738 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



1. Luehea speciosa Willd. Ges. Naturf. Freund. Berlin Neue Schrift. 3: 410. 



1801. 



Luehea platypetala A. Rich, in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 9: 212. pi. 2S. 1845. 



Luehea scabrifolia Presl, Epim. Bot. 212. 1849. 



Veracruz, YucatSn, Campeclie, and Oaxaca. Cuba, Central America, and 

 South America. 



Shrub or tree, 2 to 15 meters high ; leaves short-petiolate, elliptic to oval or 

 elliptic-ovate, 10 to 22 cm. long, abruptly acuminate, cordate or rounded at 

 base, green and scabrous above, pale-tomentulose beneath, serrate ; petals 2.5 to 

 4.5 cm. long; capsule 3 to 4 cm. long, densely pubescent. " Pepe cacao" (Cam- 

 peche) ; " kazcat," " chacah " (Yucatan, Maya); "gulcimo" (Panamfa) ; 

 " guS-cimo macho" (Costa Rica); " pataxtillo " (Tabasco); " tabl6n " (Colom- 

 bia) ; " guacima amarilla," " guilcima varla," " gu^cima baria " (Cuba). 



2. Luehea Candida (DC.) Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 102. 1824. 

 A-legria Candida DC. Prodr. 1: 517. 1824. 



Luehea mexicana Spach ; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 2: 77. 1841. 



Luehea endopogon Turcz. Bull. Soc. Nat. Moscou 31*: 225. 1858. 



Sinaloa to Chiapas, Central America and Colombia. 



Tree, 4 to 6 meters high ; leaves broadly elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 10 to 20 cm. 

 long, acute «r abruptly acuminate, rounded or cordate at base, serrate, scabrous 

 above, tomentulose beneath; petals 5 to 5.5 cm. long, 3 to 4 cm. wide; capsule 

 5 to 6 cm. long, glabrate in age. " Pataxte," "patazte" (Oaxaca); " algo- 

 doncillo " (Michoacan, Guerrero); " molenillo " (Nicaragua, Costa Rica); 

 " gu^cimo molenillo" (Costa Rica). 



In Central America the dry fruit, deprived of its seeds, is fastened to the 

 end of a stick and used to beat chocolate, thus making the beverage light and 

 frothy. 



5. APEIBA Aubl. PI. Guian. 1 : 538. 1775. 



1. Apeiba tibourbou Aubl. PI. Guian. 1 : 538, pi. 213. 1775. 



Veracruz and Oaxaca. West Indies ; Central and South America. 



Tree, 6 to 7 meters high, with flat spreading crown ; leaves short-petiolate, 

 elliptic-oval or elliptic-ovate, 10 to 30 cm. long, acute or short-acuminate, 

 cordate at base, 5-nerved, crenulate, stellate-hirtellous ; flowers yellowish, in 

 lateral cymes ; sepals free ; petals about 1.5 cm. long ; fruit depressed-globose, 

 8 to 10 cm. in diameter, coriaceous, pulpy within, very densely covered with 

 long stout hairy spines. "Peine de mico " (Veracruz, Oaxaca, Costa Rica, 

 Panama) ; " burillo " (Nicaragua) ; " heriso," " erizo " (Colombia, Venezuela) ; 

 " malagano " (Colombia) ; " cabeza de negro" (Guiana). 



The bark fiber is said to be used in some localities for making coarse rope. 

 The leaves and bark are mucilaginous, and antispasmodic properties are 

 ascribed to the flowers. 



6. HELIOCARPUS L. Sp. PI. 448. 1753. 



Trees or shrubs, the pubescence of stellate hairs; leaves often trilobate; 

 flowers small, the small cymes arranged in a terminal panicle ; sepals 4, dis- 

 tinct ; petals 4 ; stamens numerous ; fruit capsular, subglobose or subclavate, 

 2-celled, slightly compressed, the edge surrounded by a row of radiating plu- 

 mose bristles. 



Many of the Mexican species are imperfectly known, the fruit being lacking 

 in some cases and the flowers in others. The differences between the species, 

 moreover, are not sharply marked. 



Besides the vernacular names listed under the species, the following addi- 

 tional ones are reported for plants whose specific identity is doubtful : " Ooche " 



