508 CONTRIBUTIOlNrS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Leaflets 11 or 13, ovate-oblong, obtuse ; flowers smaller than those of the last 

 species, in dense cymes. 



50. PTEROCARPUS L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 16G2. 1763. 

 Unarmed trees ; leaves pinnate, with few large leaflets ; flowers large, race- 

 mose or paniculate; fruit short and broad, compressed, 1 or 2-seeded, indehis- 

 cent. 



Some of the Asiatic species yield gums which are used medicinally for diar- 

 rhoea, and also for dyeing and tanning. Others yield valuable woods. 

 Fruit sessile or nearly so, densely cinereo-puberulent ; calyx densely puberulent, 



the lobes acute 1. P. orbiculatus. 



Fruit long stipitate ; calyx lobes very obtuse. 



Calyx densely pubescent ; leaflets acutish or obtuse at apex. 



2. P. acapulcensis. 

 Calyx glabrate ; leaflets cuspidate-acuminate 3. P. officinalis. 



1. Pterocarpus orbiculatus DC. Prodr. 2: 418. 1825. 

 Amphymenium puhescens H. B. K. Nov. Gen. &. Sp. 6: 380. 1823. 

 Pterocarp^is amphymenium DC. Prodr. 3: 418. 1825. 



Pterocarpus puhescens Spreng. Syst. Veg. 4: Cur. Post. 268. 1827. Not P. 



puhescens Poir. 1804. 

 Pterocarpus apliyllus Micheli, Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Geneve 34: 266. 



pi. 16. 1903. 

 Guerrero, Michoacan.Oaxaca, and Veracruz. 



Tree, 6 to 8 meters high, with white barli ; leaflets 3 to 7, large, variable 

 in shape, nearly glabrous; flowers yellow, rather large, racemose; fruit sub- 

 orbicular, 4 to 5 cm. broad, surrounded by a broad thin wing. " Llora-sangre " 

 (Guerrero); " guayabillo " (Michoacan). 

 Pterocarpus crispatus DC* may be the same species. Its fruit is not known. 



2. Pterocarpus acapulcensis Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 5: 143. 1897. 

 Veracruz, Guerrero, and Oaxaca ; type from Acapulco, Guerrero. 



Tree, 7 meters high or larger, with yellow flowers ; leaflets pale beneath ; fruit 

 5 to 6.5 cm. long. " Drago " (Guerrero, Oaxaca); " sangre de drago," " san- 

 gredrago " ( Oaxaca ) . 



This may be the species reported by Ramirez from Michoacan as P. draco, 

 with the vernacular name " huahuauchi." 



3. Pterocarpus officinalis Jacq. Stirp. Amer. 283. pi. 183, f. 92. 1763. 

 Pterocarpus draco L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 1662, in part. 1763. 



YucatSn. Central America, West Indies, and northern South America. 



Tree, sometimes 24 meter.s high, with yellow or yellowish brown flowers ; 

 wood dirty white, with a specific gravity of about 0.554. " Sangre de drago " 

 (Guatemala, Nicaragua); " sangregado " (Nicaragua); "palo de polio" 

 (Porto Rico). 



As in other species, when tlie bark is cut it exudes a blood-red juice that 

 soon solidifies and forms a red resin which is insipid and inodorous. It was 

 formerly used in medicine under the name of " dragon's-blood," and large 

 amounts were at one time sent to Spain from Cartagena, Colombia. » 



51. DREPANOCARPUS Meyer, Prim. Fl. Esseq. 236. 1818. 

 Trees or shrubs sometimes scandent ; leaves unequally pinnate, estipellate, 

 the leaflets alternate; flowers purple or white, in short axillary racemes or in 

 terminal panicles; fruit falcate, compressed, indehiscent, 1-seeded. 



'Prodr. 2: 418. 1825. 



