726 



Stoppers 



3. RED STOPPER — Eugenia rhombea (Berg) Krug and Urban 



Eugenia procera Nuttall, not Poiret. E. fatida rhombea Berg 



This small West Indian tree is only known to occur in our area on several of 

 the Florida Keys, but is abundant in the West Indies, attaining a maximum height 

 of 8 meters, with a trunk diameter of 3 dm. It is also called Spiceberry. 



The bark is about 1.5 mm. thick, close and smooth, light gray or reddish gray. 



The twigs are slender, roimd, 

 purplish or reddish, becoming 

 gray or white. The leaves are 

 firm, scarcely leathery, ovate to 

 elliptic, 3 to 6 cm. long, bluntly 

 taper-pointed, roimded -or grad- 

 ually tapering to the short peti- 

 ole, thickened on the margin, 

 bright green, dull and smooth 

 above, paler and black-dotted be- 

 neath. The flowers, appearing 

 from spring to autumn, are in 

 small umbel-like clusters, each 

 on a slender pedicel 8 to 15 mm. 

 long. The calyx-tube is shorter 

 than its 4 rounded lobes; corolla 

 Fig. 665. -Red Stopper. ^^^^^ jt^ broadly ovate petals 



twice the length of the calyx-lobes. The fruit is depressed-globose, 16 to 22 nmi. 

 in diameter, slightly glandular, conspicuously crowned by the persistent calyx- 

 lobes, orange, reddish or black v/hen ripe; the flesh is thin and dry; seed nearly 

 globular, brown, and shining. 



This is one of the most beautiful trees of Florida when laden with fruit. 



4. CAREER'S STOPPER — Eugenia confusa de CandoUe 



Eugenia Garheri Sargent 



Garber's stopper is by far the largest native tree of its family, in our area. 

 It grows in hammocks in southern peninsular Florida and the Keys, also in the 

 Bahamas and Porto Rico and Jamaica; its maximum height is about 18 meters, 

 with a trunk diameter of 5 dm. It is also known as Red stopper. 



The branches are spreading and ascending, forming a dense tree. The bark 

 is about 5 mm. thick, separating into many thin scales of a brownish red color. 

 The twigs are slender, round, smooth and gray. The leaves are ovate, oval-ovate 

 or oblong-ovate, 3 to 7 cm. long, conspicuously taper- pointed, rounded or tapering 

 at the base, entire, revolute on the margin, dark green and shining above, paler. 



