EUPHORBiACEiE. SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



31 



pedicels being furnished at the base before anthesis with a minute ovate bract, which, as the pedicel 

 lengthens, is carried up, so that when the flower is fully expanded, it stands just under the shghtly 

 enlarged torus upon which the stamens are inserted. The female flower is borne on a slender dark 

 green peduncle tinged with red, half an inch long, and furnished at its apex with three minute ovate 

 acute unequal pubescent bracts, from which rises the stout stipe of the ovary. The fruit, which in 

 Florida is produced sparingly, and is often injured by insects, ripens in the autumn ; it is shghtly 

 obovate, dark reddish brown or nearly black, a third of an inch in diameter, covered with thin dry 

 flesh, and hangs on a slender stem an inch or more in length ; the three-valved nutlets into which it 

 separates, leaving the white corky axis remaining on the peduncle, are thick-walled, hght brown, hard 

 and bony, and lustrous on the inner surface. The seed is ovoid, and covered by a thin chestnut-brown 

 coat, and is marked with a conspicuous circular elevated strophiole and with a broad ventral raphe. 



The wood of Gymnanthes litcida is very heavy, hard, close-grained, and susceptible of receiving a 

 beautiful polish ; it contains numerous obscure medullary rays, and is rich dark brown streaked with 

 yellow, with thick bright yellow sapwood. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 1.0905, a 

 cubic foot weighing 67.96 pounds. In Florida it is now occasionaUy manufactured into canes, and 

 furnishes valuable fuel. 



Gymnanthes lucida is a frequent inhabitant of the low woods which cover the coral formations of 

 southern Florida from the shores of Bay Biscayne to the Marquesas keys. It is common on the 



Bahama Islands, and inhabits many of the Antilles. 



Gymnanthes lucida was discovered by the Swedish botanist Swartz, on the island of Jamaica. In 

 the United States it was first noticed on Key West by Dr. J. L. Blodgett. 



