300 TERMINALIACEAE. 



1. Parsonsia Parsonsia (L.) Britton; Northrop, Mem. Ton. Club 12: 53. 1902. 



Lythrum Parsonsia L. Syst. ed. 10, 1045. 1759. 

 Cuphea Parsonsia B. Br., Steud. Norn. 1: 245. 1821. 

 Parsonsia radicans Hitchc. Kep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 4: 87. 1893. 



Annual; herbaceous; stem little-branched, the branches prostrate or 

 ascending, 1-3 dm. long, rough-pubescent. Leaves ovate or oblong, 1-2 cm. 

 long, very short-petioled, acute or obtuse at the apex, mostly narrowed at the 

 base, scabrous or nearly smooth; flowers solitary in upper axils, short- 

 peduncled; calyx about 4 mm. long, gibbous at the base, its teeth very small; 

 petals pale purple, about 2 mm. long; stamens 6, included; filaments glab- 

 rous; capsule about 5 mm. long, few-seeded. 



Dry coral rocks and sink-holes, New Providence and Great Exuma : Cuba to 

 Porto Rico and Martinique ; Jamaica ; Mexico. PUBPLB PARSONSIA. 



Family 3. TERMINALIACEAE J. St. Hil. 

 WHITE MANGROVE FAMILY. 



Trees, shrubs, or vines, with petioled, usually simple and entire, estipu- 

 late leaves, and regular, perfect or rarely polygamo-dioecious flowers, 

 mostly spicate, racemose or capitate. Tube of the calyx adnate to the 

 ovary, the limb 4-8-cleft. Petals usually small or none. Stamens various; 

 filaments filiform; anthers didymous or 2-celled, the sacs dehiscent longi- 

 tudinally or by valves. Ovary 1-celled; ovules 1 several; style usually 

 straight; stigma simple. Fruit various, mostly indehiscent, coriaceous or 

 baccate. About 15 genera and some 275 species, mostly tropical. 



Fruit terete. 



Petals wanting. 1. Bucida. 



Petals 5 ; calyx persistent. 2. Laguncularia. 



Fruit an ellipsoid, flattened drupe ; petals none. 3. Terminalia. 



Fruit a cone-like mass of scale-like drupes ; petals none. 4. Conocarpus. 



1. BUCIDA L. Syst. ed. 10, 1025. 1759. 



Trees or shrubs, sometimes spinescent, with coriaceous entire alternate 

 leaves clustered at the ends of the twigs, and small spicate or capitate flow- 

 ers, some perfect, some staminate. Calyx broadly campanulate, slightly 5- 

 toothed, persistent. Corolla none. Stamens 10, in 2 series; filaments slender, 

 exserted. Fruit a small, slightly fleshy drupe, crowned by the at length de- 

 ciduous calyx. [Latin; slender horn-like galls develop from the fruit after 

 it is bitten by a mite.] Two species, natives of the West Indian region. Type 

 species: Bucida Buceras L. 



Flowers spicate ; tree ; drupe 8 mm. long. 1. B. Buceras. 



Flowers capitate ; spinescent shrub or tree ; drupe 3-4 mm. long. 2. B. spinosa. 



1. Bucida Buceras L. Syst. ed. 10, 1025. 1759. 



A tree, attaining a maximum height of about 25 m., the trunk up to 1 

 m. in diameter or more, the young twigs and leaves pubescent, becoming 

 glabrous. Leaves clustered at the ends of twigs, spatulate to elliptic, 3-9 

 cm. long, obtuse or emarginate at the apex, narrowed at the base, short- 

 petioled; spikes peduncled, slender, pubescent, 3-10 cm. long; calyx-lobes tri- 



