BORRAGINACEZ, SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 67 
CORDIA. 
FLOWERS regular, perfect or polygamous ; calyx 3 to 5-toothed; corolla gamopeta- 
lous, usually 5, rarely 4 to 6-lobed or divided; stamens as many as the lobes of the 
corolla, inserted on its tube; disk annular; ovary superior, 4-celled; ovules solitary, 
ascending. Fruit drupaceous, often inclosed in the enlarged calyx. Leaves alternate 
or rarely subopposite, destitute of stipules. 
Cordia, Linneus, Gen. 52 (1737).— A. L. de Jussieu, Gen. 
128. — Endlicher, Gen. 643. — Meisner, Gen. 278. — 
Bentham & Hooker, Gen. ii. 838. — Baillon, Hist. Pl. 
x. 396. — Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. pt. iii. 81. 
Gerascanthus, Browne, Nat. Hist. Jam. 170, t. 29, f. 3 
(1756). 
Varronia, Browne, Nat. Hist. Jam. 172 (1756). — Adan- 
son, Fam. Pl. ii. 177. — Linneus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 916; 
Gen. ed. 6, 102. — A. L. de Jussieu, Gen. 129. — Meisner, 
Gen. 278. 
Sebesten, Adanson, Fam. Pl. ii. 177 (1763). 
Firensia, Scopoli, Introduct. 157 (1777). 
Borellia, Necker, Hlem. Bot. i. 275 (1790). 
Cerdana, Ruiz & Pavon, Prodr. Fl. Peruv. 37, t. 6 (1794). 
Macria, Tenore, Mem. Soc. Modena, xxiv. pt. i. 362 (not 
E. Meyer) (1842). 
Hemigymnia, Griffith, Calcutta Jour. Nat. Hist. iii. 363 
(1843). 
Gynaion, A. de Candolle, Prodr. ix. 468 (1845). 
Hymenesthes, Miers, Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, i. 26 (1874). 
Paradigma, Miers, Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, i. 30, t. 8 
(1874). 
Plethostephia, Miers, Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, i. 32, t. 8 
(1874). 
Macielia, Vandelli, #7. Lusit. et Brasil. 14 (1788). 
Scabrous-pubescent villose or glabrous trees or shrubs, sometimes subscandent, with watery juices. 
Leaves alternate or rarely subopposite, entire or dentate, petiolate. Flowers in dichotomous scorpioid- 
branched open cymes, or in dense heads or spikes, ebracteate or occasionally furnished with minute bracts, 
sessile or pedicellate, the pedicels without bractlets. Calyx tubular or campanulate, ribbed or smooth, 
usually three to five-toothed or variously cut, or calyptrate, often accrescent, and then at maturity 
shorter or sometimes longer than and inclosing the fruit. Corolla hypocraterimorphous, infundibuli- 
form or campanulate, white or orange-color, generally five, rarely four to six-lobed, the lobes in estivation 
variously plicate or plane, imbricated or slightly contorted. Stamens inserted on the tube of the corolla 
and as many as its lobes, exserted or included; filaments filiform; anthers ovate-oblong or linear, 
sagittate or hastate, attached on the back below the middle, introrse, two-celled, the cells opening 
longitudinally. Ovary sessile on the thin annular disk, four-celled; style slender, elongated, two- 
branched above the middle, the branches slightly or deeply two-parted ; stigma clavate or cuspidate ; 
ovules solitary, ascending, laterally attached below the middle to the inner angle of the cell, subortho- 
tropous ; micropyle superior. Fruit a drupe tipped with the persistent style and often entirely or partly 
inclosed in the thickened calyx; exocarp dry and corky, or juicy, mucilaginous, astringent or acid ; 
putamen thick-walled, hard or bony, one to four-celled, usually one or two-seeded. Seed ascending, 
exalbuminous. Embryo filling the cavity of the seed ; cotyledons thick and fleshy, or membranaceous, 
longitudinally plicated or corrugated ; much shorter than the superior radicle turned toward the hilum. 
Cordia inhabits the tropics and warm extratropical regions in the two hemispheres. One hundred 
and eighty to two hundred species are known,’ the largest number being found in America. Four 
Syn. Pl. ZEquin. ii. 191; iv. 227.— Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 
1 Aublet, Pl. Guian. i. 219.— Ruiz & Pavon, Fl. Peruv. ii. 24. — 
842.— De Candolle, Prodr. ix. 471.— A. Richard, Fl. Cub. iii. 
Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. Gen. et Spec. iii. 68. — Kunth, 
