598 



The Drypetes 



The trunk is short, its branches ascending or erect, the tree becoming round 



topped. The bark is about 1.5 mm. 

 thick, close, hght reddish brown, 

 smooth or somewhat scaly. The 

 twigs are round, slender, light green 

 becoming gray. The leaves are 

 somewhat leathery, oblong or elliptic, 

 5 to 12 cm. long, sharp or short taper- 

 pointed at both ends, entire on the 

 margin, slightly hairy when young, 

 becoming smooth, shining and dark 

 green above, paler and prominently 

 reticulated beneath; the leaf-stalk is 

 slender, grooved, 5 to 10 mm. long. 

 The flowers appear late in the au- 

 tumn or during the winter in the 

 axils of the leaves or at leafless 

 Fig. 549. - Guiana Plum. ^^^^^ ^j^^ ^^jy^ -^ greenish, hairy, 



deeply 4-lobed, the blunt lobes oblong or ovate, 1.5 to 2 mm. long. The stami- 

 nate flowers have 4 stamens, their filaments slender; anthers notched and hairy; 

 there is no ovary. The pistillate flowers have an ovoid, hair}^, 2-celled ovary. 

 The drupes are soHtary or 2 or 3 together on short stout stalks, subglobose, 8 

 mm. in diameter, dark brown and hairy; the flesh is thin and dry; seed obovoid, 

 swollen on one side, 3 mm. long. 



The wood is hard, brittle, close-grained, dark red-brown with thick yellow 

 sapwood; its specific gravity is about 0.92. It has no special apphcation. 



LARGER GUIANA PLUM - Drypetes 

 diversifolia Urban 



Drypetes keyensis Urban. Drypetes glauca Nuttall, 



not Vahl 



This is a taller evergreen tree, or often a 

 shrub, of sandy or rocky soils of the Florida Keys 

 and the Bahamas; it sometimes attains a height 

 of 15 meters, with a trunk diameter of 5 dm. 



The branches are stout, usually erect or as- 

 cending, or the lower spreading, forming a 

 round-topped tree. The white bark is about 12 

 mm. thick. The twigs are stout, green and 

 slightly hairy, becoming gray or white, with large 

 leaf scars. The leaves are thick and leathery, ^ig. 550. - Larger Guiana Plum. 



oblong, elliptic or oval, 5 to 10 cm. long, blunt or pointed, thickened on the mar- 



