614 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Salvador, Nicaragua); "vara blanca " (Tamaulipas) ; "salvia de la playa " 

 (Colombia). 



The barli is said to be similar in odor and flavor to cascarilla bark, for 

 which it is sometimes substituted. It contains a bitter principle, copalchin, 

 which is found also in other species of Croton. In commerce the bark is 

 known as " copalchi " and " quina blanca," and it is employed as a tonic, 

 especially in intermittent fevers. It was formerly exported to Europe for 

 medicinal purposes, but is no longer used abroad. The leaves are closely 

 covered with silvery or brownish hairs, but they are sometimes also short-pilose. 



3. Croton reflexifolius H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 68. 1817. 



Croton sylvaticns Schlecht. Linnaea 19: 240. 1847. Not C. sylvaticus Hochst. 

 3845. 



Guerrero to Tamaulipas and Veracruz ; type from Acapulco. Central Amer- 

 ica ; reported from Colombia. 



Shrub or small tree; leaves ovate or ovate-cordate, 5 to 10 cm. long, acumi- 

 nate or abruptly acuminate, entire, finely silvery-lepidote, at least beneath, 

 but often glabra te in age ; flowers in long slender racemes ; capsule about 

 12 mm. long, conspicuously muricate. "Copalchi" (various parts of Mexico, 

 Ramirez, Costa Rica) ; " Soliman prieto " (San Luis Potosi, Scler). 



4. Croton tenuilobus S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 21: 439. 1886. 

 Southwestern Chihuahua to Tepic; type from Hagienda San Jose, Chihuahua. 

 Slender shrub; leaves linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, 2 to 6 cm. long, 



green above, pale beneath, finely stellate-pubescent ; flowers short-racemose. 



5. Croton neomexicanus Muell. Arg. Linnaea 34: 141. 1865. 



Chihuahua to Nuevo Leon. Western Texas and southern New Mexico; type 

 from western Texas. 



Plants suft'rutescent, 0.3 to 1.5 meters high, covered with close silvery radiate 

 scales ; leaves lanceolate to elliptic, 1 to 4 cm. long, petiolate, obtuse or rounded 

 at apex, entire, usually green on the upper surface; staminate racemes slender, 

 many-flowered, 4 to 8 cm. long. 



Root bark sakl to be used as a purgative. 



6. Croton calif ornicus Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. 15': 091. 1866. 



Ba.ia California, S(mora, and Sinaloa. Southern Arizona and California; 

 type from San Francisco, California. 



Slender shrub, sometimes 1.5 meters high, or often herbaceous, the pubescence 

 mostly of appressed radiate scales; leaves slender-petiolate, oblong to elliptic, 

 2.5 to 5 cm. long, obtuse, often green on the upper surface. 



7. Croton dioicus Cav. Icon. PI. 1: 4. pi. G. 1791. 



Croton claeagnifolivs Vahl; Geisel. Croton. Llonogr. 9. 1807. 



Croton gracilis H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 69. 1817. 



Astrogyne a-otonoides Benth. PI. Hartw. 14, 1839. 



Nuevo Leon to Durango, Oaxaca, and Veracruz. 



Plants low, shrubby or frequently herbaceous, densely covered with ap- 

 pressed silvery scales; leaves short-petiolate, oval to oblong, 1.5 to 4.5 cm. 

 long, obtuse, entire ; staminate flowers in short dense spikes. " Rosval " 

 (Nuevo Leon); " hierba del gato," " rubaklo," " robaldo " (Coahuila) ; 

 "encinilla" (Durango, Fatoni) ; "hierba del zorrillo " (Valley of Mexico, 

 Ramirez, Oaxaca, Relco) \ " yepaxihuitl" {Ramirez); " epaxihuitl" (Nahuatl, 

 " skunk-herb "). 



The seeds and root are reported to have drastic purgative properties. The 

 plant is said to be used also for hysteria, and in baths for rheumatism. 



