122 ZYGOPHYLLACEiE. 



five-lobed, two - five-celled : style subulate, acute : stigma 

 minutely two - five-toothed, or entire. Ovules 8 or 10 

 in each cell, pendulous in pairs from its inner angle, anat- 

 ropous, with the micropylar extremity produced into a slen- 

 der tubular projection, so as to appear as if suspended by 

 its middle on the slender or filiform funiculus ; the raphe 

 ventral. 



Fkuit between coriaceous and fleshy, smooth, strongly 

 two - five-angled ; the angles acute or wing-like, at length 

 more or less septicidal. Seeds by abortion solitary in each 

 cell, suspended, ovoid, anatropous ; the testa thick and fleshy, 

 separating from the nucleus, which is invested with a very 

 thin and indistinct closely adherent tegmen. Albumen 

 corneous-cartilaginous, very hard, the surface marked by 

 minute grooves which penetrate deeply in lines (rimose). 

 Embryo straight or nearly so in the axis of the albumen, 

 and almost equalling it in length : cotyledons oval, folia- 

 ceous, or a little fleshy, plane, their edges directed to the 

 raphe and to the axis of the fruit : radicle short, conical, 

 superior. 



Trees or shrubs, with very hard wood, which is mostly 

 imbued with a peculiar resinous principle ; the branches 

 alternate, commonly nodose-articulated. Leaves opposite, 

 and often also a pair on an abortive axillary branch, thus 

 appearing fascicled, abruptly pinnate, petioled, more or 

 less persistent ; the leaflets from one to several pairs, coria- 

 ceous, entire, reticulate-veined, smooth and shining. Pe- 

 duncles terminal, solitary or geminate, one-flowered, rarely 

 several-flowered. Flowers rather large, blue or purplish. 



Etymology. Guaiaco, or Guaiacan, is the aboriginal name of the Lignum 

 Vitse. It is said to be a corruption of Hoaxacan, the original Mexican ap- 

 pellation. 



Geographical Distribution. A genus of several species, all of them 

 natives of the West Indies and of the adjacent parts of the American 

 continent. Guaiacum sanctum, Linn., has been found on Key West, 

 by Mr. Blodgeit, and probably likewise grows on the peninsula of East 



