STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 1131 



more or less connate ; stamens 4 to many, inserted on the corolla ; style simple, 

 the stigma entire or lobulate ; fruit baccate, globose or cylindric, 1 to 5-celled. 

 In South America the leaves of some species are used for making a tea, 

 which is highly esteemed by the Indians as a tonic for the stomach. S. tinctoria 

 (L. f.) L'H§r. is a native of the southern United States, where it is known 

 as " sweetleaf." Its leaves have a sweet pleasant flavor, and are employed 

 for dyeing yellow. The root has been used locally as a stomachic, and for 

 syphilitic and scrofulous afl:ections and kidney diseases. 



Flowers solitary, or the inflorescences 2 or 3-flowered 1. S. coccinea. 



Flowers in several-flowered inflorescences. 

 Branchlets brownish-tomentulose. 



Leaves entire or nearly so 2. S. pycnantha. 



Leaves serrulate 3. S. prionophylla. 



Branchlets glabrous or nearly so, the pubescence, if any, not brownish. 

 Inflorescence sessile. 

 Leaves glabrous. 



Calyx sericeous 4. S. speciosa. 



Calyx glabrous 5. S. apolis. 



Leaves pilose beneath, at least along the nerves 6. S. jurgensenii. 



Inflorescence pedunculate. 



Leaves glabrous 7. S. limoncillo. 



Leaves pilose beneath along the nerves 8. S. citrea. 



1. Symplocos coccinea Humb. & Bonpl. PI. Aequin. 1: 185. pi. 52. 1808. 

 Alstonia ciliata Benth. PI. Hartw. 48. 1840. 



Symplocos ciliata Benth. PI. Hartw. 78. 1841. 



Hypopogon hrevipes Turcz. Bull. Soc. Nat. Moscou Sli; 246. 1858. 



Symplocos benthamii Giirke in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 41; 172. 1890 



Symplocos coccinea Mrta Brand in Engl. Pflanzenreich IV. 242: 80. 1901. 



Veracruz and Oaxaca; type from Jalapa, Veracruz. 



Tree, the trunk 40 to 60 cm. in diameter, the branchlets hirsute or hirtellous ; 

 bark smooth, grayish; leaves short-petiolate, elliptic to oblong, acuminate, 

 crenulate, glabrous or pilosulous beneath; flowers about 1.5 cm. long, red, 10- 

 parted; calyx and corolla sericeous; fruit oblong or ellipsoid, about 2.5 cm. 

 long, black, hirsute. 



2. Symplocos pycnantha Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 2: 302. 1881. 

 Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas ; type from Pueblo Nuevo, Chiapas. 



Shrub or small tree; leaves obovate-oblong or oblong-oblanceolate, 6 to 12 

 cm. long-acuminate, cuneate at base, subcoriaceous, sparsely pilosulous beneath 

 or glabrate; flowers pink, in sessile fascicles; corolla 5 or 6-parted 3 times as 

 long as the calyx. 



3. Symplocos prionophylla Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer, Bot. 2: 302. 1881. 

 Symplocos pringlei Robinson, Proc. Amer. Acad. 18: 168. 1891. 

 Michoacan, Morelos, Mexico, and Oaxaca ; type from Oaxaca. 



Ti-ee, 6 to 9 meters high; leaves petiolate, elliptic or oblong-obovate, 6 t< 

 12 cm. long, acute or short-acuminate, rounded or cuneate at base, appressed 

 pilose beneath; flowers in sessile clusters; corolla 5 or 6-parted; fruit oblong, 

 2.5 cm. long or larger. 



Brand lists S. pringlei as a distinct species, but states that It may be only 

 a variety of S. prionophylla. The characters by which he separates the two in 

 his key do not hold for the specimens examined. 



