BUTACEitC. 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



S5 



AMYRIS MAKITIMA. 



Torch Wood. 



Flowers perfect. Leaves 3-foliolate. 



Amyris maritima, Jaequin, Enum. PI. Carib. 23 ; Stirp. 

 Am. 107. — Linnffius, Spec. ed. 2, 496. — De CandoUe, 

 Prodr. ii. 81. — Maefadyen, Fl. Jam. 231. — Richard, Fl. 

 Cub. 392. — Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 174 (in part). ~ 

 Planchon & Triana, -^wn. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, xiv. 324. — 

 Baillon, Hist. PI. iv. 397, f. ^^1-4TA ; Diet. i. 159, £. — 

 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. n. ser. xxiii. 22G. 



A. Elemifera, Linnieus, Spec. ed. 2, 495. 



A. sylvatica, De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 81 (in part). — Grise- 



bach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 174 (in part). — Sargent, Forest 

 Trees iV. Am. 10th Census U. S. is. 33. 

 A. dyatripa, Sprongel, Neue End. iii. 48. — De Candolle, 

 Prodr. ii. 81. 



A. Ploridana, NuttaU, Am. Jour. Sci. v. 294 ; Sylva, ii. 

 114, t. 78. — De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 81. — Torrey & Gray, 

 Fl. N. Am. i. 221. — Loudon, Arh. Brit, ii. 561. — Chap- 

 man, Fl. 68. 



A. maritima, var. angustifolia. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. n. 

 ser. xxiii, 226. 



A small slender tree, forty or fifty feet in height^ with a trunk sometimes, altliougli rarely, a foot in 

 diameter, covered witli tliin gray-brown bark slightly furrowed and broken into short appressed scales. 

 The branches are slender, terete, covered with wart-like excrescences ; they are light brown at first and 

 become gray during their second season. The winter-buds are acute, flattened, an eighth of an inch 

 long, with broadly obovate scales slightly keeled on the bach. The leaves are borne on slender petioles, 

 an inch or an inch and a half in length, slightly thickened towards the base. The leaflets are broadly 

 ovate or roundish, obtuse, acute or acuminate at the apex, distinctly wedge-shaped at the base, or some- 



r 



times ovate-lanceolate or rhombic-lanceolate.^ They are entire or remotely crenulate, coriaceous, lustrous 

 on both surfaces, dark yellow-green^ conspicuously reticulate-veined, and covered on the lower surface 

 with minute black glandular dots. They are an inch to two and a half inches long, and are borne on 

 slender petioles, that of the terminal leaflet being often twice the length of those of the lateral leaflets, 

 and often an inch or more long. The panicles of flowers are terminal, pedunculate or nearly sessile, 

 and appear in Florida from August to December. The filaments of the four stamens which are opposite 

 the sepals are sometimes a little longer than those which alternate with them.^ The fruit ripens in the 

 spring ; it is ovoid, nearly half an inch long or sometimes much smaller. The fleshy outer covering is 

 black, covered with a glaucous bloom when fully ripe, and possesses an aromatic oily rather agreeable 

 flavor. 



Amyris maritima is found in Florida from Mosquito Inlet on the east coast to the southern keys, 

 where it is a common plant, growing in different situations, from the immediate neighborhood of the 

 shore to the rich hummocks of the interior. It irrows also on the Bahama Islands, on St. Thomas, 

 Cuba^ Jamaica^ and no doubt on several o£ the otlier West Indian islands. In Florida it attains its 

 greatest size on Umbrella Key^ where trees fifty feet in height are not uncommon. 



The wood of Amyris maritima is hea\7j exceedingly hard, strong, and close-grained; it is very 

 resinous, extremely durable, and can be made to take a beautiful pohsh. The medullary rays are thin 



^ In the variety angustifoUa, wliich does not appear to differ oth- 

 erwise from the more robust forms except in the feehlcr growth 

 and the smaller foliage and fruit dne to the poor soil and exposed 

 situation on the borders of sea-beaches where it is found. The 

 extreme forms, characterized by Gray {L c), pass one into the 



other as surroundings and conditions of growth are more or less 

 favorable. 



-Daillon, in liis figure of this species, represents the filaments of 



the four stamens opposite the petals as fully a third shorter than 

 those which alternate with them. There is, however, no such differ- 

 ence in the length of the filaments in any of the Florida specimens 

 I have examined. In a specimen (Xo. 178) collected by Baron Eg- 

 gers on St. Thomas in 1887, the stamens show a greater inclination 

 to vary in length. This specimen was collected in full flower in 

 April, showing that the flowering period of this tree varies consid- 

 erably in different latitudes. 



