STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 789 



nearly twice as long as the calyx, 6 to 8 mm. wide; fruit ovoid, 3 cm. long, 

 tomentose. " Maha." 

 The flowers are employed to flavor chocolate. 



DOUBTFUL SPECIES. 



Myrodia verticillakis DC. Prodr. 1: 447. 1824. Described from Mexico, the 

 description based upon a plate by Sesse and Mociiio.^ The illustration suggests 

 Quararibea turbinata (Swartz) Poir., a species of South America and the West 

 Indies, which has been reported from Mexico. 



3. BERNOUXLIA' Oliver in Hook. Icon. PI. 12: 62. 1873. 



1. Bernoullia flammea Oliver in Hook. Icon. PI. 12: 62. pi. 1169, 1170. 1873. 



Oaxaca. Type from " Costa Grande," Guatemala. 



Tree, sometimes 40 meters high, with broad crown; leaflets usually 5 or 6, 

 oblong-oblanceolate, petiolulate, 10 to 22 cm. long, acute or acuminate, glabrous ; 

 whole inflorescence bright red, obscurely puberulent ; calyx 1 cm. long, shallowly 

 bilobate; petals recurved; stamen tube long-exserted, the anthers clustered at 

 the apex; fruit brown, ellipsoid, 20 cm. long, glabrous within; seeds (including 

 the long wing) about 5 cm. long. " Palo calabaza," " palo de perdiz " (Oaxaca). 



The wood is described as soft and spongy. 



4. CEIBA Medic. Malvenfam. 15. 1787. 



Trees, often very large, the trunk and branches often armed with spines; 

 leaves digitate, the leaflets 5 to 7, usually serrate; peduncles axillary, 1-flow- 

 ered, the flowers large or small; calyx truncate or 5-lobate ; petals oblong or 

 linear-oblong, haii-y outside; stamen tube short, dividing into 5 long branches, 

 each of these bearing a few crowded anthers at the apex; capsule woody, 5- 

 celled, densely lanate within, the seeds small. 



The species of Ceiba (of which Eriodendron is a synonym), Pachira, and 

 Bombax have been much confused in Mexican literature and in botanical pub- 

 lications in general. The following Mexican -names are reported for plants 

 whose identity is doubtful, although they belong to one of these three genera : 

 " Eseobetilla," " piton " (Morelos) ; " thura " (Michoacftn, Tarascan) ; " kuy- 

 che " (Yucatan, Maya); " tumbile " (Michoacan) ; " yaga-xeni " (Oaxaca, 

 Zapotec). 



The trees of this group are well known in Mexico as well as elsewhere in 

 tropical America, particularly because of their large size, broad crowns, and 

 extensive buttresses. One of the earliest references to the ceiba trees in 

 Mexican literature is by Bernal Diaz del Castillo who, in his True History of 

 the Conquest of Mexico, relates how, in 1519, in the Indian town of Tabasco on 

 the Rio de Grijalva, after having defeated the natives in battle, Cort6s took 

 possession of the counti-y in the King's name by drawing his sword and making 

 three cuts in a great ceiba tree which stood in the central plaza of the town. 

 Later Diaz states that on Palm Sunday " a cross was made in a large ceiba 

 tree on the spot where the battle was fought, in order to aiford a long memorial 

 thereof, for this tree has the quality of preserving scars on its bark." 



Oviedo (Lib. IX, Cap. XI) gives an interesting account of the ceiba or 

 cotton trees, as follows : " In the chapters in which I treated of the oak and 

 mahogany I spoke of their size, and on the mainland there are many such 



'DC. Calq. Dess. Fl. Mex. pi. 99. 



* Named for G. Bernoulli, a native of Switzerland, who resided for some time 

 in Guatemala, where he made botanical collections. 



