290 ODOROGRAPHIA. 



wood slightly so. The leaves are numerous, opposite, very 

 slightly stalked, without stipules, evergreen, IJ to 2 J inches long, 

 broadly oval, very obtuse at the apex, usually rounded at the base, 

 margins quite entire, somewhat undulated, often re-curved, thick, 

 dark green, bullate and shining on the upper surface, paler 

 beneath, rough on both surfaces with scattered, wart - like 

 projections, which on the under surface are set with short, 

 spreading bristles ; there are also numerous minute stellate hairs 

 beneath. The mid rib is prominent : veins alternate, sometimes 

 opposite, and covered on the surface with small glands. 



The flowers are pale greenish-yellow, very agreeably odorous, 

 unisexual (dioecious), on long stalks, J to |- inch wide, erect, 

 arranged in short, lax, few-flowered, terminal or axillary, small 

 trichotomous cymes, with minute, deciduous bractes. The centre 

 of the male flower is occupied by about 30 stamens, inserted 

 irregularly. In the female flower the stamens are usually 

 represented by o small abortive staminodes. The fruit consists 

 of 1 to 5 (usually 3) pale-yellowish green drupes, about the size 

 of a pea ; the rather scanty pulp is succulent, sweet and aromatic, 

 adherent to the stone, which is thin, irregularly channelled, bony 

 and very hard, with a perforation on one side at the top. They 

 are made into necklaces by the Chilians. The seed is solitary, 

 completely filling the stone. These fruits must not be confounded 

 with those known in the markets of Chili as "Feumo," or " Bolchc,'' 

 produced from a genus of Lauracece. 



Boldo leaves in the dried state have a reddish-brown colour, a 

 coriaceous texture, and are covered with small glands. 



The histological study of the plant by Claude Yerne above 

 referred to was made from portions taken from a tree growing in 

 the Botanical Garden of the Ecole de Medecine, Paris. He states 

 that a transverse section of the limb of the leaf showed the 

 following characters : — 



'•' The upper epiderm has one, tw^o, or sometimes three rows of 

 cells, especially in the neighbourhood of the insertion of some 

 hairs wdiich originate in the second vow. These hairs are simple, 

 rarely bifid, in form like birds' claws, conical, arched, and lie 

 parallel to the surface of the leaves. The inferior epiderm, pierced 

 all over with stomata, has but a single row of cells, and its stellate 

 hairs, of the same form as the preceding, sometimes penetrate 



