Geiger Tree 



819 



corolla is variously colored, bcU-shaped to salve rform, 5-lobcd, seldom 4- or 6-lobed, 

 the lobes flat or plaited ; the stamens are inserted on the corolla-tube, exserted or 

 included, the filaments thread-like, the anthers various, introrse; the ovary is ses- 

 sile, 4-celled; styles 4, slender, united by pairs; stigmas club-shaped or capitate. 

 The fruit is a drupe, partly or entirely enclosed by the accrescent calyx and tipped 

 by the style ; the flesh is dry or juicy, the enclosed nutlets often quite bony ; the 

 seeds mostly i, rarely 2, are without endosperm, the cotyledons thick and fleshy. 



The fruit of some of the species is edible; some are very valuable timber trees 

 in the tropics and many are highly ornamental in flower. The name is in com- 

 memoration of Valerius Cordus (15 15-1544), a German pharmacist and botanist. 

 Cordia myxa Linn^us, of southern Asia, is the type species. 



Our arborescent species are: 



Flowers pedicelled; corolla orange; calyx smooth, at maturity enclosing the 



fruit. 

 Flowers sessile; corolla white with a yellow center; calyx slightly hairy, partly 

 enclosing the fruit. 



I. C. Sebeslena. 



2. C. Boissieri. 



I. GEIGER TREE Cordia Sebestena Linnaeus 



This smaH tree occurs in the sandy soils of the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, 

 and other West Indies, to Central 

 America, reaching a maximum height 

 of 10 meters and a trunk diameter of 

 1.5 dm. 



The branches are spreading and 

 ascending, the tree round-topped. The 

 bark is 12 to 15 mm. thick, irregularly 

 ridged, divided into small scales, dark 

 brown to nearly black. The twigs are 

 stout, pithy, round, dark green and 

 covered with rusty hairs, becoming 

 smooth, gray and bearing large leaf 

 scars. The leaves are thick, ovate or 

 oblong-ovate, 8 to 20 cm. long, blunt 

 or sharp-pointed, rounded or slightly 

 heart-shaped at the base, entire or 

 somewhat wavy-toothed, dark green 

 and roughish hain^ above, paler and 

 hairy beneath, the leaf-stalk hairy, 

 stout, 3 to 5 cm. long. The flowers, appearing throughout the year, are on short 

 pedicels in open terminal, flat cymes i to 2 dm. across; the calyx-tube is cylindric, 

 I to 1.5 cm. long, its lobes triangular and short; the corolla is orange-colored, its 

 tube funnelform, twice the length of the calyx, the limb spreading, 2.5 to 4 cm. 



Fig. 74S. Geiger Tree. 



