EBENACEAE. 7 21 



1. Bumelia lycioides (L.) Pcrs. Southern Buckthorn. (I. F. f. 2829.) 

 Bark gray, the twigs commonly spiny. Leaves rather firm, tardily deciduous, 

 glabrous, finely reticulate- veined, oblong, elliptic, or oblanceolate, 5-13 cm. long; 

 petioles 4-12 mm. long; flowers about 3 mm. broad, numerous; pedicels about the 

 length of the petioles, glabrous; calyx-segments obtuse, glabrous; staminodia ovate, 

 boat-shaped, entire; berry subglobose, black, 8-10 mm. long. In moist thickets, 

 Va. to 111., Mo., Fla. and Tex. June- Aug. 



2. Bumelia lanuginosa (Michx.) Pers. Woolly Buckthorn. (I. F. f. 

 2830.) Leaves persistent, rather coriaceous, glabrous above, densely tomentose- 

 pubescent beneath, oblanceolate, obovate or oblong, usually obtuse at the apex, nar- 

 rowed orcuneate at the base, 3-8 cm. long; flowers 3-18 in the fascicles, about 3 

 mm. broad; pedicels tomentose, longer than the petioles; calyx-segments ovate, 

 tomentose, obtusish; staminodia ovate, obscurely toothed; berry oval, black, 8-10 

 mm. long. In woods and thickets, 111. to Kans., Tex., Ga. and Fla. June-July. 



Family 2. EBENACEAE Vent. 



Ebony Family. 



Trees or shrubs with very hard wood, entire estipulate leaves, and 

 dioecious polygamous or rarely perfect regular flowers, solitary or cymose 

 in the axils. Calyx inferior, 3-7-lobed, commonly accrescent and persist- 

 ent. Corolla gamopetalous, deciduous, 3-7-lobed, the lobes usually con- 

 volute in the bud. Stamens 2-3 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 ; anthers introrse, 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. Seeds oblong, the 

 testa bony ; endosperm copious, cartilaginous ; embryo small ; cotyledons 

 large, foliaceous. About 6 genera and 275 species, mostly tropical. 



I. DIOSPYROS L. 



Flowers lateral, cymose, racemose or solitary, the pistillate commonly solitary, 

 the staminate usually clustered. Calyx 4-6-cleft. Corolla urceolate in our species, 

 4-6-lobed. Stamens 8-20 in the sterile flowers. Styles 2-6 in the pistillate flowers; 

 ovary globose or ovoid, its cavities twice as many as the styles. Berry large, 

 pulpy, containing 4-12 flat hard seeds. [Greek, Zeus' wheat.] About 160 species, 

 abundant in Asia. Besides the following, another occurs in the Southwest. 



1. Diospyros Virginiana L. Persimmon. Date-plum. (I. F. f. 2831.) 

 A tree; bark hard, dark, furrowed. Leaves ovate or oval, deciduous, pubescent 

 when young, acute or acuminate, dark green above, pale beneath, 5-13 cm. long; 

 petioles loosely jointed with the twigs, the leaves falling away in drying; flowers 

 mostly 4-parted; corolla greenish yellow; stamens of the sterile flowers about 16, 

 those of the pistillate 8 or fewer; fruit globose, about 2.5 cm. long, reddish yellow 

 and sweet when ripe, astringent when green. In fields and woods, R. I. to Kans., 

 Fla. and Tex. May-June. Fruit ripe Sept.-Nov. 



Family 3. SYMPLOCACEAE Miers. 



Sweet- leaf Family. 



Trees or shrubs, with entire or dentate broad leaves, and regular mostly 

 yellow and perfect flowers, in lateral or axillary clusters. Calyx-tube com- 

 pletely or partly adnate to the ovary, its limb 5-lobed. Corolla 5-parted, 

 sometimes nearly to the base, the segments imbricated. Disk none. 

 Stamens numerous in several series; filaments usually slightly united in 

 clusters at the base of each corolla-segment ; anthers innate, laterally 

 dehiscent. Ovary 2-5-celled ; ovules commonly 2 in each cavity, pendu- 



