682 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Densely branched shrub, a meter high or less, the branches angulate, usually 

 glabrous ; leaves alternate, short-petiolate, 4 to 8 mm. long, oblanceolate, acute, 

 glaucous, entire, soon deciduous; flowers subsolitary, axillary, short-pedicel- 

 late; petals 5, white, oblanceolate or ligulate, 3 to 4 mm. long; stamens 10; 

 fruit coriaceous, ovoid, asymmetric, acute, about 5 mm. long. 



11. SCHAEFFERIA Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 10. 1760. 



Shrubs or trees, glabrous ; leaves alternate or fasciculate, entire, coriaceous, 

 estipulate ; flowers sessile or pedicellate in the axils, dioecious ; calyx 4-pai*ted ; 

 petals 4 ; fruit a dry or nearly dry drupe, 2-celled. 



Leaves densely pilose '. 1. S. pilosa. 



Leaves glabrous. 



Leaves mostly 1.5 to 2.5 cm. wide, not fasciculate 2. S. frutescens. 



Leaves 2 to 8 mm. wide, chiefly fasciculate. 



Leaves obovate-spatulate, pinnate-nerved 3. S. cuneifolia. 



Leaves linear-spatulate, the nerves parallel, extending from base to apex of 

 the blade 4. S, stenophylla. 



1. Schaeflferia pilosa Standi., sp. nov. 



Type collected near Huajuapam, Oaxaca, altitude 1,680 to 1,950 meters 

 (Nelson 1965; U. S. Nat. Herb. no. 569292). 



Branches grayish, puberulent when young; leaves mostly fasciculate on 

 shoi't lateral spurs, rounded-spatulate or ovate-spatulate, 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long, 

 obtuse or rounded at apex, cuneate at base and decurrent into a short petiole, 

 thin, yellowish green, rather densely short-pilose on both surfaces, pinnately 

 nerved ; flowers axillary, the pedicels stout, 2 to 3 mm. long, glabrous ; calyx 

 lobes about 0.5 mm. long, obtuse, glabrous ; fruit fleshy, 4 to 5 mm. long, 

 pubescent. 



2. Schaefferia frutescens Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 33. 1760. 

 ? Schaefferia viridescens DC. Prodr. 2: 41. 1825. 



Reported from Veracruz. Florida, West Indies, and Colombia. 



Shrub or tree, sometimes 12 meters high, with a trunk 30 cm. in diameter; 

 bark thin, light gray, slightly grooved ; leaves short-petiolate, lanceolate, elliptic, 

 or oval, acute or acuminate ; flowers pedicellate ; petals 3.5 to 4 mm. long ; 

 fruit 4 to 6 mm. long, bright red, with unpleasant taste; wood yellow, dense, 

 the specific gravity about 0.77. " Cabra " (Santo Domingo). 



Known as " Florida boxwood " or " yellow-wood." 



3. Schaefferia cuneifolia A. Gray, PI. Wright. 1: 35. 1852. 



Ooahuila. Western Texas ; type from " high prairies of the San Felipe, and 

 on the San Pedro." 



Shrub, about 1 meter high, densely branched, the branchlets often spinose ; 

 leaves cuueate-obovate, sessile, rounded, or notched at apex ; flowers sessile, 

 greenish; fruit red, 4 mm. long. " Capul " (Texas). 



The roots are said to be used as a remedy for venereal diseases. 



4. Schaefferia stenophylla Standi., sp. nov. 



Vicinity of Tehuacan, Puebla (type, Fringle 7503; IJ. S. Nat. Herb. no. 

 316732). 



Shrub, about 1 meter high, glabrous; leaves fasciculate on short stout lateral 

 spurs, linear-spatulate, 7 to 20 mm. long, 2 to 4 mm. wide, obtuse to truncate 

 at apex, mucronulate, gradually attenuate to base, sessile, bright green, sub- 

 coriaceous, parallel-nerved ; pedicels short and stout, glabrous ; fruit 3.5 to 

 5 mm, long and often as broad, rarely 1-celled. 



