STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 1031 



ployed for posts, piling, axles, wheel hubs, and other purposes. The bark 

 is employed for tanning. For an illustration of a ti-ee see Contr. U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. 8: pi. 20. 



4. LAGUNCULARIA Gaertn. f. Fruct. & Sem. 3: 209. 1807. 

 The genus consists of a single species. 



1. Laguncularia racemosa (L,.) Gaertn. f. Fruct. & Sem. 3: 209. 1807. 



Conocarpus racemosa L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 930. 1759. 



Coasts of Tamaulipas and Yucatiin. Southern Florida, West Indies, Pan- 

 ama, South America, and western Africa. 



Slirub or tree, sometimes 20 meters high, with a trunk 80 cm. in diameter; 

 bark thin, reddish brown, fissured into long scales ; leaves opposite, petiolate, 

 oblong to oval, 2 to 7 cm. long, rounded at apex, entire, leathery, glabrous, the 

 petiole with 2 large glands ; flowers perfect or polygamous, in lax clustered 

 spikes ; calyx 5-lobate, sericeous, 2 to 3 mm. long ; petals 5, suborbicular, not 

 exceeding the calyx ; stamens 10 ; fruit a leathery 10-ribbed reddish drupe, 

 oblong or obovoid, 15 mm. long ; wood hard, sti'ong, dense, yellowish brown, 

 its specific gravity about 0.86. "Mangle bianco" (Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Pan- 

 ama, Porto Rico) ; "mangle amarillo," " pataban " (Cuba) ; "mangle prieto " 

 (Santo Domingo) ; "mangle chino " (Sinaloa). 



The white mangrove (known also as "white button wood") is usually asso- 

 ciated with RMzophora mangle, Conocarpus crecta, and Avicennia nitida. 

 The bark contains about 14 per cent of tannin, and is used for tanning skins. 

 It is employed locally in medicine as an astringent and tonic. For an illus- 

 tration of the flowers see Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 8: pi. 43. 



5. COMBRETUM L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 999. 1759. 



Scandent shrubs, sometimes armed with spines ; leaves opposite, petiolate, 

 entire ; flowers polygamo-dioecious, in terete or one-sided spikes or racemes ; 

 calyx tube cylindric or angulate, constricted above the ovary, the limb cam- 

 panulate, 4 or .5-lobate, deciduous ; petals 4 or 5. small, inserted between the 

 cal.vx lobes ; stamens 8 or 10, long-cxserted ; fruit coriaceous, longitudinally 

 4 to G-winged, 1-seeded. 



Flowers small, the calyx limb less than 2 mm. long ; spikes not secund. 



Cal.vx puberulent or tomentose ; stems unarmed 1. C. mexicanum. 



Calyx glabrous ; stems armed with spines 2. C. palmeri. 



Flowers large, the calyx limb 4 to 5 mm. long or larger; spikes secund. 



Calyx lepidote and pilosulous 3. C. erianthum. 



Calyx merely lepidote, not pilosulous 4. C. farinosum. 



1. Combretum mexicanum Humb. Sc Bonpl. PI. Aequin. 2: 159. pi. 132. 1809. 

 ? Combretum odoratissimum Sess6 & Moc. Fl. Mex. 99. 1894. 



Guerrero to Oaxaca ; type from Acapulco. Nicaragua. 



Large vine ; leaves short-petiolate, oblong or oval-oblong. 6 to 15 cm. long, 

 obtuse to acuminate, glabrous or nearly so ; flowers white, sweet-scented, in 

 dense paniculate spikes; fruit 2 to 2.5 cm. long, puberulent, the wings 4 to 5 

 mm. wide. 



2. Combretum palmeri Rose. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 5: 136. 1897. 

 Known only from the type locality, Acapulco, Guerrero. 



Large vine ; leaves elliptic to ohlong-obovate, 5 to 7 cm. long, obtuse or acute, 

 sparsely pilosulous beneath along the nerves ; spikes very lax, in large panicles ; 

 flowers white, sweet-scented; petals 2 mm. long; fruit (immature) 1.5 cm. 

 long, glabrous. • 



