STANDLEY TEEES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 1037 



a tree which is held in low esteem on the mainland and in the islands, for 

 they say it smells lilie bugs. The flavor of the fruit Is very ordinary and the 

 flesli unwliolesome." 



3, Psidium molle Bertol. Nov. Comm. Acad. Bonon. 4: 44. 1840. 



Psidium schiedeanum Berg, Linnaea 27: 368. 1854. 



Sinaloa to Veracruz and Chiapas. Central America, the type from Guate- 

 mala. 



Shrub or small tree, often less than a meter high ; leaves petiolate, variable 

 in form, obovate-oblong to elliptic or rounded-obovate, 5 to 12 cm. long or 

 larger, rounded at apex or acute, usually narrowed to the base, tomentulose 

 above when young but later glabrate, brownish-tomentose beneath, the pu- 

 bescence sometimes scant in age ; peduncles 1 to 3-flowered ; buds usually 

 tomentose, sometimes glabrate ; petals white, about 1 cm. long ; fruit globose, 

 about 2.5 cm. in diameter, pale yellow, with whitish pulp. " Guayaba agria " 

 (Jalisco) ; " giiisaro " (Costa Rica) ; " guayabillo " (El Salvador). 



The fruit is very acid and not particularly agreeable. The specimens re- 

 ferred here are variable in leaf characters, and it is not improbable that they 

 represent two or more species. On the other hand, it is doubtful whether 

 P. molle is distinct from P. araca Raddi, a Brazilian species. Some of the 

 Mexican and Central American material lias been referred to the latter. 



4. PIMENTA Lindl. Coll. Bot. /)/. 19. 1821-25. 



1. Pimenta officinalis Lindl. Coll. Bot. pi. 19. 1821-25. 



Myrtus pimenta L. Sp. PI. 472. 1753. 



Myrtus tabasco Schlecht. Linnaea 5: 542. 1830. 



Pimenta officinalis tabasco Berg, Linnaea 27: 425. 1854. 



Pimenta pimenta Cockerell, Bull. Torrey Club 19: 95. 1892. 



Myrtus piperita Sesse & Moc. Fl. Mex. 136. 1894. 



Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco, and probably elsewhere. Central America, West 

 Indies, and northern South America. 



Tree, 9 to 12 meters high, the branchlets quadrangular ; leaves petiolate, 

 liblong to oval-oblong. 9 to 20 cm. long, rounded or obtuse at apex, obtuse or 

 acute at base, coriaceous, when young sparsely puberulent but soon glabrous; 

 flowers in short, axillary or subterminal cymes, sericeous ; buds about 2 mm. 

 long ; sepals 4. minute ; petals 4, rounded ; fruit baccate, 1 or 2-celled, 1 or 2- 

 seeded, globose, 4 to 8 mm. in diameter. " Pimiento " (Oaxaca); " pimienta 

 gorda " (Tabasco, Oaxaca, El Salvador, Guatemala); "pimienta de Tabasco" 

 (Tabasco, Oaxaca); " pimenton " (Tabasco); " xocoxochitl " (Nahuatl) ; 

 " malagueta " (Tabasco); " pimionto oloroso " (Nicaragua); "Jamaica" 

 (Costa Rica). 



It is this tree which furnishes the allspice of commerce, and the tree is 

 culvated for this reason, chiefly in .Jamaica. Allspice is the unripe fruit, 

 dried in the sun. The ripe fruit is blackish brown and very odorous. It 

 contains an essential oil. The fruit is used in domestic medicine as a stimu- 

 lant, and it is said to be smoked like tobacco in some regions. The leaves, 

 either fresh or dried, have a strong, spicy, very agreeable odor. The tree 

 is described by Hernflndez.i 



1 Thesaurus 30. 1651. 

 79688—24 13 



