558 



Texan Coursetia 



ously veined. The flowers unfold with the leaves from March to July in short 

 axillary whitish-hairy racemes with sharp bractlets that fall off before the flowers 

 expand. The flowers are purplish, about 15 mrii. long on pedicels about the 

 length of the calyx; calyx-lobes are about equal, ovate and blunt; the disk is cup- 

 shaped and joined to the calyx- tube; the petals are purplish or violet; the standard 

 is roundish and deeply notched, reflexed, £ind appendaged at the base; wings 

 obhque, oblong, about equaling the incurved keel; stamens 10, one of them sepa- 

 rate; anthers all alike; ovary sessile or shghtly stalked, softly hairy; the style bent 

 inward, bearded above; stigma thick and fleshy; ovules many. The fruit, which 

 ripens in August, is a somewhat flattened 2-valved, leathery pod, light brown and 

 glandular-hairy, the base subtended by the persistent calyx, the apex tipped with 

 the style ; the i to 5 seeds are ovoid, about 8 mm. long, dark brown and shining. 



The wood is hard and strong, but brittle, and dark brown; its specific gravity 

 is about 1. 1 5, being considerably heavier than water. It is difficult to work but 

 is sometimes made into canes and is highly prized for fuel. 



The genus contains but one species; its name is in commemoration of Stephen 

 T. Olney (1812-1878), a prominent manufacturer and amateur botanist of Rhode 

 Island. 



V. TEXAN COURSETIA 



GENUS COURSETIA DE CANDOLLE 

 Species Coursetia axillaris Coulter and Rose 



PROFUSELY branched shrub or small tree several meters tall, 

 known only from the vicinity of San Diego, Texas. 



The unarmed twigs are zigzag, hairy at first becoming smooth 

 and light gray. The leaves are alternate, clustered on short spur- 

 like branches, odd-pinnately compound, i to 2 cm. long, consisting of 7 to 11 leaf- 

 lets, the lower pair orbicular or oval, the 

 others obovate or oblong-obovate, blunt 

 at the apex, roimded at the base and en- 

 tire on the margin, light green, promi- 

 nently reticulated, nearly smooth above, 

 minutely hairy beneath. The flowers 

 are solitary or in few-flowered racemes, 

 on pedicels that eventually become 5 to 

 10 nun. long. The calyx-tube is bell- 

 shaped, its lobes longer than the tube, 

 triangular or lanceolate, acute, nearly 

 equal, the upper pair slightly united; 

 corolla white, the standard reflexed, 12 

 mm. broad; wings free; keel petals in- 

 FiG. 5i6.-Tezan Coursetia. curved; Stamens lo, the filaments of 9 



