ERYTHROXYLE/E. 
143 
ORDER XXXVIII. ERYTHRO XYLENE. 
Sepals 5, concrete at the base, persistent. Petals 
5, hypogynous, broad at the base, augmented inter- 
nally with a plaited scale, alternate with the sepals, 
equal, previous to flowering with the margins lying 
on each other. Stamens 10: filaments combined at 
the base into a little cup ; anthers innate, erect, 2- 
celled, opening lengthwise. Ovary 1 -celled, or 3-cel- 
led with 2 of the cells empty : ovule solitary, pendu- 
lous : styles 3, distinct : stigmata 3, subcapitate. 
Fruit drupaceous, 1 -seeded. Seed angular: albu- 
men horny : embryo linear, straight, central : coty- 
ledons linear, plane, leafy : radicle superior, terete, 
straight : plumule inconspicuous. 
Shrubs or trees : young shoots often compressed and covered 
with acute imbricated scales. Leaves alternate, seldom oppo- 
site : stipules axillary. Flowers small. — Chiefly natives of the 
West Indies and South America. The wood of some is of a 
red colour. The bark of one species (Erythroxylum hyperi- 
cifolium), a native of Brazil, yields a permanent reddish brown 
dye. The leaves of the E. Coca, are employed by the Peru- 
vians, mixed with the ashes of the Chenopodium Quinoa, as 
a masticatory, in the manner of the betle in India; and it is said 
to remove, and to enable them to endure hunger, and to un- 
dergo fatigue and want of sleep. 
I. Erythroxylum. 
Calyx ,5-partite 5-angular at the base. Styles 3, 
distinct from the base. 
Name, from sgvdgog red, and guKov wood. 
1. Erythroxylum obovatum. Small leaved Red-wood. 
Leaves obovato-subrotund rounded and emarginate 
at the apex, wedge-shaped at the base, membranace- 
ous glabrous, stipules shorter than the petiole, pedi- 
cels about 6 together axillary half the length of the 
petiole. 
E. foliis minoribus rotundis, Browne , 276. — E. rotundifolium, 
Lun, llort. Jam. II. 116. 
