MYRSINEACEZ. SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 155 
JACQUINIA. 
FLoweErs perfect; calyx 5-parted, the lobes imbricated in estivation; corolla 
gamopetalous, 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in estivation; stamens 5; ovary superior, 
1-celled; ovules numerous. Fruit baccate, few or many-seeded. Leaves opposite or 
subverticillate, entire, persistent, destitute of stipules. 
Jacquinia, Jacquin, Hist. Stirp. Am. 53 (1763). — Lin- & Hooker, Gen. ii. 650. — Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 
nus, Gen. ed. 6, 101.— A. L. de Jussieu, Gen. 151. — iv, pt. i. 89, f. 52, F. — Baillon, Hist. Pl. xi. 329. 
Endlicher, Gen. 737.— Meisner, Gen. 252.— Bentham Bonellia, Bertero, Colla Hort. Ripul. 21 (1824). 
Trees or shrubs, with terete or slightly many-angled branchlets, and fibrous roots. Leaves opposite 
or subverticillate, obovate-cuneate or lanceolate, rounded and sometimes emarginate or acute or cuspidate 
at the apex, entire, coriaceous, often punctate with pellucid or ultimately dark glands, persistent. 
Flowers in terminal or axillary racemes, corymbs, or fascicles. Pedicels slender, produced from the 
axils of minute ovate acute persistent bracts, ebracteolate. Calyx free, five-parted, the lobes slightly 
ciliate on the margins, rounded at the apex, persistent. Corolla hypogynous, rotate or campanulate, 
yellow or purple, the lobes of the limb obtuse and spreading, furnished in the throat opposite the 
sinuses of the limb with five petal-like ovate obtuse spreading staminodia. Stamens five, inserted on 
the corolla opposite its lobes near the base of the short tube; filaments complanate, broad at the 
bottom ; anthers oblong or ovate, attached on the back above the base, extrorse, two-celled, the cells 
opening longitudinally. Ovary ovoid, gradually contracted into a cylindrical or conical style crowned 
by a slightly five-lobed stigma; ovules peltate, attached to a free central ovoid fleshy placenta, ascend- 
ing, amphitropous; raphe dorsal; micropyle-inferior. Fruit ovoid or globose, crowned by the remnants 
of the persistent style, thin-walled, crustaceous or coriaceous. Seeds immersed in the thickened muci- 
laginous placenta filling the cavity of the fruit, ovoid, compressed ; testa membranaceous, punctate. 
Embryo eccentric, surrounded by thick cartilaginous albumen; cotyledons ovate, shorter than the 
elongated inferior radicle turned towards the broad ventral hilum. 
Jacquinia is tropical American; the five or six species which are known are distributed through 
Mexico,' Central America,” Brazil,? and the West Indies, one species reaching southern Florida. 
The genus has few useful properties. The branches of the West Indian species are said to have 
been used by the Caribs to poison or stupefy fish in rivers.* The fruits of Jacquinia armillaris are 
sometimes strung into bracelets and necklaces, and the leaves have been used on the Bahama Islands 
as a substitute for soap.” 
The generic name perpetuates the memory of the distinguished botanist Nicolaus Joseph Jacquin.’ 
1 Hemsley, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. ii. 294. —Gray, Mem. Am. Acad. pupil in Paris of Bernard de Jussieu, was sent by the Austrian 
n. ser. v. 325 (Pl. Thurber.). government to gather plants in tropical America for the Botanic 
2 Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. Gen. et Spec. iii. 251.— Gardens of Vienna and Schoenbrunn. He remained in the West 
Orsted, Videnskab. Medd. fra Nat. For. Kjobenh. 1861, 2. Indies and South America from 1755 to 1763, and returning to 
8 Miquel, Martius Fl. Brasil. x. 280. Europe became professor of botany at Chemnitz and then at 
4 Martius, Fl. Brasil. x. 322. — Rosenthal, Syn. Pl. Diaphor. 504. Vienna. In 1806 Jacquin was created Baron by the Austrian 
—Baillon, Hist. Pl. xi. 328. — Treasury of Botany, 634. government. He is the author of many classical works, including 
5 Catesby, Nat. Hist. Car. i. 98. those in which his important American discoveries are described. 
6 Nicolaus Joseph Jacquin (1727-1818), a native of Leyden and 
