OLACACE.E 



337 





1|' wide, and on vigorous shoots sometimes 4' long and If wide; petioles stout, wing- 

 margined, 1' I' in length. Flowers sessile, pink or red, in axillary 1-3- usually 2-flowered 

 clusters on peduncles aV-' in length; calyx cup-shaped, the rim slightly dilated, almost 

 filled by the fleshy disk; corolla ovate-cylindric, i'-' long, 4-lobed, the lobes ovate, acute, 

 united, reflexed; stamens 4, adnate to the base of the lobes of the corolla; anthers sessile; 

 ovary mostly immersed in the disk; style not more than .^' long; Fruit ovoid or ovoid- 

 oval scarlet, f'-|' in length; stone crustaceous; seed not seen. 



A tree, sometimes 25-30 high with a trunk 12'-18' in diameter, small erect branches and 

 slender pale gray unarmed branchlets. Bark thin, grayish brown, closely and regularly 

 reticulated. 



Distribution. In sandy or rocky soil ; banks of the Caloosahatchee River, Lee County, 

 near Miami and at Cocoanut Grove, Dade County, and on the southern keys, Florida; on 

 the Bahama Islands, and in Cuba, Jamaica, and Guatamala. 



2. XIMENIA L. 



Trees and shrubs, with terete armed or unarmed branchlets. Leaves entire, subcoria- 

 ceous, often fascicled, short-petiolate. Flowers perfect, white, on slender pedicels, in short 

 axillary cymes or rarely solitary ; calyx small, 4-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, per- 

 sistent ; petals 4 or 5, hypogynous, narrow, bearded on their inner face, valvate in the bud, 

 reflexed above the middle; stamens twice as many as the petals; filaments free, filiform; 

 anthers linear, attached on the back near the base, 2-celled, the cells opening laterally, 

 their connective apiculate at apex; ovary 4-celled below, only the apex 1-celled, ex- 

 ternally 4-grooved, glandular at base, gradually narrowed into the slender style; stigma 

 entire, subcapitate; ovules linear, solitary in each cell, pendulous from the apex of the 

 axile placenta, anatropous; raphe dorsal; micropyle superior. Fruit ovoid or globose; exo- 

 carp thick and succulent, endocarp crustaceous or subligneous; seed filling the cavity of the 

 endocarp, pendulous, surrounded by a thin spongy coat; testa membranaceous; cotyledons 

 elliptic; embryo minute, erect; raphe terete. 



Ximenia with four or five species is widely distributed on tropical shores of the two worlds. 



Ximenia commemorates the name of Francisco Ximenes, a Dominican priest who pub- 

 lished in Mexico in 1615 a work on the plants and animals of that country. 



1. Ximenia americana L. 



Leaves oblong or elliptic, rounded and often emargmate and apiculate at apex, gradu- 

 ally narrowed and cuneate at base, glabrous, bright green and lustrous above, pale below, 



