83 TOLUIFERA PEREIR.E 



ovoid, gibbous above. Calyx widely cup-shaped, shallow, with 

 5 very shallow, blunt teeth, rufous-tomentose outside, valvate. 

 Petals 5, inserted perigynously near the base of the calyx, whitish, 

 the posterior one (standard) with a long, linear-triangular, 

 exserted claw, and an orbicular, veined, erect limb, the other 

 four (wings and keel) similar, much smaller, linear-lanceolate, 

 puckered, acute distant. Stamens 10, inserted in a ring with the 

 petals, filaments slender, exserted, anthers nearly as long as 

 filaments, equal, oblong, 2-celled, introrse, connective prolonged 

 to form a short, sharp point. Ovary from the base of the calyx 

 supported on a long stalk which carries it out beyond the calyx, 

 short, smooth, compressed, with 1 or 2 ovules ; style falcate, 

 pointed. Fruit 3-4J inches long, indehiscent, with a one- seeded 

 cavity at its extremity, the stalk terete for about 4 inch, then 

 laterally compressed and gradually widening to the seed-cavity, 

 bordered on both edges, but chiefly on the ventral (upper) one, 

 with a thick, chartaceous, stiff, flat wing, narrowest at the stalk 

 end, and continued round the seed-cavity to the apiculus marking 

 the position of the style on the ventral side, the whole outline of 

 the legume somewhat falcate, pale brownish orange ; pericarp 

 rather loose and spongy, wrinkled externally, with two large 

 reservoirs, filled with a liquid resin, in its substance, placed one 

 on either side of the seed-cavity. Seed solitary, kidney-shaped, 

 with a small radicle and large, convex, smooth cotyledons; no 

 endosperm. 



Habitat. This Balsam-tree is found in woods on the Sonsonate 

 coast or " Balsam Coast " of the state of San Salvador, Central 

 America, formerly part of Guatemala ; and in the neighbourhood 

 of the small towns and villages in this country alone it is collected. 

 A specimen labelled M. Pereircc by the late D. Hanbury in the 

 British Museum is from near Cordova, Mexico, collected by Finck 

 in 1865, but has no fruit. 



The identity of the genera Toluifera, L. (1742) and Myroxylon, 

 Linn. f. (1781), was first we believe pointed out by Ruiz. The 

 former name has undoubted priority, but has been generally set 

 aside by authors, possibly on account of its adjectival form. We 



