148 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 
fleshy or capsular in fruit; the carpels often very curiously and promi- 
nently winged. The fruit of Malpighia glabra is edible, being known 
in the West Indies as the Barbadoes cherry. Other species of this 
genus are cultivated for their peculiar flowers, as also species of Banis- 
teria and Hiraea. This family is represented in the United. States by 
five genera, one member of which is the undershrub Byrsonimia lucida, 
occurring in south Florida. It has racemes of rather pretty pink flow- 
ers. B. spicata of the West Indies has edible acid berries and bark 
used for medicinal purposes and for tanning. 
