Lancewood 



401 



thin, light gray, the slender smooth round twigs brown, turning gray. The oblong 

 to oblong- lanceolate leaves are 15 cm. long or less, pointed or long- pointed, smooth, 

 dark green and shining on the upper surface, dull green, sparingly finely hairy or 

 smooth on the under side, narrowed at the base, rather strongly nettcd-veined, 

 their stalks 1.5 cm. long or less. The small perfect white flowers are numerous 

 in axillary panicles, opening in March and April, their stalks 4 or 5 mm. long, 

 reddish; the calyx is 2 or 3 mm. long in flower, its 6 lobes ovate-oblong and blunt; 

 there are 12 stamens, shorter than the calyx, arranged in four series of 3 each, those 



Fig. 354. Lancewood. 



of the inner or fourth series without anthers (staminodes), those of the third series 

 bearing 2 glands on the filaments, those of the two outer series glandless and 

 hairy; the style is short and cyhndric. The fruit is a dark blue or nearly black 

 drupe, globular or oval, 1.8 cm. long or less, borne on the persistent enlarged lower 

 part of the calyx (hypanthium). 



The tree is classified by some authors as Nectandra coriacea (Swartz) Grise- 

 bach, of the West Indies, and is certainly closely related to it. The wood is 

 dark bro\\Ti and hard, with a specific gravity of about 0.77. 



