1126 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



either Mexico or Peru, but no similar plant has been found recently in 

 Mexico. The vernacular name is given as "orlaca," which does not suggest 

 a Mexican name. 



2. DIOSPYROS L. Sp. PI. 1057. 1753. 



Shrubs or trees ; leaves persistent or deciduous ; flowers dioecious, rarely 

 polygamous, axillary, cymose or fasciculate; calyx 4 or 5-lobate; corolla urceo- 

 late, campanulate, or salverform, the lobes obtuse, spreading or recurved ; fruit 

 baccate, containing 1 to 10 seeds. 



The genus is a large one, containing 150 or more species, most of which are 

 natives of the Old World. Some of them furnish the ebony of commerce. 

 Diospyros kaki L. is the Japanese persimmon, which is widely grown for its 

 large handsome sweet fruit. Diospyros virginiana L. is the common persimmon 

 of the eastern and southern United States. Its fruit is extremely astringent 

 when green, but in fall, especially after frost, it becomes soft and sweet. It 

 is a favorite wild fruit in the regions where it grows, and has been used in 

 the preparation of a kind of beer, as well as distilled liquors. In the Southern 

 States the seeds have been roasted and ground and used as a coffee substitute. 

 The green fruit contains tannic acid, and has been employed as a domestic 

 remedy for diarrhoea, chronic dysentery, and uterine hemorrhage. The bark 

 is astringent and very bitter. 



The following names are reported for unplaced Mexican species of Diospyros; 

 they probably relate to D. ebenaster: " Hinchuik," "huinchuik" (Mixe, Bel- 

 mar); "bomuttza" (Otomf, Buelna). 

 Ovary and fruit glabrous. 



Leaves densely pubescent 1. D. oaxacana. 



Leaves glabrous or nearly so. 

 Leaves acute or acuminate. 



Leaves ciliate 2. D. blepharophylla. 



Leaves not ciliate 3. D. conzattii. 



Leaves rounded or retuse at apex. 



Flowers 5-parted 4. D. palmeri. 



Flowers 4-parted 5. D, anisandra. 



Ovary and fruit pubescent. 



Leaves densely hirtellous beneath 6. D. texana. 



Leaves glabrous beneath, or when young with sparse appressed hairs. 

 Fruit 4 to 7 cm. in diameter ; leaves mostly 9 to 17 cm. long. 



7. D. ebenaster. 

 Fruit 3 cm. or less in diameter ; leaves usually smaller. 

 Calyx lobes broadest toward the apex, obtuse ; leaves nearly sessile. 



8. D. sonorae. 

 Calyx lobes broadest at the apex, acutish or acute; leaves usually con- 

 spicuously petiolate. 



Leaves rounded at base ; petioles 2 to 4 mm. long 9. D. sinaloensis. 



Leaves obtuse or cuneate at base; petioles 6 to 7 mm. long. 



Calyx densely puberulent 10. D. rosei. 



Cal5rs nearly glabrous 11. D. sphaerantha. 



1. Diospyros oaxacana Standi. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 20: 194. 1919. 



Type from CuicatlSn, Oaxaca, altitude 600 meters. 



Leaves nearly sessile, obovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, 4 to 7.5 cm. long, 

 obtuse or rounded at apex and base; fruit pedicellate, 1.5 cm. or more in 

 diameter, the calyx lobes oblong, obtuse. 



