SAPOTACEAE. 



Vol. II. 



2. Bumelia lanuginosa (Michx.) Pers. 

 Woolly Buckthorn. Fig. 3306. 



Sideroxylon lanuguiosum Michx FI. Bor. Am. i : 122. 



1803. 

 Bumelia lanuginosa Pers. Syn. i : 237. 1805. 



A shrub or tree, sometimes reaching a height of 

 60° and a trunk diameter of 3°, the twigs usually 

 spiny. Leaves persistent, rather coriaceous, gla- 

 brous above, densely tomentose-pubescent beneath, 

 oblanceolate, obovate or oblong, usually obtuse at 

 the apex, narrowed or cuneate at the base, i4'-3' 

 long, i'-l' wide; petioles 2"-6" long; flowers 3-18 

 in the fascicles, about i*" broad; pedicels tomen- 

 tose, longer than the petioles; calyx-segments ovate, 

 tomentose, obtusish ; staminodia ovate, obscurely 

 toothed ; berry oval or globose, black, 4"-5" long. 



In woods and thickets, Illinois to Kansas, Georgia, 

 Florida and Texas. Wood soft, weak, yellowish-brown ; 

 weight per cubic foot 41 lbs. Shittim-wood. Black haw. 

 Gum-elastic. June-July. 



Family lo. EBENACEAE Vent. Tabl. 2 : 443. 1779. 



Ebony Family, 

 Trees or shrubs with very hard wood, alternate entire exstipulate leaves, and 

 dioecious polygamous or rarely perfect regular flowers, solitary or cymose in the 

 axils. Calyx inferior, 3-7-lobed, commonly accrescent and persistent. Corolla 

 gamopetalous, deciduous, 3-7-lobed, the lobes usually convolute in the bud. 

 Stamens 2-4 times as many as the lobes of the corolla in the sterile flowers, and 

 inserted on its tube, usually some imperfect ones in the pistillate flowers; fila- 

 ments short ; anthers introrse, narrow, erect. Disk none. Ovary superior, several- 

 celled, in the staminate flowers rudimentary or none ; ovules 1-3 in each cavity, 

 suspended ; styles 2-8, distinct, or united below ; stigmas terminal, sometimes 

 2-parted. Fruit a berry, containing several seeds, or but one. Seeds oblong, 

 compressed or globose, the testa bony ; endosperm copious, cartilaginous ; embryo 

 small, usually straight ; cotyledons large, foliaceous. 



About 6 genera and 275 species, mostly of tropical distribution, 



I. DIOSPYROS L. Sp. PI. 1057. 1753. 



Trees or shrubs, with broad leaves and lateral cymose racemose or solitary flowers, the 

 pistillate commonly solitary, the staminate usually clustered. Calyx 4-6-cleft, enlarging in 

 fruit. Corolla urceolate in our species, 4-6-lobed. Stamens 8-20 in the sterile flowers, few 

 or several and mostly imperfect or none in the pistillate ones. Styles 2-6 in the pistillate 

 flowers; ovary globose or ovoid, its cavities twice as many as the styles. Ovary rudimentary 

 in the sterile flowers. Berry large, pulpy. Seeds 

 4-12, flat, oblong. [Greek, Zeus' wheat.] 



About 160 species, abundant in Asia. Type 

 species : Diospyros Lotus L. 



I. Diospyros virginiana L. Persimmon. 

 Date-plum. Lotus-tree. Fig. 3307. 



Diospyros virginiana L. Sp. PI. 1057. I753. 



A tree with maximum height of about 100° and 

 trunk diameter of 2°, usually much smaller; bark 

 hard, dark, furrowed. Leaves ovate or oval 

 deciduous, pubescent when young, becoming gla- 

 brous, acute or acuminate, narrowed, rounded 01 

 subcordate at the base, dark green above, pale 

 beneath, 2'-^' long ; petioles 3"-io" long, loosely 

 jointed with the twigs, the leaves falling away in 

 drying; flowers mostly 4-parted; corolla greenish 

 yellow, that of fertile flowers s"-7" long, about 

 twice as large as that of the sterile; stamens of 

 sterile flowers about 16, those of pistillate 8 or 

 fewer; fruit globose, about i' long, reddish yellow 

 and sweet when ripe, astringent when green,, 

 ripening after frost in the northern states. 



