1218 CONTEIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Calyx lobes ovate or deltoid, acute or acuminate. 



Corolla 12 to 20 mm. long 26. C. podocephala. 



Corolla 7 mm. long or less. 



Calyx lobes mucronate-acuminate 27. C. am^bigua. 



Calyx lobes obtuse or merely acute 28. C. cana. 



Flowers in dense or interrupted spikes. 



Leaves ovate to broadly ovate or elliptic 29. C. ferruginea. 



Leaves linear to oblong 30. C. cylindrostachya. 



1. Cordia alba (.Tacq.) Roem. & Schult. Sj^st. Veg. 4: 466. 1819. 

 Varronia alha Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 14. 1760. 



Michoacan to Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Chiapas. West Indies; Guate- 

 mala to Colombia and Venezuela. 



Shrub or small tree, usually 4 to 8 meters high, with thick, brownish or 

 grayish, fissured bark, the branchlets spai-sely or densely setulose ; leaves very 

 variable in size and shape, mostly ovate to rounded and 5 to 12 cm. long, 

 rounded to acuminate at apex, scabrous or smooth above, glabrate beneath in 

 age ; flowers in large open cymes ; corolla white or yellow, about 1 cm. long ; 

 fruit white, about 1 cm. long. "Zazamil" (Oaxaca, Guerrero); " gulabere " 

 (Oaxaca) ; "vavos" (Seler) ; " uvita mocosa " (Colombia); " varia blanca," 

 " ateje bianco," " atejo amarillo," "uva gomosa," " capfi, blanca " (Cuba); 

 "tigiiilote," " tigiiilote negro," " cebito " (El Salvador); " caujaro " (Colom- 

 bia) ; " uvillo," " uvero," " goma " (Panama), 



The wood is said to be hard and strong, yellow, with a specific gravity of 

 about 0.78, and to be used in carpentry. The leaves and flowers are reported 

 to have emollient properties and to be used for treating affections of the chest. 

 A decoction of the flowers is sometimes employed for inducing perspiration. 

 In El Salvador a French physician formerly prepared from the charcoal a 

 preparation which was much used for treating affections of the stomach. 

 The fruit is employed in Oaxaca for coagulating indigo. It is white, trans- 

 parent, mucilaginous, and extremely sweet, and is often eaten. The viscid 

 juice is used in El Salvador for fastening the wrappers of cigars. 



2. Cordia diversifolia Pav6n ; DC. Prodr. 9: 474. 1845. 

 Sinaloa to Colima. 



Large shrub or small tree, the branchlets scabrous and sometimes hirsute;: 

 leaves obovate to rounded-obovate, 6 to 10 cm. long, rounded to acute at apex, 

 broadly cuneate or obtuse at base, remotely mucronate-serrate above the base, 

 scabrous above, setulose-scabroua beneath; flowers in small cymes, sessile^ 

 secund upon the branches ; calyx tubular-campanulate, striate, 3 mm. long, 

 scabrous, obtusely 5-dentate; corolla yellow, the lobes obtuse, reflexed, equal- 

 ing or shorter than the calyx, the throat hirsute. 



3. Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Cham. Linnaea 8: 121. 1833. 



Cordia gerascanthus Jacq. Stirp. Amer. 43. 1763. Not C. gerascanthus L, 

 1759. 



Cerdana alliodora Ruiz & Pav. Fl. Peruv. Chil. 2: 47. pi. 184. 1799. 



Sinaloa to Oaxaca and Tabasco. West Indies; Central and South America. 



Tree, 7 to 20 meters high, the trunk 50 cm. or more in diameter, the bark 

 grayish, fissured ; leaves mostly elliptic-oblong, 10 to 20 cm. long, acute or 

 acuminate, finely stellate-pubescent, entire; flowers white, fragrant, in large 

 panicles ; calyx about 5 mm. long, the corolla twice as long ; wood close- 

 grained, the sapwood thick, light brown, the heartwood slightly darker, the 

 specific gravity reported as ranging from 0.574 to 0.700. " Bojon," " bojon 

 bianco," "boj6n prieto " (Tabasco); "tambor" (Michoacfln) ; " hormiguero "" 



