Knackaway 



823 



III. THE KNACKAWAY 



GENUS EHRETIA PATRICK BROWNE 

 Species Ehretia elliptica de Candolle 



ALLED Anaqua by the Mexicans, this small tree, often a shrub, of rich 

 valleys or sterile ridges of western Texas and northern Mexico, attains 

 a maximum height of 15 meters, with a trunk diameter of i dm. 

 The branches are stout, spreading, and ascending, the tree round 

 topped. The bark is often 2.5 cm. thick, furrowed into plates, which separate 

 easily into thin, gray or reddish scales. The twigs are round and slender, becom- 

 ing smooth and reddish brown ; there is no terminal bud and the lateral buds are 

 very small. The leaves are thick, somewhat leathery, oblong, oval or oblong-ovate, 

 3 to 5 cm. long, blunt or sharp-pointed, rounded or narrowed at the base, entire 

 wavy or irregularly toothed on the margin, dark green and rough above, paler and 

 more or less hairy, es- 

 pecially on the veins 

 beneath; the leaf-stalk 

 is short, stout, grooved 

 and hairy. The flowers, 

 which open from au- 

 tumn to spring, are in 

 compact, hairy cymes 2 

 to 6 cm. across ; the ca- 

 lyx is rough and hairy, 

 deeply divided into 5 

 lanceolate, sharp- 

 pointed lobes 2 to 2.5 

 mm. long; the corolla 

 is white, bell-shaped, 

 its tube slightly longer ^'^- 752. -Knackaway. 



than the calyx, the Hmb 7 to 9 mm. across, its lobes thin, ovate and rounded ; iila- 

 ments awl-shaped, exserted, the anthers heart-shaped; the ovary is i-celled when 

 young; its 2 styles are united for about half their length. The fruit is subglobosc, 

 5 to 8 mm. in diameter, yellow and subtended by the calyx; its flesh is thin, juicy, 

 edible; the 2 nutlets are each 2-seeded; seeds curved, the endosperm fleshy. 



The wood is hard, weak, brown, close-grained, its specific gravity about 0.64. 



It is often planted as a street tree in western Texas and New Mexico, and ad- 

 mired for its handsome fohage and profusion of flowers. 



The genus contains some 50 species of trees or shmbs of the warmer regions 

 of both hemispheres, the type species being Ehretia tinijolia Linnasus, of the 

 West Indies. The name is in commemoration of George Dionysius Ehret (1708- 

 1770) a noted German botanical artist. 



