286 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Leaves ternate, obovate-oblong, 12 to 15 cm. long, petiolate, short-acuminate. 



3. Siparuna nicaraguensis Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 3: 69. 1882. 

 Guerrero ami Oaxaca to Tabasco. Guatemala and Nicaragua (type locality). 

 Shrub, 3 to 4 meters high, or sometimes a tree, with a strong odor; leaves 



oval to oblong, 7.5 to 15 cm. long; flowers small, yellowish white; fruit blood- 

 red. " Hlerba del talaje," " limoncillo," " hierba de la conchuda " (Oaxaca). 



4. Siparuna colimensis Perkins, Bot. Jahrb. Engler 28: 682. 1901. 

 Known only from Colima, the type locality. 



Leaves ovate or oblong, 9 to 18 cm. long, short-acuminate; fruit depressed- 

 globose, reddish, acidulous. 



5. Siparuna sumichrastii (A. DC.) Perkins, Bot. Jahrb. Engler 28: 682. 1901. 

 Siparuna rlparia sumichrastii A. DC. in DC. Prodr. 16^: 648. 1868. 

 Veracruz ; type from the city of Veracruz. 



Shrub, 3 meters high; leaves obovate-oblong or elliptic, 10 to 16 cm. long; 

 fruit 5 mm. in diameter. 



45. LAURACEAE. Laurel Family. 



Reference : Mez, Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Mus. Berlin 5. 1869. 



Aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs ; leaves alternate, persistent, glandular- 

 punctate, estipulate, entire ; flowers perfect or unisexual, small, green or yellow, 

 usually cymose, umbellate, or capitate; perianth limb usually 6-lobed; corolla 

 none ; stamens and staminodia normally twice as many as the segments and 

 opposite them, arranged in 2 or 4 series ; anthers erect, 2 or 4-celled ; fruit 

 baccate or drupaceous, 1-seeded. 



In this family flowers are usually necessary for determination, and fruiting 

 specimens are of little value unless accompanied by flowers. 



The common European laurel, Laurus noMlis L. ("laurel") is cultivated in 

 Mexico as a shade tree. The writer has seen no material of Acrodiclidium 

 mexicanum and A. misantlae recently described from Veracruz by Brandegee.' 

 The genus is not otherwise known from IMexico, and it is probable that both 

 these species belong to genera listed below. 



The only Mexican representative of the family not listed here is CassytJia 

 filiformis L., a yellowish leafless twining parasitic plant, in general appearance 

 much like dodder {Cuscuta spp.). 



Two well-known Old World trees of the family are Cinnamomuni camphora 

 (L.) Nees & Eberm., camphor (" alcanfor "), and C. zeylanicum Nees, cinna- 

 mon ("canela"). 

 Inflorescence racemose, subtended by an involucre of bracts. 



Bracts of the involucre decussate-opposite 1. LITSEA. 



Bracts imbricate 2. UMBELLULARLA.. 



Inflorescence usually paniculate, sometimes racemose or capitate, not invo- 

 lucrate. 



Sepals very unequal, the outer ones shorter 3. PEBSEA. 



Sepals equal or nearly so. 

 Anthers 2-celled. 



Stamens all with introrse anthers 4. SASSAFRIDIUM. 



Stamens partly with extrorse anthers. 



Staminodia of the innermost stamens large 5. HUFELANDIA. 



Staminodia of the innermost stamens minute or aborted. 



6. MISANTECA. 

 Anthers 4-celled. 



' Univ. Calif. Bot. 6: 497. 1919. 



