Blolly 



383 



scure; the slender leaf-stalks are S to 15 mm. long. The smaU greenish dioecious 

 flowers are in small cymes, opening from April to November; the obconic or fun- 

 nelform calyx is about 4 mm. long, with ovate pointed lobes, the stamens nearly 

 twice its length. The oblong red fleshy fruit is narrowed at the base, lo-ribbed, 

 not glandular, 5 to 7 mm. long. 



The wood is yellowish, weak and soft, with a specific gravity of 0.65. 



The generic name is in honor of Joseph Torrubia, a Spanish monk and natu- 

 ralist. T. opposita Vellozo, of Brazil, is the type species. 



The genus Pisonia Linnaeus, differs from Torrubia in having a dry angular 

 club-shaped fruit, with 5 rows of stalked glands. Pisonia roiundata Grisebach, 

 of Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba, is a shrub, and has been mentioned as forming 

 a tree, but no satisfactory evidence that it is arborescent in Florida has come to 

 our attention. Pisonia aculeata Linnasus, the type species of Pisonia, is a 

 woody vine, armed with stout hooked spines, and occurs in Florida and through- 

 out the West Indies. 



Fig. 337. — Blolly on Great Inagua. 



