305. CHRYSOBALANUS ICACO Coco PLUM. 9 



smooth, generally dark purple or pinkish in color, with sweet juicy pulp adherent 

 to a rather large 5- or 6-angled thin walled reticulated pit. 



A genus represented in the United States by one shrubby species 

 in the coastal region of Georgia and Alabama and by the following 

 arborescent species. It takes its name from two Greek roots meaning 

 golden fig. 



305. CHRYSOBALANUS ICACO L. 



Coco PLUM. COCOA PLUM. GOPHER PLUM. 

 Ger., Cocos-Pflaume; Fr., Icaquier; Sp., Icaco. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves broad pbovate to oval, i 3^2 in. long, with 

 thick petioles Y\ in. or less in length, entire wide cuneate at base, rounded or 

 emarginate at apex, lustrous dark green above, paler, with broad conspicuous 

 midrib and rather obscure reticulate veinlets beneath. Flowers, during the spring 

 and summer, with thick tomentose pedicels ; calyx bell-shaped, hoary-tomentose ; 

 petals 5, whitish, spatulate, about twice as long as the calyx; stamens with 

 slender distinct filaments about as long as the petals ; pistil with hoary-pubescent 

 ovary and slender long hairy style rising from its base. Fruit subglobose or 

 oblong, about I in. long, smooth and when fully ripe with sweet juicy pulp 

 adherent to the 5- or 6-angled prominently reticulated pointed pit. 



A small tree occasionally attaining the height of 25 or 30 ft. (9m.), 

 with trunk rarely 10 or 12 in. (0.30111.) in diameter, but it is usually 

 considerably smaller and still more commonly only a shrub in size 

 and habit of growth. It is of handsome striking foliage, which quickly 

 distinguishes it from the trees and shrubs with which it is associated. 

 The bark of trunk, when it attains the stature of a tree, is about ^ in. 

 thick and gray or grayish brown in color. It is quite smooth and 

 exfoliates with age in small friable scales. 



HABITAT. Along the shores of southern Florida south of Capes 

 Canaveral and Romano and attaining its largest size, in Florida, in the 

 vicinity of Bay Biscayne and the Miami River. It is also found along 

 the coasts of the West Indies, southern Mexico and Central America 

 and South America, as far south as southern Brazil. It is also found 

 on the west coast of Africa, it is thought by some botanists from 

 seeds carried thither by ocean currents from this continent. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained 

 with indistinct annual rings, fine medullary rays and open ducts, and 



