ERYTHROXYLE.E. 143 



ORDER XXXVIII. ERYTHROXYLE^E. 



Sepals 5, concrete at the base, persistent. Petals 

 5, hypogynous, broad at the base, augmented inter- 

 nally with a plaited scale, alternate with the sepals, 

 equal, previous to flowering with the margins lying 

 on each other. Stamens 10 : filaments combined at 

 the base into a little cup ; anthers innate, erect, 2- 

 celled, opening lengthwise. Ovary 1 -eel led, or 3-cel- 

 led with 2 of the cells empty : ovule solitary, pendu- 

 lous : styles 3, distinct : stigmata 3, subcapitate. 

 Fruit drupaceous, 1 -seeded. Seed angular : albu- 

 men horny : embryo linear, straight, central : coty- 

 ledons linear, plane, leafy : radicle superior, terete, 

 straight : plumule inconspicuous. 



Shrubs or trees : young shoots often compressed and covered 

 with acute imbricated scales. Leaves alternate, seldom oppo- 

 site : stipules axillary. Flowers small. Chiefly natives of the 

 West Indies and South America. The wood of some is of a 

 red colour. The bark of one species (ERYTHROXYLUM HYPERI- 

 CJFOLIUM), a native of Brazil, yields a permanent reddish brown 

 dye. The leaves of the E. COCA, are employed by the Peru- 

 vians, mixed with the ashes of the CHENOPODIUM QUJNOA, as 

 a masticatory, in the manner of the betle in India ; and it is said 

 to remove, and to enable them to endure hunger, and to un- 

 dergo fatigue and want of sleep. 



I. ERYTHROXYLUM. 



Calyx 5-partite 5-angular at the base. Styles 3, 

 distinct from the base. 



Name, from tgv&gog red, and j^v^ov wood. 



1. Erythroxylum obovatum. Small leaved Red-wood. 



Leaves obovato-subrotund rounded and emarginate 

 at the apex, wedge-shaped at the base, membranace- 

 ous glabrous, stipules shorter than the petiole, pedi- 

 cels about 6 together axillary half the length of the 

 petiole. 



E. foliis minoribus rotundis, Browne^ 276. E. rotundifolium, 

 Lun, Hort, Jam, II. 116. 



