Ptcrdmniix simarubace^t 203^ 



Shrub or tree, 6-15 ft. high. Leaflets 5-9 or more, lanceolate-ellip- 

 tical to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, usually unequal-sided, glabrous, 

 5-10 (2-5-12) cm. 1. Inflorescence puberulous or glabrescent. Male flowers : 

 Calyx 3-cleft, 1-5-1-7 mm. 1.; segments ovate, acute. Petals 3, greenish- 

 yellow, obovoid, somewhat longer than the calyx. Stamens 3, about 

 3 mm. 1. Female flowers : Calyx 3-cleft, about 1 mm. (1. ; segments 

 elliptical, obtuse. Petals 3, oblong or oblong-elliptical. Style 2-cleft. 

 Berries obovate-globular, 12-14 mm. 1., scarlet, at length black. 



" This shrubby tree affords a bitter less intense than that of the 

 Quassia or Simaruba [Picrasna excelsa'], but much more grateful . . . The 

 bark has been given with success as an alterative in constitutional 

 affections, connected with syphilis and yaws, and as a tonic in debility of 

 the digestive organs, and in intermittent fever " (Macfadyen). 



2. P. pentandra Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 220 (1797) ; parts of the 

 flowers in 5's, clusters of flowers on a panicle with several 

 branches, usually shorter than the leaves. — JRich. in Sagra Cub. x. 

 156, t. 36 his; Planch, torn. cit. 577; Griseh. op. cit. 140; 

 Small torn. cit. 237. P. micrantha Tul. Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, 

 vii. 262 (1847). P. antidesmoides Griseh. loc. cit. 



" Crescit in Jamaica (Herb. Mus. Reg. Par. — Specim. ex Herb. cl. Hook, 

 deprompto)." Tul. loc. cit. — Florida, Bahamas, West Indies. 



Shrub or small tree, puberulous on the younger parts. Leaflets 5-9, 

 elliptical or lanceolate, acuminate, often somewhat unequal-sided, glabrous, 

 5-10 (3-12) cm. 1. Inflorescence puberulous with yellow hairs. Male 

 flowers : Calyx 5-cleft, about 2 mm. 1. ; segments oblong, toothed above 

 and passing into a more or less acuminate or acute apex. Petals 5, linear- 

 lanceolate, 2-2-5 mm. 1., sometimes slightly denticulate near the apex. 

 Stamens 5, about 3 mm. 1. Female flowers : Calyx 5-cleft, about 1 mm. 1, ; 

 segments ovate, acute. Petals 5, linear, a little longer than the calyx.. 

 Style 2-cleft, Berry ellipsoidal, 10-13 mm. 1., reddish-brown. 



We have not seen a specimen from Jamaica, but, judging from the 

 distribution, there is every reason to suppose it occurs. 



6. ALVARADOA Liebm. 



Shrubs or small trees, with bitter juice. Leaves alternate, 

 imparipinnate ; leaflets alternate. Racemes axillary and terminal, 

 many-flowered. Flowers very small, tomentose, dioecious. Calyx 

 5-cleft, valvate. Petals 5, filiform, or wanting. Male flowers : 

 Petals 5, filiform (in A. amorphoides). Disk large, deeply 

 5-lobed. Stamens 5, alternate with the lobes of the calyx, 

 inserted betw'een the lobes of the disk ; anthers 2-celled, connec- 

 tive thickened, dorsal. Female flowers : Petals 5, stamens 

 wanting. Ovary 2-3-celled, one cell only fertile ; styles 2-3 ; 

 ovules 2 in the fertile cell, erect from the base of the partition 

 wall. Capsule very compressed or 2-3-winged, 2-3-celled ; cells 

 1 -seeded. Seed one, ereet, compressed, without endosperm. 

 Embryo broadly oblong, compressed. Cotyledons flat, foliaceous, 

 fleshy. Radicle infei'ior. 



Species 4, one a native of Central America, Florida, the 

 Bahamas, and Cuba, one of Hispaniola, one of Cuba, and the 

 fourth of Jamaica. 



