STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 345 



2. Couepia dodecandra (DC.) Hemsl. in Hook. Icon, PI. 27: pi. 2620, 2621. 

 1899. 



HirteUa dodecandra DC. Prodr. 2: 529. 1825. 



Type from somewhere in Mexico ; cultivated in Tabasco and British Hon- 

 duras. 



Tree, 4.5 to 6 meters high, leaves oblong, 5 to 15 cm. long, tomentose beneath ; 

 fruit ellipsoid, 5 to 6.5 cm. long, 1 or 2-seetled. " PIo," " uspio " (Taba.sco). 



Known in British Honduras as " baboon-cap." Fruit said to be edible. 



6. CHRYSOBALANUS L. Sp. PI. 513. 1753. 

 1. Chrysobalanus icaco L. Sp. PI. 513. 1753. 



Along the coast, Tamaulipas to Yucatan ; Guerrero to Oaxaca. Widely 

 distrilnitcd in tropical America and western Africa; type from Jamaica. 



Low slirub, 1 to 1.5 meters high, or said sometimes to be a tree 9 meters high, 

 with a trunk 30 cm. in diameter ; bark thin, scaly, brownish gray ; leaves per- 

 sistent, broadly elliptic to orbicular, 5 to 7 cm. long, nearly sessile, leathery ; 

 flowers cymose, small, whitish ; fruit globose or nearly so, 2 to 4 cm. in diam- 

 eter, creamy white, pink, purple, or blue-black, the flesh white, sweet, juicy ; 

 wood hard, strong, close-grained, light brown, its specific gravity about 0.77. 

 "Icaco," " hicaco." or " jicaco" (Chiapas, Veracruz, Yucatan, Oaxaca, Guerrero, 

 Tamaulipas, Guatemala, Honduras, Porto Rico; the name of Antillean origin) ; 

 " xicaco " (Oaxaca, /S'eier). 



The Engli.sh names are " cocoa-plum " and " pigeon-plum." The bark, leaves, 

 and root are astringent and have been used for dysentery, etc. The leaves and 

 fruit furnish a black dye. The seeds contain a large amount of oil, and by the 

 Caribs they were strung on sticks and burnt like candles. The seeds are edible 

 also. The fruit is highly valued in some parts of Mexico and elsewhere in tropi- 

 cal America and was a favorite food of the Caribs. It is astringent until per- 

 fectly ripe, when it is sweet and insipid. It is eaten raw but more often made 

 into preserves, whicli are sold in Mexican markets. For an illustration of a 

 fruiting branch see Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 8: pi. 26. 



The "hicaco" is well described by Oviedo (Lib. VIII, Cap. IX). "The skin 

 of the fruit," he writes, " has some resemblance to that on a monkey's face ; for 

 no matter how young a monkey is, it seems old because of its wrinkles, and like- 

 wise the hicaco fruit, no matter how fresh it may be, is always full of wrinkles." 



63. CONNARACEAE. Connarus Family. 



Reference: Britton, N. Amer. Fl. 22:233-236. 1908. 



Shrubs or trees ; leaves alternate, estipulate. odd-pinnate, the leaflets entire ; 

 flowers small, perfect, paniculate ; fruit a 1-seeded follicle. 



Calyx lobes imbricate, accrescent in age 1. ROUREA. 



Calyx lobes valvate, not accrescent 2. CNESTIDIUM. 



1. ROUREA Aubl. PI. Guian. 1:467. 1775. 

 1. Rourea glabra H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 7:41. 1824. 



Rovrea oblongifolia Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey Voy. 283. 1836. 



Tamaulipas to Tepic and .southward. Central America to Venezuela ; West 

 Indies ; type from the Rio Orinoco. 



Scandent or erect shrub ; leaflets 3 or 5, oblong to ovate-elliptic, 3 to 12 cm. 

 long, acuminate, thiclv, lustrous, glabrous ; panicles few or many-flowered, pubes- 

 cent ; petals white; fruit 1 to 1.7 cm. long, the seeds large, dark brown, with a 

 large orange aril. " Chilillo " (Oaxaca, Tamaulipas, Veracruz) ; " chilillo de la 

 Huasteca " (Guen-ero, Tepic, Veracruz); "chilillo venenoso " (Tepic, Vera- 



