THEACE^E 751 



subcoriaceous and persistent, or thin and deciduous. Flowers axillary, solitary, long- 

 stalked or subsessile; calyx subtended by 2-5 caducous bracts; sepals unequal, rounded, 

 concave, coriaceous, persistent; petals free or slightly united, obovate, concave, white, 

 deciduous; stamens numerous, filaments short, united at base into a fleshy cup adnate to 

 the base of the petals and inserted with them, or long and inserted directly on the petals; 

 anthers introrse, yellow; ovary sessile; style elongated, erect, 5-lobed at the stigmatic apex; 

 ovules 4-8 in each cell, pendulous in 2 series from its inner angle, collateral, anatropous. 

 Fruit a woody oblong or subglobose 5-celled capsule loculicidally 5-valved, with a per- 

 sistent axis angled by the projecting placentas. Seeds 2-8 in each cell pendulous, flat, 

 without albumen; seed-coat woody, usually produced upward into an oblong wing; embryo 

 mostly straight or oblique, with oblong flat or oblique cotyledons; radicle short, superior. 



Gordonia with sixteen species is confined to the south Atlantic states of North America 

 and to tropical Asia and the Malay Archipelago. 



The generic name is in honor of James Gordon (1728-1791), a well-known London 

 nurseryman. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES. 



Flowers long-pedicellate; filaments united into a cup; capsule ovoid, the valves not split- 

 ting from the base; seeds winged; leaves persistent. 1. G. Lasianthus (C), 



Flowers subsessile; filaments distinct; capsule globose, the valves septicidally splitting from 

 the base; seeds without wings; leaves deciduous. 2. G. alatamaha (C). 



1. Gordonia Lasianthus Ell. Bay. Loblolly Bay. 



Leaves coriaceous, lanceolate to oblong, acute at apex, gradually narrowed to the cuneate 

 base, finely or remotely crenately serrate, usually above the middle only, dark green, 

 smooth and lustrous, 4 '-5' long and l^'-2' wide, persistent; finally turning scarlet and 



Fig. 677 



dropping irregularly through the year; petioles stout, wing-margined toward the apex, 

 channeled, about \' in length. Flowers pungently fragrant, about 2^' in diameter, expand- 

 ing in July and continuing to open successively during two or three months, on stout red 

 pedicels thickening from below upward, 2'-3' long, and usually furnished with 3 or 4 

 ovate minute subfloral bractlets; sepals ovate to oval, ^'long,ciliate on the margins with 

 long white hairs, and covered on the outer surface with dense velvety pale lustrous pubes- 

 cence; petals rounded at apex, gradually contracted at base, silky-puberulent on the 

 back, white, incurved, \\'-\\' long and 1' broad, stamens united into a shallow fleshy 

 deeply 5-lobed cup pubescent on the inner surface and adnate to the base of the petals; 



