ZYGOPllYLLEiE. 
187 
II. Guaiacum. 
Calyx 5-partite, obtuse. Petals 5. Stamens 10, 
with filaments naked or subappendiculated. Style 
and stigma 1. Capsule substipitate, 5-celIed, 5-an- 
gled, or from abortion 2-3 celled : seeds solitary, 
fixed to the axis, pendulous ; albumen cartilaginous, 
rimulose ; cotyledons thickish De Cand. 
Trees, with the wood hard ; leaves abruptly pinnated ; pe- 
duncles axillary. Name , from guaiac, the appellation given to 
the tree by the natives of Guiana. 
1. Guaiacum officinale. Lignum- V'itce tree. 
Leaves bijugate, leaflets obovate or oval obtuse. 
Pruno vel Evonymo affinis arbor, folio alato buxeo subrotun- 
do, Sloa?ie, II. 133. t. 122. f. 3, 4, 5, 6. — Guaiacum, Broume, 
225 — G. officinale, Swartz, Obs. 168. — Gcertn. Fract. 11. t. 
113. — Lam. III. t. 342. 
HAB. Plains on the South side of the Island, within 4 miles 
of the sea-shore. 
FL. February. 
A tree seldom more than 12 feet in height, of a rounded 
form : branches crowded, flexuose. Leaves opposite, bijugate : 
leaflets sessile, more or less obovate, rounded at the apex, 
nerved, glabrous : common petiole terete, channelled above. 
Peduncles axillary, 1-3 together, an inch in length, 1-flowered, 
filiform, minutely puberulous. Calycine sepals 5 ; two exterior, 
somewhat broader than the others; all of them obtuse and in- 
cano-toinentose. Petals 5, thrice the length of the sepals, 
oblong, bluntish, internally tomenlulous. Filaments 10, twice 
the length of the sepals, grooved on the back: anthers bifid at 
the base, arcuate, yellow. Ovary and style compressed; stig- 
ma simple. Capsule obcordate, succulent, glabrous, yellow, 
2-5-celled : seeds solitary, roundish, compressed. 
The bark of this tree is thick and smooth, of a greyish colour. 
The wood is very hard, heavy, so as to sink in water, to the 
taste slightly hitter, inodorous (but when ignited giving out a 
slight fragrant smell). It takes a fine polish, and turns well. 
It is much used where solidity is an object, such as for ship- 
blocks, bed-rollers, pestles, &c. The centre of the wood is of 
an obscure green, and is the part which contains the larger 
proportion of resin ; the outer layer or sap is more yellow, 
lighter, and contains very little of the resin. 
The Gum- resin known by the name of the Gum Guaiacum, 
is procured from this tree. It is friable, semitransparent, of a 
brownish green, light, and diffuses in burning a somewhat 
