Brixton : Studies of West Indian plants 339 



2. THE GENUS CASSIPOUREA IN JAMAICA 



Cassiponrea was proposed by Aublet (Hist. PI. Guian. i: 528) 

 in 1775 for a tree of French Guiana, his Cassiponrca gniancnsis 

 being the type of the genus. Swartz (Prodr. 84) published the 

 generic name Legnotis, including in it two species, L. elliptica 

 from Jamaica and L. Cassiponrca, based on Aublet's Cassiponrca 

 gumnensis ; he assigns no reason why his name thus published in 

 1788 should replace Aublet's Cassiponrca of 1775. Poiret (Lam. 

 Encycl. Suppl. 2 : 131) properly adopted the older generic name 

 and transferred the Legnotis elliptica of Swartz to it. A number 

 of additional species from tropical America and Africa have since 

 been added by several authors, including Cassiponrca alba Griseb. 

 from the island of Dominica. That Cassiponrca Aublet and Leg- 

 notis Swartz are the same genus seems evident from an examina- 

 tion of specimens. 



Cassiponrca elliptica (Sw.) Poir. is a shrub or small tree, some- 

 times reaching 6 meters in height, and grows in Jamaica on rocky 

 wooded hillsides. Its elliptic long-pointed leaves are as brilliantly 

 shining as those of any plant known to me, and individuals seen 

 ■n contrast to the duller luster of other trees and shrubs stand out 

 as most striking elements in the landscape. Mr. Harris, Dr. Hol- 

 1c k, and I, while botanizing near Kempshot, at an altitude of 

 about 500 meters in the parish of St. James, western Jamaica, on 

 March 23, 1908, had our first opportunity of studying this won- 

 derfully beautiful plant in the field, and were fortunate enough to 

 See lts bri ght white flowers with strikingly laciniate petals, and it 

 w as an experience long to be remembered. The lustrous leaves 

 and P eci iceled flowers distinguish Cassiponrca elliptica from the two 

 s Pecies to be described below. A remarkable feature of an indi- 

 ^ ual tr ee found by us near Kempshot on March 24, 1908, is the 

 ev elopment of the lower branches, which droop and bear leaves 

 n °t more than one half the size of those on the flowering branches 

 ° ve ' tlle twigs of these drooping branches being very slender 



repeatedly forked. We preserved herbarium specimens of this 

 c ^ r 'ous bud-sport ; if cuttings from such a branch could be prop- 

 S a ed, they would doubtless yield a weeping Cassiponrea. 



