distance from each other, and too far apart to 

 have been produced by underground connection. The small 

 fleshy yellow fruits of these plants are probably freely distributed 



by birds. 



The numerous specimens now in the herbarium of the New 

 York Botanical Garden seem to me to fall into six species, com- 

 posed of a considerable number of races. Characters taken as 

 specific are indicated by the following key : 



Calyx-lobes varying from nearly as long as the fruit to longer. 



Leaves lanceolate to oblong, oblanceolate or oblong-lanceo- 

 late, 5-10 mm. wide. 

 Corolla white to pink; leaves relatively broad; plant 



mostly of coasts. 

 Corolla red to scarlet ; leaves relatively narrow ; plant 



I. £. litloralis. 



mostly of pine-lands. 2. E. angnsta. 



Leaves narrowly linear, 1-3 mm. wide. 3* ^' C°k erim 

 Calyx-lobes much shorter than the fruit. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 6-8 mm. wide. 4- ^- Milhpaughii. 



Leaves narrowly linear to linear-oblanceolate, 1-3 mm. wide. 

 Leaves bristle-tipped ; calyx-lobes half as long as the 



fruit. 

 Leaves merely mucronate; calyx-lobes one third as long 

 as the fruit. 



5. E. Taylori 



6. E. Nashii. 



I. Ernodea littoralis Svv. Prodr. 29. 1788 



The first mention and illustration of this type species of the genus 

 was by Sir Hans Sloane in his Natural History of Jamaica, where 

 he denominated it " Thymelaea humilior foliis acutis atrovirenti- 

 bus" and illustrated it on his plate 189, figs. 1 and 2. By Pat- 

 rick Browne, in History of Jamaica 140, it was referred to Knoxta, 

 an East Indian genus established by Linnaeus in 1753. Jamaica 

 is therefore the type locality of the species. I observed this plant, 

 in company with Mr. William Harris, in September, 1907, at two 

 points on the southern coast of Jamaica, where it grows prostrate 

 on limestone rocks and sand. It has narrowly oblong to oblong- 

 lanceolate entire sharp-pointed leaves, 4-8 mm. wide, the subulate 

 stipules about 1.5 mm. long; the linear-lanceolate calyx-lobes are 

 here just about as long as the fruit, but they evidently vary from 



