oer acEe SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 17 
=] 
DIPHOLIS. 
FLowWERS perfect; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes in one series, imbricated in estivation, 
persistent ; corolla gamopetalous, 5-lobed, the lobes furnished with lateral petal-like 
appendages and staminodia, imbricated in estivation; stamens 5; disk 0; ovary supe- 
rior, 5-celled; ovules solitary in each cell, ascending. Fruit a fleshy usually 1-celled 
1-seeded berry. Leaves alternate, petiolate, coriaceous, persistent, destitute of stipules. 
Dipholis, A. de Candolle, Prodr. viii. 188 (1844). Ben- Bumelia, Baillon, Hist. Pl. xi. 277 (in part) (1891). 
tham & Hooker, Gen. ii. 660. — Engler & Prantl, Pflan- 
zenfam. iv. pt. i. 145. 
Glabrous or pubescent trees or shrubs, with terete unarmed branches and naked buds. Leaves 
coriaceous, elliptical to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, short-petiolate, penniveined, the slender veins 
arcuate and united near the margins, entire, lustrous, persistent. Flowers minute, short-pedicellate, 
in many-flowered fascicles in the axils of existing leaves or from the leafless nodes of previous years. 
Pedicels clavate, ebracteolate, from the axils of minute deciduous bracts. Calyx ovate, deeply five-lobed, 
the lobes nearly equal, ovate, rounded at the apex. Corolla campanulate, short-tubed, hypogynous, 
white, five-lobed, the spreading lobes furnished on each side at the base with exterior linear or 
subulate appendages. Stamens five, inserted toward the base of the corolla-tube opposite its lobes, 
exserted ; filaments filiform; anthers ovate or oblong-sagittate, attached on the back, extrorse, two- 
celled, the cells opening longitudinally. Staminodia five, petaloid, ovate, acute, mostly erosely or 
fimbriately cut on the margins, oblique, keeled on the back, inserted in the same rank and alternately 
with the stamens. Ovary oblong or narrowly ovate, gradually contracted into a slender style shorter 
than the corolla and stigmatic at the apiculate apex; ovules solitary in each cell, attached to an axile 
placenta, ascending from near the bottom of the cell, anatropous ; raphe dorsal; micropyle inferior. 
Fruit ovate or oblong, tipped with the remnants of the persistent style, mostly one-seeded ; pericarp 
thin and fleshy. Seed ovate or subrotund ; testa thick, coriaceous, and lustrous ; hilum oblong, basilar 
or slightly lateral. Embryo erect in thick fleshy albumen ; cotyledons ovate, flat, much longer than the 
short terete radicle turned towards the hilum. 
Dipholis, which differs chiefly from Sideroxylum in the presence of the exterior appendages to the 
corolla-lobes and from Bumelia in the copious albumen of the seed, is West Indian’ and Floridian. Of 
three species which are recognized, one inhabits southern Florida. 
Dipholis produces strong hard wood, but is not known to be otherwise valuable. 
The generic name, from dis and ois, relates to the appendages of the corolla. 
1 A. de Candolle, Prodr. viii. 188. —Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 400. 
