STANDLEY TEEES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 825 



1. Clusia rosea Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 34. 1760. 



Chiapas. Central America, West Indies, and northern South America. 



Shrub or tree, 3 to 10 meters high, usually epiphytic when young and destroy- 

 ing the host plant in age ; leaves short-petiolate, 7 to 15 cm. long and nearly as 

 wide, broadly rounded at apex,, rounded or cuneate at base, very thick, with 

 numerous close parallel lateral nerves ; flowers polygamous ; petals 6, white or 

 tinged with pink ; fruit 8 to 12-celled, 5 to 6 cm. in diameter. " Cupey " 

 (Porto Rico, Panama) ; " copey " (Cuba). 



The wood is said to be reddish and to have a specific gravity of 0.876. An 

 infusion of the leaves is sometimes employed for chest affections and a decoc- 

 tion of the bark (in Venezuela) as a lotion for rheumatism. A gum or 

 resin obtained from the fruit was used by the South American Indians as a 

 resolutive in treating fractures and dislocation. 



Oviedo (Lib. VIII, Cap. XIV) gives the following account of a tree which 

 must be Clusia rosea or some closely related species : " The copey is a fine 

 tree with good wood, and it has leaves such as I have described above for the 

 (/uiahara or uvcro. But the copey is a much larger tree, with smaller leaves, 

 and the leaves are twice as thick or more, and better for writing on with a 

 pin or a sharp point ; the veins of tlie leaves are more delicate and hinder 

 writing less than those of the urero. In the early times of the conquest of 

 Hispaniola and other islands, the Christians made playing-cards of copey 

 leaves, and lost or gained much money with them, for lack of better ones ; on 

 the leaves they drew the kings, knights, knaves, and spots, and all the other 

 figures and values that there usually are on cards, just as I have painted here 

 the five of diamonds (plate 3, figure 6). As these leaves are very thick they 

 held the drawings well, and shuffling did not break them. The fruit of this 

 tree I have not seen, although I have often seen the leaves and the trees them- 

 selves." 



For an illustration of Chisia rosea see Contr. U. S. "Nat. Herb. 8: pi. 28. 



2. Clusia ovig-era Triana & Planch. Ann. Sci. Nat. IV. 13: 354. 1860. 



Known only from the type collection, from somewhere in southern Mexico. 



Leaves obovate-oblong, 15 to 20 cm. long, obtuse or obtuse-acuminate, acute 

 at base, coriaceous ; cymes with 3 or more long-pedicellate flowers ; sepals 4 ; 

 petals 4 ; fruit ovoid, 9 cm. long or larger. 



3. Clusia orizabae Hemsl. Diag. PI. Mex. 3. 1878. 

 Type from Izhuatlancillo, region of Orizaba, Veracruz. 



Leaves elliptic or lanceolate, 10 to 15 cm. long, obtuse, cuneate at base, the 

 petiole 2.5 cm. long or less ; staminate flowers bibracteolate, the cymes with 3 

 or more flowers ; sepals 4 ; petals 4. 



4. Clusia salvinii Donn. Smith, Bot. Gaz. 35: 1. 1903. 



IMichoacan to Oaxaca, and probably also in Sinaloa and Veracruz. Guate- 

 mala ; type from Volciin de Agua. 



Leaves oblong-obovate or oval-obovate, 10 to 20 cm. long, 5.5 to 10 cm. wide, 

 cuneate at base, with numerous fine nerves divergent at an angle of about 60° ; 

 cymes few-flowered ; sepals 4, 7 to 9 mm. long ; petals 5, slightly longer than 

 the sepals ; fruit globose, 5-celled, 1.5 to 2 cm. in diameter. " Palo de Sguila " 

 ( Oaxaca ) . 



5. Clusia flava Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 34. 1760. 

 Specimens from Yucatrin perhaps belong here. Jamaica. 



Tree, about 10 meters high ; leaves cuneate-obovate, 4 to 8 cm. wide, cuneate 

 at base, short-petiolate, the lateral nerves ascending at a very acute angle ; 



