1122 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



The tree is described by Hernandez, wlio says : " Tlie Mexicans in tlieir 

 language, whicli is expressive, elegant, and precise, indicate in tlieir names 

 tlie properties as well as the uses of plants. In this way, they apply the name 

 tzapotl [zapote] as a general term to all fruits which have a sweet flavor, 

 and xocotl [ jocote] to those which are sour. The atzapotl or ' water tzapotl * 

 is so called because it comes from a tree which grows near the water. It is 

 a large tree, with leaves like those of the orange, and bears near the ends 

 of the branches white star-shaped flowers, which produce a fruit nearly round, 

 large, yellow within, and of sweet flavor. This is in a way a disagreeable 

 and indigestible food, and sometimes excites fever. Within the fruit is a 

 stone which is used especially for ulcers." 



2. Lucuma sphaerocarpa DC. Prodi'. 8: 169. 1844. • 



Described from one of Sess6 and Mocifio's drawings of a Mexican plant; 

 not known to the writer. 



Petioles 6 to 8 mm. long; leaf blades oblong-obovate, 7.5 to 10 cm. long, 3.7 

 cm. wide, acute, acuminate at base; flowers pedicellate, in clusters of 3 or 

 4 ; corolla 6-lobate, greenish ; fruit globose, 6 cm. in diameter, greenish, the 

 flesh yellow ; seeds 4, fuscous, ellipsoid, 3 cm. long. 



The names " comlngalo " (Jalisco), " tempixque," and " tempixtle " (Tierra 

 Caliente) are reported for this plant in Mexican literature, but there is no 

 reason for believing that they apply to the plant originally described as 

 Lucuma sphaerocarpa. 



3. Lucuma campechiana H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3: 240. 1819. 

 Vitellaria campechiana Engl. Bot. Jahrb. Engl. 12: 513. 1890. 



Type from Campeche. Reported from Honduras by Hemsley. Not known 

 to the present writer. 



Petioles about 2.5 cm. long; leaf blades oblong, 7 to 8 cm. wide, acute at 

 base, glabrous, lustrous; pedicels ternate, half as long as the petiole; corolla 

 5-lobate, glabrous. 



4. Lucuma palmeri Fernald, Proc. Amer. Acad. 33: 87. 1897. 

 Colima to Oaxaca ; type from Acapulco. El Salvador. 



Shrub, 1.5 to 3 meters high, the branchlets brown-sericeous ; leaves petiolate, 

 oblanceolate or oblong-obovate, 2.5 to 5.5 cm. wide, attenuate at base, ferrugi- 

 nous-pubescent beneath when young but soon glabrate; flowers solitary, gemi- 

 nate, or ternate, the pedicels 1 to 2 cm. long; sepals 5.5 mm. long, sericeous; 

 corolla twice as long as the calyx, 5 or 7-lobate; fruit subglobose, 3 cm. long, 

 yellow ; seed 1, ellipsoid, 2.5 cm. long, stramineous, lustrous. " Huic6n," 

 "palo huicon"; " giiicume " (El Salvador). 



The fruit is edible, but of poor quality. 



DOUBTFUL SPECIES. 



Ltjcuma mtjltiflora DC. is said to be cultivated in Yucatan, where it is 

 known as " kanizte " or " kanist§." The writer has seen no specimens from 

 Yucatan. The species is a native of Porto Rico and the Lesser Antilles. 



7. SIDEROXYLON L. Sp. PI. 192. 1753. 



Shrubs or trees; leaves usually long-petiolate ; flowers small, white or 

 greenish yellow, in dense, axillary or lateral fascicles; sepals usually 5, ovate 

 or orbicular, obtuse, subequal; corola tubular-campanulate, usually 5-lobate; 

 ovary usually 5-celled ; fruit mostly 1-seeded. 



