f 



STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO 1325 



A decoction of the leaves is reported to be used for promoting the growth of the 

 hair. In Nicaragua a cooling drink is made from the seeds. The shells of the 

 fruits are much used for making cups, as in the case of Crescentia cujete. 



The earliest account of this species and of C. cujete is that given by Oviedo (Lib. 

 VIII, Cap. IV), part of which is translated below. The leaves which resemble a 

 cross are, of course, those of C. alata, in which the resemblance is very striking 



"The Higiiero is a large tree like the mulberry trees of Castile. It is a kind of 

 calabash, round or somewhat elongate; and the round ones are very round, of 

 which the Indians make cups or other vessels, for drinking. The wood is strong 

 and good for chairs and other purposes. It is flexible and strong, and when 

 worked resembles in grain pomegranate or hawthorn. The leaf of this tree is 

 long and narrow, and the widest part is at the tip, from which it narrows to the 

 base where it is attached, as I sketch it here. In times of scarcity the Indians 

 eat this fruit. I refer to the interior — which is like a green calabash. When 

 dried and the interior removed, to make a vessel of the higuera, the vessel has a 

 luster like a gourd, and indeed it is a gourd of the sort I have described. These 

 fruits or calabashes are so large that the larger ones are like a water-jar that 

 holds a gallon of water, and some are no larger than a closed fist; and thus they 

 make of them vessels of the size that the dimensions permit. These trees are 

 common in Hispaniola and all the islands of these Indies and in the Spanish 

 Main. * * * j may state that the leaf of the higiiero is long and narrow, and 

 the widest part is near the tip, from which it narrows to the base where it is 

 attached, as I said above, and this is seen plainly in plate 3, figure 3. But there 

 are other higiieros in Tierra-Firme which are different, not in the fruit or in any 

 other particular I have mentioned, but only in the leaves, as shown in plate 3, 

 figure 4, each leaf in the form of a cross, as I have drawn it; and this seems to me 

 a very noteworthy thing, in which appears a testimony of the cross, a thing of 

 which these people can not have been ignorant. These higiiero trees, which have 

 the leaves all formed like crosses, I have seen in the Province of Nicaragua, 

 especially in Negrando, where lies the city of Le6n, and in other parts of that 

 country; and marveling upon the leaves, I gathered some to show in Spain, as 

 I did show them, and I still have some in my possession. But in Nicaragua, 

 where as I have said there are many of these trees, they call the tree guacal. The 

 precious vessels of the higiieros are found in Dariln and in the Gulf of Urab^, 

 with handles of gold, and so handsome that the most powerful king might drink 

 from them without reproach. And these come through the channels of trade 

 from the great river of San Juan, which empties into the Gulf of Urabd." 



DOUBTFUL GENERA. 



LuNDiA scHUMANNiANA Kranzlein, Repert. Sp. Nov. Fedde 17: 120. 1921, 

 Described from Campeche, but according to the author the locality is doubtful. 



161. GESNERIACEAE. Gesneria Family. 



Shrubs or usually herbs, often epiphytic or scandent; leaves opposite or ver- 

 ticillate, simple, entire or toothed; flowers usually showy, axillary or terminal, 

 solitary, umbellate, or cymose, perfect, commonly irregular; calyx inferior or 

 adnate to the ovary, the lobes entire or dentate; corolla gamopetalous, the tube 

 elongate, ventricose, straight or curved, the limb usually bilabiate, 5-lobate; 

 stamens 4 or 2, some of them frequently sterile, the anthers 2-celled; disk present 

 at base of ovary; style simple, the stigma capitate or bilamellate; fruit capsular 

 or rarely fleshy, 1-celled; seeds numerous. 



Numerous herbaceous plants of this family, representing several genera, occur 

 in Mexico. 



