STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 821 



larger, puberulent, the pedicels stout, about 1 cm. long; bract borne at the 

 apex of the pedicel, helmet-shaped, about 1 cm. long; sepals rounded, 3 to 4 

 mm. long ; petals oval, about 7 mm. long, obtuse. 



101. THEACEAE. Tea Family. 



Trees or shrubs ; leaves alternate, evergreen, simple ; peduncles 1-flowered, 

 axillary or lateral, solitary or fasciculate; flowers perfect; sepals 5, imbricate, 

 free or slightly united at base; petals 5, imbricate, united at base or free; 

 stamens numerous, the anthers erect ; fruit indehiscent, 2 to 5-celled, globose 

 or ovoid. 



The best-known member of the family is the tea plant, Thea sinensis L., a 

 native of China and India. 



The loblolly bay, Gordonia lasianthus (L.) Ellis, a native of the southeastern 

 United States, has been reported from Tepic, by Hemsley. No similar plant 

 has been seen in the Mexican collections examined by the writer. 

 Seeds and ovules attached at the apex of the cell ; sepals not ciliate, sometimes 



glandular-denticulate 1. TAONABO. 



Seeds and ovules attached at the side of the cell; sepals ciliate 2. EURYA. 



1. TAONABO Aubl. PI. Guian. 569. 1775. 



Evergreen glabrous trees or shrubs ; leaves coriaceous, entire or serrulate, 

 short-petiolate ; penduncles axillary or lateral, 1-flowered, recurved, solitary 

 or fasciculate, bibracteolate ; sepals 5 ; petals 5, white, connate at base ; stamens 

 numerous ; fruit indehiscent, globose or ovoid, 2 or 3-celled, tipped with the 

 persistent style. 



The species are closely related and it is doubtful whether all those listed 

 below, or even any large proportion of them, deserve recognition as species. 

 The names " hierba del cura " and "tepezapote" (from the Nahuatl tepeza- 

 potl, "mountain zapote") are applied to the vai'ious species, and the name 

 " limoncillo " is I'eported from Hidalgo. A decoction of tlie leaves is used to 

 bathe parts of the body affected with rheumatism. 



Bractlets inserted somewhat below the base of the sepals, usually oblong or 

 deltoid-oblong, after anthesis deciduous or becoming remote from the calyx. 

 Leaves mostly 2 to 3 cm. wide ; sepals in fruit 7 to 10 mm. long. 



1. T. pring'lei. 



Leaves 3 to 5.5 cm. wide; sepals 10 to 12 mm. long 2. T. m.altbyana. 



Bractlets inserted at the base of the sepals, broadly ovate to orbicular, per- 

 sistent at the base of the calyx. 

 Flowers short-pedicellate, the pedicels scarcely or not at all longer than the 



flower or fruit 3. T. sylvatica. 



Flowers long-pedicellate, the pedicels usually much longer than the flower or 

 fruit. 



Leaves crenate-serrulate 4. T. tepezapote. 



Leaves entire. 



Fruit and ovary rounded at apex, abruptly contracted into the style. 



5. T. sphaerocarpa. 

 Fruit and ovary acute at apex, gradually narrowed into the style. 



6. T. oocarpa. 



1. Taonabo pring-lei Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 8: 322. 1905. 



Mountains of Michoactln and Morelos ; type from Sierra de TepoztlJin, 

 Morelos, altitude 2,250 meters. 



Small tree ; leaves narrewly oblong-oblanceolate, 4.5 to 10 cm. long, obtuse or 

 rounded at apex, attenuate at base, obscurely serrulate, paler beneath ; pedicels 



