208 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [Volume 25 



4. Spathelia simplex L,. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 386. 1762. 



Spalhe simplex Crantz, Inst. 2 : 464. 1766. 



A tree 7-16 m. in height, with rather smooth light-gray bark ; leaves 4-10 dm. long, 

 the raehis wingless, velvety, terete or nearly so; leaflets 45-81, alternate, opposite or sub- 

 opposite, oblong, sessile, 7-19 cm. long, 1.5-3.5 cm. broad, coarsely crenulate with gland- 

 tipped teeth, dull and velvety above with mostly simple hairs, beneath velvety with inter- 

 mixed stellate and simple pubescence, truncate and often subcordate at the base, acuminate 

 to long-acuminate at the apex ; panicles large, the branches clothed with an intermixed 

 stellate and simple pubescence ; sepals elliptic to elliptic-obovate, 3-4 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. 

 broad, bearing a subcircular apical gland, ciliate ; petals elliptic, 5-6.5 mm. long, 3-3.5 mm. 

 broad, bearing an apical gland ; filaments with hirsutulous wing-like appendages ; ovary 

 hirsutulous, somewhat angled ; fruit obovate to ellipsoid, 2.5-3 cm. long, about 1.8 cm. broad, 

 the body teretish, or somewhat angled ; seeds 9-12 mm. long, teretish or somewhat angled, 

 often conspicuously 3-grooved. 



Type locality : Jamaica. 

 Distribution : Jamaica. 



Illustrations: Sloane, Hist. Jam. 2: pi. 171 ; Bot. Reg.pl. 670; Gaertn. Fruct. pi. 58 ; Lam. 

 Tab. Encyc. pi. 209. 



5. Spathelia Brittonii P. Wilson, sp. nov. 

 A tree about 10 m. in height ; leaves odd-pinnate, 4-7 dm. long, the raehis wingless, 

 its velvety pubescence intermixed with short stiff hairs, when young ; leaflets 49-63, 

 narrowly lanceolate, 7-10 cm. long, 1.5-2.8 cm. broad at the base, sessile or short-petioluled, 

 coarsely crenate-dentate to the middle or above, gradually tapering to an acuminate gland- 

 tipped apex, more or less rounded and somewhat inequilateral at the base or cordate, dull- 

 green above and glabrous, or with minute, scattered, stellate pubescence, paler beneath and 

 glabrous or minutely stellate-pubescent, more or less tomentulose on the midrib, the 

 margin bordered by a prominent row of elevated glands : panicle 1.5 m. long aud about as 

 broad, the branches velvety-tomentulose; sepals small, narrowly lanceolate, 1-1.5 mm. 

 long, 0.5-0.6 mm. broad, tomentulose, with a prominent oblong gland at the apex ; petals 

 oblanceolate or obovate, purple, 6-7 mm. long, 2-2.5 mm. broad, gland-tipped, acutish ; 

 filaments filiform, with hirsutulous wing-like appendages on each side extending from the 

 base to about the middle ; anthers elliptic ; fruit (immature) obovate, obcordate, about 1.5 

 cm. long, and about 1 cm. broad ; pedicels 8-10 mm. long. 



Type collected on a jagged rocky hill, Bafios San Vicente, Province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, 

 September, 1910, Brilton & Gager 7386 (herb. N. Y. Bot. Gard.). 



Doubtful species 

 Spathelia? rhoifolia DC. Prodr. 2 : S4. 1S25. Spathe? rhoifolia Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 

 104. 1891. 



15. PTELEA L. Sp. PI. 118. 1753. 



Belluccia Adans. Fam. PI. 2 : 344. 1763. 



Unarmed shrubs or small trees with ill-smelling foliage and bitter bark. Leaves alter- 

 nate or rarely opposite, usually 3-foliolate, rarely 4-5-foliolate ; leaflets entire or toothed, 

 pellucid-punctate. Flowers polygamous, greenish or yellowish-white, in corymbose or 

 panicled cymes. Sepals 4 or 5 (rarely 6). Petals 4 or 5 (rarely 6), surpassing the sepals. 

 Stamens 4 or 5 (rarely 6), hypogynous, abortive in the pistillate flowers, with imperfect or 

 rudimentary anthers ; filaments subulate, commonly hirsutulous to the middle or a little 

 above. Ovary 2-celled (rarely 3-celled), compressed, inserted on the disk; style short; 

 stigma 2-3-lobed. Ovules 2 in each cavity, superposed. Fruit a 2-celled rarely 3-celled 

 indehiscent samara with a broad reticulate wing completely surrounding the body. Seed 

 oblong, more or less pointed at the apex. Testa smooth or slightly wrinkled. Cotyledons 

 ovate-oblong. 



Type species, Ptelea trifoliata L. 



A large number of species have been described, but the characters cited to distinguish 

 them appear to be wholly insufficient ; they may be reduced to the following. 



