720 



Black Olive Tree 



2 to lo cm. long, mostly sharp or taper-pointed at both ends, entire on the mar- 

 gin, light green and smooth above, paler and sometimes hairy, with prominent 



yellowish midrib beneath; the leaf- 

 stalk is stout and broad, 5 to 15 

 mm. long, with 2 glands at the 

 top. The flowers, appearing at 

 all seasons, are perfect, very small 

 and green, in panicles of dense 

 globular heads 10 mm. in diame- 

 ter, on stout, hairy stalks; the 

 calyx-tube is funnel-shaped, about 

 I mm. long, its lobes triangu- 

 lar-ovate, about as long as the 

 tube, and hairy; corolla none; sta- 

 mens usually 5, sometimes 7 or 8, 

 their exserted filaments elongated, 

 anthers heart-shaped; ovary infe- 

 rior, i-celled, 2-ovuled, style slen- 

 der, hairy at the base and terminated by a stigmatic tip. The fruit is a globular or 

 oval cone-like aggregation of small, flat, winged, scale-like drupes, purplish green, 

 about 10 mm. in diameter; the seed is flattened and brown, without endosperm. 

 The wood is hard, strong, close-grained, grayish to yellowish brown, and about 

 the weight of water, its specific gravity being a trifle under i.oo. Its chief value 

 is for fuel and charcoal. The astringent bark is used to some extent for tanning, 

 and in tropical medicine. 



The genus is usually considered monotypic, but the plant described as Cono- 

 carpus sericea Forster, which has densely white-silky foliage, appears distinct; it 

 grows with the typical form in Florida and the West Indies, usually shrubby. 

 The name is Greek, in reference to the cone-Uke fruit. 



Fig. 659. — Buttonwood. 



III. BLACK OLIVE TREE 



GENUS BUCIDA LINNAEUS 



Species Bucida Buceras Linnasus 



Terminalia Buceras C. Wright 



HIS tree just enters our area by occurring on EUiott's Key, in south- 

 em Florida, but is widely distributed in the West Indies and in Cen- 

 tral America, reaching a maximum height of about 25 meters, with 

 a trunk diameter of 9 dm. or more. 

 The crooked branches are stout, spreading, the tree round-topped. The bark 

 is up to 2 cm. thick, scaly, gray. The twigs are round, regularly forked and hairy, 

 but become zigzag, quite smooth and light brown or gray, often with spines 2 to 



