Guiana Plum 



597 



often leaving a permanent axis; seed anatropous; embtyo straight in fleshy or oily 

 endosperm; cotyledons broad. 



The genera containing our arborescent species are: 



Ovules and seeds 2 in each cell; fruit a fleshy drupe; flowers in small clusters, i. Drypetes. 

 Ovule and seed solitary in each cell; flowers, at least the staminate, spicate. 

 Styles 2 or 3; ovary 2- or 3-celled; fruit capsular, 2- or 3-lobed. 



Pistillate flowers and capsules stalked; American tree. 2. Gymnanthes. 



Pistillate flowers and capsules not stalked; introduced trees. 3. Sapium. 



Styles 6 to 8; ovary 6- to 8-celled; fruit pulpy. 4. Hippomane. 



I. THE DRYPETES 



GENUS DRYPETES VAHL 



RYPETES consists of about 10 species of evergreen trees or shrubs 

 of tropical America, 2 of which occur in our area. They have a thick, 

 milky juice, but are of no known economic value except for their 

 wood. 



They have persistent, alternate, leathery leaves; the stipules are small and fall 

 off very early. The flowers are dioecious, without petals; the staminate flowers 

 are in dense axillary clusters, their calyx consisting of 4 to 8 imbricated nearly 

 separate sepals, deciduous or persistent in fruit; the stamens as many or twice 

 as many as the divisions of the calyx, inserted under the edge of a disk, their fila- 

 ments thread-like, distinct; anthers extrorse, erect, ovate, 2-celled and opening 

 lengthwise; ovary sometimes rudimentary, usually none. The pistillate flowers are 

 in sparse axillary clusters on short, sometimes stout pedicels with deciduous 

 bracts at their base; calyx similar to that of the staminate flowers; the ovary is 

 sessile on the disk, i- or 2-celled; style very short or wanting; stigma i or sometimes 

 2, disk-like or 2-Iobed; ovules 2 in each cell. The fruit is drupaceous with a fleshy 

 pulp and a hard stone; the seed has a crustaceous coat, fleshy endosperm and 

 erect embryo. 



The name is Greek and refers to the drupaceous fruit ; the type species is Dry- 

 pete glauca Vahl, of Porto Rico and other West Indian islands. Our arborescent 

 species are: 



Sepals 4; ovary 2-celIed; fruit subglobose, 8 to 10 mm. long. i. D. lateriflora. 



Sepals 5; ovary i-celled; fruit slightly elongated, 2 to 2.5 cm. long. 2. D. diversijolia. 



I. GUIANA PLUM Drypetes lateriflora (Swartz) Urban 



SchaeJJeria lateriflora Swartz. Drypetes crocea Poiteau 



A small evergreen tree or shrub inhabiting woods in southern peninsular 

 Florida, the Keys and the West Indies, attaining a height of 10 meters, with a trunk 

 diameter of 2.5 dm. It is also called Whitewood. 



