White Stopper 



725 



all seasons, in small short axillary or lateral racemes, on rusty-hairy pedicels. 

 The 4 calyx- lobes are blunt; the corolla is 3 or 4 mm. across, its 4 white petals 

 glandular-punctate and fringed on the margin. The fruit is oval or subglobosc, 

 somewhat obHque, 5 to 8 mm. long, black, and aromatic. 



The wood is very hard, strong, close-grained, and dark reddish brown; its 

 specific gravity is 0.94, and it is used for fuel on the Florida Keys. 



2. WHITE STOPPER Eugenia axillaris (Swartz) Willdenow 

 Myrtus axillaris Swartz. Eugenia monticola Grisebach, not Willdenow 



This small, slow-growing tree or shrub occurs in sandy or rocky soil in penin- 

 sular Florida and the Keys, and is widely distributed in the West Indian islands, 

 north to Bermuda, reaching a maximum height of 8 meters, with a trunk diame- 

 ter of 3 dm. 



The bark is about 3 mm. thick, irregularly and shallowly fissured and broken 

 into small thin plates of a light 

 brovv'n color. The twigs are 

 rather stout, round and stiff, gray 

 or reddish gray. The leaves are 

 thick and leather}^, elliptic-ovate 

 or nearly elHptic, broadest just 

 below the middle, 3 to 7 cm. 

 long, narrowed at the apex into 

 a bluntish tip, tapeiing at the 

 base to the broad petiole, entire 

 and revolute on the margin, dark 

 green with a broad impressed 

 midrib above, paler, minutely 

 dotted and with elevated veins 

 beneath. The flowers, opening 

 in summer and autumn, are in 

 short axillary clusters, on stout 

 smooth or haiiy pedicels. The 

 calyx is punctate, its lobes rounded; corolla 3 to 4 mm. across, its petals larger 

 than the calyx-lobes, the many white stamens conspicuous. The fruit is a de- 

 pressed globular, glandular- punctate berry, 10 to 12 mm. in diameter and crowned 

 with the persistent calyx-lobes, its flesh sweet, pleasant to the taste and aromatic; 

 it usually contains but one globose brown seed. 



The wood is hard, strong, close-grained and brown or reddish brov/n; its spe- 

 cific gravity is about 0.91. The foUage is unpleasantly scented, the odor dis- 

 tinctly mephitic, and \cry noticeable to leeward. 



Fig. 664. White Stopper. 



