444 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Eysenhardtia subcoriacca Pennell. N. Amer. Fl. 24: 36. 1919. 



Eysenhardtia cohriformis I'ennell, N. Amer. Fl. 24: 3G. 1919. 



Chihuahua and Sonora to Oaxaca and Tamaulipas. Soutliern Arizona. 



Shruh or tree, 3 to 8 meters high, the branchlets canescent; bark thin, light 

 gray ; leaflets 21 to 51, oblong or oval, 3 to 20 mm. long, pubescent or some- 

 times glabrate; racemes 4 to 15 cm. long; petals 5 to 7 mm. long; fruit 10 to 15 

 mm. long, 3 to 5 mm. wide, glabrous ; wood hard, dense, reddish brown, the 

 specific gravity about 0.87. " Rosilla," " palo cuate " (Sinaloa) ; " palo dulce" 

 (Mexico, Hidalgo, Puebla, Sonora, Jalisco, Oaxaca) ; " coatl," " coate," "cuate" 

 (from the Nahuatl coatli, " snake- water ") ; "palo dulce bianco" (Mexico); 

 " tai'ay "(Nuevo Leon, Durango) ; "vara dulce," " varaduz "(Durango, P«foni) ; 

 " leua nefritica " ; " urza " (Otomi). 



This plant has long been known in Mexico because of the peculiar properties 

 of the wood.^ An infusion of the heartvvood in water has at first a golden- 

 yellow color which soons deepens to orange. When held in a glass vial against 

 a black background it exhibits a beautiful peacock-blue fluorescence. The wood 

 was well known in Europe as early as the 16th century, where it was called 

 " lignum nophriticum," because of its supposed duretic properties. It was 

 first mentioned by Monardes (1565), and is mentioned by Hernandez under the 

 name "coatl" or "coatli." He also states that the name " tlapalezpatli," ' 

 or " blood-red medicine," was used for the plant. Sahagim writes of the plant 

 as follows : " There is a wild tree called coatli from which they get the branches 

 ^ for making the baskets which they call uaeales. It is a flexible wood, and if 

 put in water the latter becomes blue. It is a remedy for urinary diseases." 



The foliage of the tree is aromatic and the flowers are fragrant. In Mexico 

 drinking troughs made from the wood are used for watering fowls, or a piece 

 of the wood is put in their drinking water to ward off diseases. Palmer re- 

 ports that in Sonora a decoction of the wood is given as a refreshing drink to 

 fever patients. The wood is much used in some localities for kidney and 

 bladder affections. It al.so gives a yellowish brown dye. 



7. Eysenhardtia platycarpa Pennell & Safford, N. Amer. Fl. 24: 37. 1919. 

 Jalisco to Puebla and Guerrero ; type from Barranca of Guadalajara. Jalisco. 

 Shrub or small tree, 3 to 5 meters high, the branchlets cinereous-puberulent ; 



leaflets oblong, minutely puberulent ; racemes 4 to 12 cm. long ; petals 5 mm. 

 long ; fruit glabrous. 



8. Eysenhardtia texana Scheele, Linnaea 21: 462. 1848. 

 Coahuila and Tamaulipas. Texas ; type from New Braunfels. 



Shrub, 2 to 3.5 meters high ; leaflets oblong, finely puberulent ; racemes 3 to 

 10 cm. long; petals 4 to 5 mm. long; fruit glabrous. "Vara dulce" (Tamau- 

 lipas). 



The shrub is said to be a good honey plant. 



13. PAROSELA Cav. Descr. PI. 185. 1802. 



Reference: Rydberg, N. Amer. Fl. 24:40-116. 1919-20. 



Shrubs or rarely small trees, with gland-dotted branches, leaves, and calyx ; 

 leaves pinnate, rarely simple ; flowers racemose or spicate ; calyx 10-ribbed, 



* See W. E. Safford, Litinvm ncphriticum — its history and an account of the 

 reinarkable fluore.scence of its infusion, Smiths. Hep. 1915: 271-298. />/. i-7. 

 1916; also Safford, Eyscnhardtin polystachya, the source of the true LUjnum 

 ncphriticum mexicanum, Journ. Wa.shington Acad. Sci. 5:503-517. f. 1, 2. 1915. 



'Also written " tlalpalezpatli " and " tlapahoaxpatli." 



