238 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



9. Nectandra pichurim (H. B. K.) Mez, Jahrb Bot. Gart. Mus. Berlin 5: 



449. 1889. 



Ocotea ptchurim H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 266. 1817. 



Reported from Mexico by Mez, tlie localities not stated. Panama and South 

 America. 



Shrub or tree, sometimes 20 njeters high, with white bark ; leaves lanceolate 

 or ovate-lanceolate, 10 to 19 cm. long, long-acuminate ; flowers white, fragrant ; 

 fruit globose, 6 mm. in diameter. 



47. HEKNANDIACEAE. Hernandia Family. 



Trees or shrubs ; leaves alternate, entire or lobed, estipulate, petiolate ; flowers 

 inconspicuous, cyniose or paniculate, unisexual ; perianth 4 to 10-lobed ; corolla 

 none; stamens as many as the perianth lobes, 2-celled ; fruit 1-seeded. 

 Leaves entire ; fruit surrounded by a fleshy involucel ; flowers in clustei-s of S 



surrounded by an involucre 1. HERNANDIA. 



Leaves usually lobed ; fruit nutlike, 2 of the calyx lobes persistent, developing 



into whiglike appendages ; flowei-s not involucrate 2. GYROCARPUS. 



1. HERNANDIA^ L. Sp. PI. 981. 1753. 

 1. Hernandia guianensis Aubl. PI. Guian. 2: 848. 1775. 



Veracruz. Costa Rica to the Guianas. 



Tree, about 8 meters high ; leaves ovate to rounded-oval, 10 to 18 cm. long, 

 6 to 12 cm. wide, rounded or subcordate at base, rounded and short-pointed at 

 apex, glabrous or somewhat puberulent beneath, long-petiolate ; flowers hi long- 

 stalked cymes, finely tomentulose, white. " Aguacatillo " (Costa Rica). 



A single Mexican specimen has been seen by the writer, collected by Liebmann 

 In dense forests near Pital. The specimen is in poor condition, and the specific 

 determination con.sequently very doubtful. 



2. GYROCARPUS Jacq. Stirp. Amer. 282. 1763. 

 1. Gyrocarpus americanus Jacq. Stirp. Amer. 282. pi. 178, f. 80. 1763. 



Gyrocarpus jacquini Roxb. PI. Corom. 1:2. pi. 1. 1795. 



Gyrocarpus jacquini schiedei Schlecht. Linnaea 19 : 399. 1842. 



Veracruz to Yucatan, Oaxaca, and Tepic. Central America, Colombia, and 

 Venezuela ; tropical Africa, Asia, and Australia. 



Large or medium-sized tree, sometimes 20 meters high, with thick branches ; 

 leaves alternate, long-petiolate, often 30 cm. wide or larger, entire or palmately 

 lobed ; flowers small, unisexual, in broad cymes ; calyx lobes accrescent in fruit 

 and becoming 10 to 12 cm. long and about 1 cm. wide. " Palo hediondo " ( Oaxaca, 

 Guerrero, Morelos) ; " quitlacoctli," " quitlacotli " (Nahuatl) ; " xkis " or 

 " ciis " (Yucatan, Maya); " bab^ " (Oaxaca, Reko) ; " palo del zopilote " 

 (Oaxaca); " volador '* (Yucatan, Venezuela, Colombia); " talalate," " gallito," 

 " caballitos " (Nicaragua). 



The wood is white and very soft and light, a cubic foot weighing about 23 

 pounds. It is said to take paint and varnish well, and in some places is used for 

 making toys and light boxes. In India the seeds are strung as necklaces and 

 rosaries. 



* The genus was named for Francisco HernSndez ; see p. 10. 



