RUTACE^. 



SILVA OF NOHTH AMERICA. . 



83 



AMYRIS. 



Plowers hermaphrodite or polygamous ; calyx gamosepalous, 4-toothed ; petals 4, 

 imbricated in a)stiyation, hypogynous. Fruit, a 1-seeded drupe. Leaves 1 to 3-foliatc 

 or unequally pinnate. 



Amyris, Lfnnajus, Gen. ed. 6, 188. — A. L. de Jussieu, Gen. 

 371 (in part).— Endlicher, Gen. 1139. — Meisnei-, Gen. 

 74. — Bentham & Hooker, Gen. i. 327. — Ti-iana & Plan- 



chon, Ann. Sei. Nat ser. 5, xiv. 320. - BaiUon, Hist 

 I'l. IV. 483. ~ Gray, Froc. Am, Acad. n. ser. sxui. 226. 



Glabrous glandular-punctate trees or shrubs, with balsamic resinous juice. Leaves opposite, or 

 rarely opposite and alternate, destitute o£ stipules, persistent, the petioles often winged; leaflets oppo- 

 site, petiolulate, entire or crenate. Flowers white, minute, produced generally in three-flowered corymbs 

 in terminal or axillary branched panicles, bibracteolate at the base o£ the branches. Tedicels slender, 

 bibracteolate. Petals mucli longer than the minute calyx, spreading at maturity. Disk of the stami- 

 uate flowers inconspicuous ; that of the pistillate and perfect flowers thickened and pulvinate. Stamens 

 eight, hypogynous, opposite and alternate with the petals; filaments filiform, exserted ; anthers ovate, 

 attached on the back below the middle, introrse, two-celled, the contiguous cefls opening longitudinally. 

 Ovary ellipsoidal or ovoid, one-celled, rudimentary or sterile in the staminate flowers; style short, 

 terminal, or wanting ; stigma capitate ; ovules two, collateral, suspended near the apex of the ovary, 

 anatropous ; micropyle superior. Drupe globose or ovoid, aromatic ; putamen one-seeded by abortion, 

 chartaceous. Seed pendulous, exalbuminous ; testa membranaceous. Embryo minute; cotyledons 

 plano-convex, fleshy, glandular-punctate ; radicle very short, superior. 



The genus Amyris ^ is tropical American and north Mexican. Twelve or fourteen species ^ are 

 distinguished, two extending into the territory of the United States ; one of these, A. maritima, a small 

 West Indian tree, is common on the shores o£ south Florida. Amyris parmfoliaj^ a shrub of the Sierra 

 Madre of Mexico, has been noticed in Texas near the mouth of the Rio Grande. 



The plants of this genus are fragrant and yield a balsamic resin which, in Amyris sylvatica,^ is 

 aromatic and stimulant. Amyris halsamifera^ of the same region is reputed poisonous. The branches 

 of this tree produce in burning an agreeable odor, recafling that of roses, and fires are made with them 

 to perfume dwellings.^ The wood of Amyris is heavy, hard, and close-grained. It furnishes valuable 

 iuel, and is sometimes employed in cabinet-making. According to BaiUon, the Lemon-wood "^ of com- 

 merce is produced by Amyris sylvatica. 



The name Amyris, derived from fivppa, relates to the balsamic properties of the plants of this genus. 



^ Amyris was formerly united with Burseracece. Hooker, in the 

 Genera Plantarum, although he retained the genus at the end of 

 that family, suggested that it might be united more properly with 

 Aurantieoi in RutacetE. Triana & Planchon {Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, 

 X!V. 320) adopted this view, pointing out that the flower and fruit 

 or Amyris and Glycosmis are so similar that these two types can- 

 not be separated, and that if Glycosmis, in spite of its short persist- 

 ent stj'le, IS to remain in Rulacecs, it is necessary to place Amyris 

 With it. The genus is, however, widely separated geographically 

 from the other Aurantieo', which are confined to the Old World, and 

 are destitute, moreover, of the resinous gum peculiar to Amyris. 



2 Brovme, iVdf. Hist. Jam. 208.— Jacquin, Siijy. ^m. 107.— 

 Humboldt, Boiipland & Kunth, Nov. Gen. el Spec. vii. 37, t. 610. — 

 De CandoUe, Prodr. ii. 81. — Walpers, Kep. i. 560 ; ii. 831 ; v. 120 ; 

 Ann. vii. 552. — Macfadyen, Fl. Jam. 230. — Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. 

 Ind. 174. — Triana & Planchon, Ann. Sci Nat. ser. 5, xiv. 321. — 

 Karsten, Fl. Columb. t. 158. — Hemslcy, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. i. 180. 



5 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. n. ser. xxiii. 226. 

 * Jaeqnin, Stirp. Am. 107. 



6 Linnffius, Spec. ed. 2, 496 (A. toxifera, Willd. Spec. ii. 336). 



^ Triana & Planchon, I. c. 

 ' Hist. PI iv. 448. 



