Ximenia commemorates the name of Francisco Ximenes, a Dominican priest who pub-
lished in Mexico in 1615 a work on the plants and animals of that country.
1. Ximenia americana L.
Leaves oblong or elliptic, rounded and often emargmate and apiculate at apex, gradu-
ally narrowed and cuneate at base, glabrous, bright green and lustrous above, pale below,
338 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
lJ'-2' long, |'-lj' wide, with slightly thickened revolute margins, a prominent midrib
and obscure primary veins; petioles slender, narrow wing-margined at apex, i'-f in length.
Flowers bell-shaped, fragrant, about f long, on slender pedicels in the axils of minute
acuminate caducous bractlets, in 3 or 4-flowered clusters on peduncles ^'-|' long; calyx-
lobes acute, petals elliptic and rounded or obtusely pointed at apex, yellowish white, leathery,
conspicuously bearded on the inner surface from base nearly to apex. Fruit broad-ovoid
to subglobose, bright yellow, with thin acid flesh, l'-lj' long, on slender pedicels about
-|' in length, in usually 2 or 3-fruited drooping clusters; stone ovoid, apiculate at apex,
covered with minute pits, light red; seed yellow, with bright orange-colored cotyledons.
A tree, occasionally 30 high, with a tall trunk 2|'-3|' in diameter, spreading branches
armed with stout straight spines usually f'-l' in length, and slender branchlets slightly
angled and light reddish brown when they first appear, becoming terete and light gray or
red-brown and marked by numerous lenticels; more often a shrub with long vine-like stems.
Bark close, dark red, astringent. Wood very heavy, tough, hard, close-grained, compact,
brown tinged with red with lighter-colored sapwood. Hydrocyanic acid has been obtained
from the fruit.
Distribution. Florida, near Eustis Lake, Lake County, to the southern keys, attaining
its largest size on the west coast and on Long Key in the Everglades; common on the shores
of the Antilles and southward to Brazil, and on those of west tropical Africa, the Indian
peninsula, the islands of the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, and on those of
many of the islands of the south Pacific Ocean.
Section 3. Flowers perfect or unisexual; calyx 5-lobed; ovary superior, 1-
celled; ovule solitary, rising from the bottom of the cell; fruit inclosed in the
thickened calyx; leaves persistent.
XIV. POLYGONACE^E.
Trees, with alternate coriaceous stalked leaves, their stipules sheathing the stem.
Flowers perfect; calyx 5-lobed; stamens 8; ovary 3-celled; ovule orthotropous. Fruit a
nutlet, inclosed in the thickened calyx-tube; seed erect; embryo axillary in ruminate
farinaceous albumen; radicle superior, ascending, turned toward the hilum. Of this,
the Buckwheat family with thirty widely distributed genera, only Coccolobis is arbo-
rescent in North America.
1. COCCOLOBIS P. Br.
Trees or shrubs. Leaves coriaceous, entire, orbicular, ovate, obovate, or lanceolate,
petiolate, their stipules inclosing the branch above the node with membranaceous trun-
cate entire brown persistent sheaths. Flowers jointed on ebracteolate pedicels, in 1 or
few-flowered fascicles subtended by a minute bract and surrounded by a narrow trun-
cate membranaceous sheath, each pedicel and those above it being surrounded by a simi-
lar sheath, the fascicles gathered in elongated terminal and axillary racemes inclosed at
the base of the sheath of the nearest leaf and sometimes also in a separate sheath; calyx
cup-shaped, the lobes ovate, rounded, thin, white, reflexed after anthesis, and thicken-
ing and inclosing the nutlet; stamens with filiform or subulate filaments dilated and united
at base into a short discoid cup adnate to the tube of the calyx; anthers ovoid, introrse,
2-celled, the cells parallel, opening longitudinally; ovary free, sessile, 3-angled, contracted
into a short stout style, divided into three short or elongated stigmatic lobes. Fruit ovoid
or globose, rounded or acute and crowned at apex by the persistent lobes of the calyx,
narrowed at base; flesh thin and acidulous, more or less adnate to the thin crustaceous or
bony w r all of the nutlet often divided on the inner surface near the base into several more
or less intrusive plates. Seed subglobose, acuminate at apex, 3-6-lobed; testa membra-
naceous, minutely pitted, dark red-brown, and lustrous.
Coccolobis is confined to the tropics of the New World, with about one hundred and
POLYGONACE^E
339
twenty species distributed from southern Florida to Mexico, Central America, Brazil,
and Peru. It possesses astringent properties sometimes utilized in medicine. Many of
the species produce hard dark valuable wood.
Coccolobis, from KOKKOS and \o&6s, is in allusion to the character of the fruit.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.
Fruits crowded, in drooping racemes; leaves broadly ovate to suborbicular, cordate at base.
1. C. uvifera (D).
Fruits not crowded, in erect or spreading racemes; leaves ovate to oblong-lanceolate.
2. C. laurifolia (D).
1. Coccolobis uvifera Jacq. Sea Grape.
Leaves broadly ovate to suborbicular rounded or sometimes short-pointed at apex, deeply
cordate at base, with undulate margins, thick and coriaceous, minutely reticulate-venulose,
dark green and lustrous above, paler and puberulous below, 4'-5' long, 5'-6' wide, with a
stout often bright red midrib frequently covered below with pale hairs, and about 5 pairs
of conspicuous primary veins red on the upper side, arcuate near the margins and connected
by cross veinlets ; gradually turning red or scarlet and falling during their second or third
Fig. 307
years; petioles short, stout, flattened, puberulous, abruptly enlarged at base, leaving
in falling large pale elevated orbicular or semiorbicular scars; stipular sheath ' broad,
slightly puberulous, persistent during 2 or 3 years. Flowers appearing almost continuously
throughout the year on slender puberulous pedicels |' long, in 1-6-flowered subsessile fasci-
cles, in terminal and axillary thick-stemmed many-flowered racemes 6'-14' in length; calyx
I' across when expanded, the lobes puberulous on the inner surface and rather longer than
the red stamens; ovary oblong, with short stigmatic lobes. Fruit crowded, in long hanging
racemes, ovoid to obovoid, f long, gradually narrowed into a stalk-like base, purple or
greenish white, translucent, with thin juicy flesh, and a thin-walled light red nutlet.
A tree, in Florida rarely more than 15 high, with a short gnarled contorted trunk 3-4
in diameter, stout branches forming a round compact head, and stout terete branchlets,
with thick pith, light orange color, marked by oblong pale lenticels, gradually growing
darker in their second and third years; frequently a shrub, with semiprostrate stems; in the
West Indies often 50 tall. Bark about 3*5' thick, smooth, light brown and marked by
large irregular pale blotches. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, dark brown or violet
color, with thick lighter colored sap wood; sometimes used in cabinet-making.
840 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
Distribution. Saline shores and beaches; Florida, from Mosquito Inlet to the southern
keys on the east coast, and from Tampa Bay to Cape Sable on the west coast; common on
the Bermuda and Bahama Islands, in the Antilles, and in South America from Colombia
to Brazil.
2. Coccolobis laurifolia Jacq. Pigeon Plum.
Leaves ovate, ovate-lanceolate or obovate-oblong, rounded or acute at apex, rounded or
cuneate at base, with slightly undulate revolute margins, thick and firm, bright green
above, paler below, 3 '-4' long, \\'-%! wide, with a conspicuous pale midrib and 3 or 4 pairs
of remote primary veins connected by prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, flat-
tened, \' in length, abruptly enlarged at base; stipular sheath glabrous, |' wide. Flowers
in early spring, on slender pedicels J'long, in few or 1-flowered fascicles on racemes termi-
nal on short axillary branches of the previous year, and 2'-3' in length; calyx ' across, the
cup-shaped lobes rather shorter than the stamens, with slender yellow filaments enlarged
at base, and dark orange-colored anthers; ovary oblong, with elongated stigmatic lobes.
Fig. 308
Fruit in erect or spreading sparsely-fruited racemes, ripening during the winter and early
spring, ovoid, narrowed at base, rounded at apex, dark red, \' long, with thin acidulous
flesh and a hard thin-walled light brown nutlet.
A glabrous tree," 60-70 high, with a tall straight trunk l-2 in diameter, spreading
branches forming a dense round-topped head, slender terete slightly zigzag branchlets
usually contorted and covered with light orange-colored bark, becoming darker and
tinged with red in their second or third year. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, strong,
brittle, close-grained, rich dark brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood;
occasionally used in cabinet-making.
Distribution. One of the largest and most abundant of the tropical trees of the seacoast
of southern Florida from Cape Canaveral to the keys and on the west coast from Cape
Romano to Cape Sable; common on the Bahama Islands, on many of the Antilles, and in
Venezuela.
XV. NYCTAGINACE^E.
Trees with alternate stalked persistent leaves without stipules. Flowers perfect or
unisexual; calyx corolla-like, 5-lobed; stamens 5-8; ovule campy lotropous. Fruit an-
thocarpus, crowned by the persistent teeth of the calyx. Seed erect; cotyledons unequal,
folded round the soft scanty albumen; radicle short, inferior, turned toward the hilum.
A family of about twenty genera widely distributed chiefly in the warmer and tropical parts
of the New World, with a single arborescent representative in North America.
NYCTAGINACE.E 341
1. TORRUBIA Veil.
Glabrous or pubescent unarmed trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or rarely alternate,
entire, short-stalked. Flowers perfect, or rarely unisexual; calyx tubular or funnel-shaped,
elongated, 5-lobed, the lobes plaited in the bud, erect or spreading; stamens inserted on
the base of the calyx under the ovary, minute or rudimentary in the unisexual pistillate
flower; filaments folded in the bud, filiform, unequal, free; anthers oblong, introrse, 2-
celled, the cells parallel, opening longitudinally; ovary oblong-ovoid, sessile, 1 -celled,
gradually narrowed into a columnar style; stigmas capitate, lacerate. Fruit fleshy, cy-
lindric, costate, smooth; utricle elongated, with a thin membranaceous wall confluent with
the thin transparent coat of the erect seed.
Torrubia, with about 15 species is confined to tropical America, one species extending
into southern Florida. The genus was named in honor of Joseph Torrubia, a Spanish natu-
ralist of the 18th century.
1. Torrubia longifolia Britt. Blolly.
Pisonia longifolia Sarg.
Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded or occasionally emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed
at base, l'-l^' long, ^' wide, thick and firm, with slightly thickened undulate margins, light
green and glabrous, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, with a stout midrib and
Fig, 309
obscure veins; petioles stout, channeled, \' in length. Flowers perfect or unisexual, au-
tumnal, greenish yellow, short-pedicellate, in terminal long-stalked few-flowered panicled
cymes, with slender divergent branches, the ultimate divisions 2 or 3-flowered; bracts and
bractlets minute, acute; calyx funnel-shaped, divided nearly to the middle into acute erect
lobes about half as long as the stamens and as long as the style. Fruit ripening in the win-
ter or early spring, prominently costate with ten rounded ribs, fleshy, smooth, bright red,
f long; utricle terete, light brown.
A tree, occasionally 30-50 high, with an erect or inclining trunk, 15 '-20' in diameter,
stout spreading branches forming a compact round-topped head, and slender terete branch-
lets light orange color when they first appear, later often producing numerous short spur-
like lateral branchlets, light reddish brown or ashy gray, and marked by large elevated
semi-orbicular or lunate leaf-scars; usually much smaller; often shrubby. Bark about
xV' thick, light red-brown, and broken into thin appressed scales. Wood heavy, rather
soft, weak, coarse-grained, yellow tinged with brown, with thick darker colored sap wood.
342 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
Distribution. Sea-beaches and the shores of salt water lagoons; Cape Canaveral.
Florida to the southern keys, attaining its largest size in Florida on Elliott's Key and
Old Rhodes Key; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.
Subdivision 2. Petalatse. Flowers with both calyx and corolla (without a
corolla in Lauraceoc, in Liquidambar in Hamamelidacece, in Euphorbiacece, in
some species of Acer, in Reynosia, Condalia, and Krugiodendron in Rhamnaceae,
in Fremontia in Sterculiacece, in Calyptranthes in Myrtacece, and in Conocarpu*
in Combretaceoe).
Section 1. Polypetalse. Corolla of separate petals.
A. Ovary superior (partly inferior in Hamamelidacece; inferior in Malus,
Sorbus, Cratcegus and Amelanchier in Rosaceoe).
XVI. MAGNOLIACE^).
Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, branchlets lengthening by large terminal or the
flower-bearing branchlets by upper axillary buds, the other axillary buds obtuse, flattened,
and rudimentary, bitter aromatic bark, and thick fleshy roots. Leaves alternate, con-
duplicate and inclosed in their stipules in the bud, feather-veined, petiolate. Flowers per-
fect, large, solitary, terminal, pedicellate, inclosed in the bud in a stipular caducous spathe:
sepals and petals imbricated in the bud, inserted under the ovary, deciduous; stamens and
pistils numerous, imbricated in many ranks, the stamens below the pistils on the surface
of an elongated receptacle ripening into a compound fruit of 1-2-seeded follicles or samara:
ovules 2, collateral, anatropous. Four of the ten genera of the Magnolia family are repre-
sented in North America; of these two are arborescent.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.
Anthers introrse; mature carpels, fleshy, opening on the back at maturity, persistent; seed-
coat thick, pulpy, and bright scarlet; leaves entire, or auriculate at base. 1. Magnolia.
Anthers extrorse; mature carpels dry, indehiscent, deciduous; seed-coat dry and coriaceous:
leaves lobed or truncate. 2. Liriodendron.
1. MAGNOLIA L. Magnolia.
Trees, with ashy gray or brown smooth or scaly bark, branchlets conspicuously marked
by large horizontal or longitudinal leaf-scars and by narrow stipular rings, and large terete
acuminate or often obtusely-pointed more or less gibbous winter-buds usually broadest at
the middle, their scales large membranaceous stipules adnate to the base of the petioles and
deciduous with the unfolding of each successive leaf, the petiole of the outer stipule rudi-
mentary, adnate on the straight side of the bud, and marked at its apex by the scar left
by the falling of the last leaf of the previous season. Leaves entire, sometimes auriculate.
persistent or deciduous, often minutely punctate, their numerous primary veins arcuate
and more or less united within the margins. Flowers appearing in the American species
after the leaves, their stipular spathes thin and membranaceous; sepals 3, spreading or
reflexed; petals 6-12 in series of 3's, concave, erect or spreading; stamens early deciduous,
their filaments shorter than the 2-celled introrse anthers and terminating in apiculate
fleshy connectives; ovary sessile, 1-celled; style short, recurved, stigmatic on the inner face;
ovules horizontal. Fruit a scarlet or rusty brown cone formed of the coalescent 2-seeded
drupaceous persistent follicles opening on the back; seeds suspended at maturity by long
thin cords of unrolled spiral vessels; seed-coat thick, drupaceous, the outer portion becom-
ing fleshy and at maturity pulpy, red or scarlet, the inner crustaceous; embryo minute at
MAGNOLIACE^E 343
the base of the fleshy homogeneous albumen, its radicle next the hilum; cotyledons short
and spreading.
Magnolia with about thirty species is confined to eastern North America, southern
Mexico, and eastern and southern Asia, seven species growing naturally in the United
States. All the parts are slightly bitter and aromatic, and the dried flower-buds are some-
times used in medicine. Several species from eastern Asia and their hybrids producing
flowers before the appearance of the leaves are favorite garden plants in the United States.
The genus is named in honor of Pierre Magnol (1638-1715), professor of botany at
Montpellier.
CONSPECTUS OF NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.
Styles deciduous from the follicles of the fruit; petals greenish or yellow; winter-buds silky
tomentose.
Petals greenish; branchlets glabrous. 1. M. acuminate (A, C).
Petals canary yellow; branchlets pubescent. 2. M. cordata (C).
Styles persistent on the follicles of the fruit.
Petals white.
Leaves coriaceous, persistent; fruit and branchlets tomentose. 3. M. grandiflora (C).
Leaves thin, deciduous (semipersistent in 4).
Leaves cuneate at base.
Leaves scattered along the branches, pale and pubescent below; winter-buds
glabrous or silky pubescent. 4. M. virginiana (A. C).
Leaves crowded at the ends of the flowering branches, green and glabrous below:
winter-buds glabrous. 5. M. tripetala (A, C).
Leaves cordate at the narrow base; fruit tomentose; winter-buds hoary-tomentose.
6. M. macrophylla (C).
Petals pale yellow or creamy white; leaves obovate-spathulate, auriculate, crowded at
the ends of the flowering branches; winter-buds glabrous.
Leaves acute; petals pale yellow; tips of the mature carpels elongated, straight or
incurved. 7. M. Fraseri (A, C).
Leaves bluntly pointed; petals creamy white; tips of the mature carpels short, incurved.
8. M. pyramidata (C).
1. Magnolia acuminataL. Cucumber-tree. Mountain Magnolia.
Leaves oblong-ovate, oblong-obovate or elliptic, abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded,
cuneate or rarely slightly cordate at base, when they unfold densely villose below and
slightly villose above, and at maturity thin, yellow-green and glabrous on the upper sur-
face, paler and glabrous or villose-pubescent on the lower surface, 6'-10' long, and 4'-6'
wide, with often undulate margins; turning dull yellow or brown in the autumn before
falling; petioles slender, pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous, I'-l^' in length.
Flowers on hairy soon glabrous pedicels ^'-f ' long, bell-shaped, green or greenish yellow
covered with a glaucous bloom; sepals membranaceous, acute, \'-\\' long, soon reflexed:
petals 6, ovate or obovate, concave, pointed, erect, 2|'-3' long, those of the outer row
rarely more than 1' wide and much wider than those of the inner row. Fruit ovoid or
oblong, often curved, glabrous, dark red, 2|'-3' long, rarely more than 1' thick; seeds
obovoid, acute, compressed, about \' long.
A pyramidal tree, 60-90 high, with a trunk 3-4 in diameter, comparatively small
branches spreading below and erect toward the top of the tree, and slender branchlets
coated at first with soft pale caducous hairs, soon bright red-brown, lustrous, and marked
by numerous small pale lenticels, turning gray during their third season. Winter-buds:
terminal, oblong-ovoid, acuminate, thickly covered with long lustrous white hairs,
\'-\' long, and about three times as long as the obtuse compressed lateral buds nearly
surrounded by the narrow elevated leaf-scars conspicuously marked by a double row
344 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
of large fibre-vascular bundle-scars. Bark \'-% thick, furrowed, dark brown, and covered
by numerous thin scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, durable, and light
yellow-brown, with thin lighter colored often nearly white sapwood of usually 25-30
layers of annual growth; occasionally manufactured into lumber used for flooring and
cabinet-making.
Fig. 310
Distribution. Low r mountain slopes and rocky banks of streams; southern Ontario,
western New York, central to western Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,
and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia and to central Kentucky and
Tennessee; banks of the Savannah River above Augusta, and in the neighborhood of Lump-
kin, Stewart County, Georgia; northern Alabama, northeastern, northwestern and south-
central Mississippi; Eagle Rock, Barry County, and on bluffs of the Mississippi River,
Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, and Baxter County, Arkansas; in eastern Oklahoma
(Page, Le Flore County); in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, represented by var. ludo-
viciana Sarg. differing in its broadly obovate, oval or ovate leaves, and in its larger
flowers, 3|'-4' long, the outer petals If wide. Rare at the north; most abundant and
of its largest size at the base of the high mountains of the Carolinas and Tennessee
up to altitudes of 4000.
Often planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern states and in northern and central
Europe.
2. Magnolia cordata Michx.
Magnolia acuminata var. cordata Sarg.
Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, abruptly short-pointed or rounded at apex, gradually
narrowed and cuneate, broad-cuneate or rarely rounded at base, when they unfold villose-
pubescent more densely on the lower than on the upper surface, at maturity dark green,
lustrous and glabrous above, paler and covered below with short matted pale hairs, 4' or 5'
long, 2|'-3|' wide, with a slender yellow midrib and primary veins; remaining green until
late in the autumn and turning brown and falling after severe frost; petioles slender, cov-
ered when they first appear with matted silky white hairs, becoming glabrous, |'-f ' in length.
Flowers on stout pedicels, |' |' long and covered with long silky white hairs, cup-shaped,
bright canary yellow; sepals ovate, acute, soon reflexed; petals 6, erect and spreading,
H'-lf long, |'-f' wide. Fruit oblong, often curved, glabrous, dark red, l'-lf long,
I'-f ' thick.
A shrub, 4-8high, flowering freely when not more than half that size; or in gardens a
tree sometimes 20-30 tall with a trunk 12'-15' in diameter, spreading branches forming a
MAGNOLIACE^E
345
round-topped head, and slender dark dull red-brown branchlets thickly covered during two
years with short pubescence and marked by small pale lenticels. Winter-buds oblong-
obovate, often falcate, bluntly pointed, thickly covered with matted pale hairs, the ter-
minal \' long and \' thick, the axillary \'-\' in length and nearly surrounded by the narrow
Fig. 311
leaf-scars marked by an irregular row of minute fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Bark dark
brown, and covered with small closely appressed scales.
Distribution. Dry Oak-woods, valley of the Savannah River, Georgia; Spears Plantation
six miles south and Goshen Plantation sixteen miles south of Augusta, Richmond County,
near Mayfield, Hancock County, and Bath, Richmond County. Often cultivated, and
preserved in gardens for more than a century; not rediscovered as a wild plant until 1913
(L. A. Berckmans) ; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.
3. Magnolia grandiflora L. Magnolia.
Magnolia fastida Sarg.
Leaves elliptic to oblong-obovate or ovate, acute and bluntly pointed or acuminate at
apex, cuneate at base, coriaceous, bright green and shining above, more or less densely
coated below with rusty tomentum, 5'-8' long, 2'-3' wide, with a prominent midrib and
primary veins, deciduous in the spring at the end of their second year; petioles stout,
rusty-tomentose, l'-2' in length. Flowers on stout hoary-tomentose pedicels \'-\' long,
opening from April or May until July or August, fragrant, 7'-8' across, the petaloid sepals
and 6 or sometimes 9 or 12 petals abruptly narrowed at base, oval or ovate, those of the
inner ranks often somewhat acuminate, concave, and coriaceous, 3'-4' long and l^'-2'
wide; base of the receptacle and lower part of the filaments bright purple. Fruit ovoid or
oval, rusty brown, covered while young with thick lustrous white tomentum, at maturity
rusty-tomentose, 3'-4' long, 1^'-2|' thick; seeds obovoid or triangular-obovoid, more or
less flattened, \' long.
A tree, of pyramidal habit, 60-100 or rarely 120-135 high, with a tall straight trunk
2-3 or occasionally 4-4| in diameter, rather small spreading branches, and branchlets
hoary-tomentose at first, slightly tomentose in their second year, and much roughened by
the elevated leaf-scars displaying a marginal row of conspicuous fibro-vascular bundle-
scars. Whiter-buds pale or rusty-tomentose, the terminal \'-\\' in length. Bark ^'-f
thick, gray or light brown, and covered with thin appressed scales rarely more than 1' long.
Wood hard, heavy, creamy white, soon turning brown with exposure, hardly distinguish-