1046 ' CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



matic; wood hard, strong, close-grained, brown or reddish brown, its specific 

 gravity about 0.91. " Guayacau negro," " escobo " (El Salvador). 



Known in Florida as "white stopper." The leaves have an unpleasant odor. 

 The Mexican material may be different from that of the West Indies. 



24. Eugenia acapulcensis Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 601. 1840. 



Myrtus maritima H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 6: 146. 1823. 



Eugenia maritima DC. Prodr. 3: 282. 1828. Not E. maritima DC. Prodr. 3: 

 227. 1828. 



lEugenia colipensis Berg, Linnaea 29: 243. 1857. 



Sinaloa to Morelos and Chiapas ; type from Acapulco, Guerrero. The type of 

 E. colipensis is from Colipa, Veracruz. 



Shrub or tree, 3 to 12 meters high ; leaves short-petiolate, lanceolate to el- 

 liptic-oblong or oval-elliptic, acute or obtuse, rarely obtuse-acuminate, acute to 

 rounded at base, glabrous, brownish beneath when dry ; flowers white, race- 

 mulose, the racemes about as long as the petioles, dense, the pedicels glabrous 

 or puberulent ; fruit red or black, usually oval, 8 to 15 ram. long. " Capulln " 

 (Guerrero). 



The edible fruit is sold in the markets. The material referred here is 

 rather variable and may represent two or more species. 



7. MYRCIA DC; Guillem. Diet. Class. Hist. Nat. 11: 378. 1826. 



Trees or shrubs ; flowers small, in axillary and terminal, loose panicles ; 

 calyx tube turbinate or hemispheric, the lobes 5 ; petals 5, spreading ; fruit 

 baccate, usually 2-celled. 



The fruit of M. coriacea Vahl. of the West Indies, is said to be used medici- 

 nally, and its bark for tanning, while the wood yields a dye. 



Tjeaves acute or very shortly acuminate, pilose beneath ; branches of the in- 

 florescence with spreading pubescence 1. M. rufidula. 



Leaves very long cuspidate-acuminate, glabrous beneath except along the 

 costa ; pubescence of the inflorescence appressed 2. M. oerstediana. 



1. Myrcia rufidula Schlecht. Linnaea 13: 416. 1839. 

 Myrcia sartoriana Berg, Linnaea 29: 220. 1857. 



Veracruz and Oaxaca ; type from Hacienda de la Laguna, Veracruz. 



Small tree, the branchlets pilose ; leaves nearly sessile, lance-oblong to oblong- 

 ovate, 5 to 13 cm. long, rounded or obtuse at base, glabrate on the upper sur- 

 face, paler beneath ; panicles few or many-flowered, equaling or shorter than the 

 leaves ; buds 2 mm. long ; petals suborbicular, white, sericeous outside. 



2. Myrcia oerstsdiaua Berg, Linnaea 27: 112. 1854. 

 Oaxaca. Costa Rica, the type from Cartago. 



Branchlets appressed-pilose at first but soon glabrate ; leaves subsessile, 

 narrowly lance-oblong. 6 to 12.5 cm. long, acute or obtuse at base, thin,, 

 glabrous above ; panicles very lax, shorter than the leaves, the flowers slender- 

 pedicellate ; buds 1.5 to 2 mm. long; fruit 6 to 12 mm. long. l-.seeded. " Yaga- 

 Mn " (Oaxaca, Zapotec, Rrko) ; " turro " (Costa Rica). 



123. MELASTOMACEAE. Meadow-beauty Family. 



Reference : Cogniaux in DC. Monogr. Phan. 7. 1891. 



Shrubs or trees, or sometimes herbs, usually erect, rarely epiphytic ; leaves 

 opposite, entire or toothed, commonly 3 to 9-nerved, in one genus pinnate- 

 nerved, estipulate ; flowers perfect, showy or inconspicuous, commonly white, 

 pink, red. pxirple, or yellow ; calyx tube free or adnate to the ovary, the limb 



