STANDLEY — TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 837 



" carnestolendas " (Colombia, Venezuela); " bototo," " flechero," " batabana " 

 (Colombia); " botija " (Cuba). 



When in flower this is one of the most showy of Mexican plants. The trees 

 are usually quite leafless when they flower, but they are one great mass of 

 showy yellow blossoms. The branches take root readily v»hen stuck in the 

 ground, and they are often planted to form hedges. The bark contains a fiber 

 which is used locally for cordage. A decoction of the wood or leaves is a popu- 

 lar cure for jaundice, and the flowers are employed as a remedy for chest 

 affections. The wood is soft and brittle. 



110. VIOLACEAE. Violet Family. 

 (Contributed by S. F. Blake.) 



Herbs or shrubs, sometimes scandent ; leaves usually alternate, stipulate, 

 entire or toothed ; flowers variously arranged, regular or irregular ; sepals 5 ; 

 petals 5; stamens 5, the connectives (in ours) dilated and produced beyond the 

 anther cells; ovary 1-celled, with 3 parietal placentae; ovules solitary to 

 numerous; fruit (in ours) a 3-valved capsule. 



Lower petal spurred 1. COBYNOSTYLIS. 



Lower petal not spurred. 



Corolla somewhat irregular; stamens united 2. HYBANTHUS. 



Corolla regular; stamens free 3. RINOREA. 



1. CORYNOSTYLIS Mart. & Zucc. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 25. 1823. 

 1. Corynostylis arborea (L.) Blake. 



Viola arborea L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1239. 1759. 



Viola hybanthus L. Sp. PL ed. 2. 1328. 1763. 



Corynostylis hybanthus Mart. & Zucc. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 26. 1823. 



Calyptrion berterii Ging. in DC. Prodr. 1: 289. 1824. 



Calyptrion berterii j3. mexicanum Ging. in DC. Prodr. 1: 289. 1824. 



Corynostylis berterii Spreng. Syst. Veg. 1: 805. 1825. 



Veracruz to Yucatan. Guatemala to South America ; type from Venezuela. 



" Scandent " shrub ; leaves alternate, oval to elliptic-ovate, 5 to 9 cm. long, 

 crenulate, firm, glabrous ; petioles 6 mm. long ; racemes terminal, leaf y-bracted, 

 the pedicels very slender, 3 to 4 cm. long ; flowers whitish, strongly zygomorphic ; 

 lip with strongly dilated tip, the stout blunt spur about 1.8 cm. long, longi- 

 tudinally half-twisted; capsule woody, many-seeded, the seeds subquadrate, 

 compressed. 



The root is used as an emetic in South America. 



2. HYBANTHUS Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 2. 1760. 

 Slender shrubs with whitish bark, often with spinescent branchlets; leaves 

 alternate, often fascicled; flowers somewhat irregular, the lower petal larger 

 than the others and more or less saccate at base; sepals subequal ; dilated 

 connectives of the anthers connate below; capsule 3-valved, 3-seeded. 

 Fascicles of flowers not pedunculate ; connective appendages acuminate. 



1. H. m^exicanus. 

 Fascicles of flowers pedunculate ; connective appendages rounded. 



2. H. yucatanensis. 



1. Hybanthus mexicanus Ging. in DC. Prodr. 1: 312. 1824. 



Alsodeia parvifolia S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 25: 142. 1890. 



San Luis PotosI; apparently also in the Cape Region, Baja California. 



Leaves alternate, oblanceolate or rhombic-oblanceolate, ^renate-serrate, 1.5 

 to 7 cm! long, long-cuneate at base, essentially glabrous; flowers whitish, 

 about 2.5 mm. long, in few-flowered axillary clusters, on pedicels about 3 mm. 

 long; capsule 4 mm. long. 



