Part 47

Coccolobis is confined to the tropics of the New World, with about one hundred and 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 κοκκος and λοβός, 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 years; petioles short, stout, flattened, puberulous, abruptly enlarged at base, leaving in falling large pale elevated orbicular or semiorbicular scars; stipular sheath ⅛′ broad, slightly puberulous, persistent during 2 or 3 years. Flowers appearing almost continuously throughout the year on slender puberulous pedicels ⅛′ long, in 1—6-flowered subsessile fascicles, in terminal and axillary thick-stemmed many-flowered racemes 6′—14′ in length; calyx ⅛′ 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, ¾′ 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 1/16′ 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 sapwood; sometimes used in cabinet-making.

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, 1½′—2′ wide, with a conspicuous pale midrib and 3 or 4 pairs of remote primary veins connected by prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, flattened, ½′ in length, abruptly enlarged at base; stipular sheath glabrous, ½′ wide. Flowers in early spring, on slender pedicels ¼′ long, in few or 1-flowered fascicles on racemes terminal on short axillary branches of the previous year, and 2′—3′ in length; calyx ⅛′ 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. Fruit in erect or spreading sparsely-fruited racemes, ripening during the winter and early spring, ovoid, narrowed at base, rounded at apex, dark red, ⅓′ long, with thin acidulous flesh and a hard thin-walled light brown nutlet.

A glabrous tree, 60°—70° high, with a tall straight trunk 1°—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. NYCTAGINACEÆ.

Trees with alternate stalked persistent leaves without stipules. Flowers perfect or unisexual; calyx corolla-like, 5-lobed; stamens 5—8; ovule campylotropous. Fruit anthocarpus, 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.

1. TORRUBIA Vell.

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, cylindric, 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 naturalist 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, 1′—1½′ long, ½′ 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 obscure veins; petioles stout, channeled, ½′ in length. Flowers perfect or unisexual, autumnal, 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 winter or early spring, prominently costate with ten rounded ribs, fleshy, smooth, bright red, ¾′ 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 branchlets 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 semiorbicular or lunate leaf-scars; usually much smaller; often shrubby. Bark about 1/16′ 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 sapwood.

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._ Petalatæ. Flowers with both calyx and corolla (_without a corolla in Lauraceæ, in Liquidambar in Hamamelidaceæ, in Euphorbiaceæ, in some species of Acer, in Reynosia, Condalia, and Krugiodendron in Rhamnaceæ, in Fremontia in Sterculiaceæ, in Calyptranthes in Myrtaceæ, and in Conocarpus in Combretaceæ_).

Section 1. Polypetalæ. Corolla of separate petals.

A. Ovary superior (_partly inferior in Hamamelidaceæ; inferior in Malus, Sorbus, Cratægus and Amelanchier in Rosaceæ_).

XVI. MAGNOLIACEÆ.

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, conduplicate and inclosed in their stipules in the bud, feather-veined, petiolate. Flowers perfect, 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 represented 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 rudimentary, 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 becoming fleshy and at maturity pulpy, red or scarlet, the inner crustaceous; embryo minute at 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 sometimes 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. acuminata (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 acuminata L. 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 surface, 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, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers on hairy soon glabrous pedicels ½′—¾′ long, bell-shaped, green or greenish yellow covered with a glaucous bloom; sepals membranaceous, acute, 1′—1½′ long, soon reflexed; petals 6, ovate or obovate, concave, pointed, erect, 2½′—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, 2½′—3′ long, rarely more than 1′ thick; seeds obovoid, acute, compressed, about ½′ 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, ½′—⅗′ 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 of large fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Bark ⅓′—½′ 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.

Distribution. Low 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 Lumpkin, 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. _ludoviciana_ Sarg. differing in its broadly obovate, oval or ovate leaves, and in its larger flowers, 3½′—4′ long, the outer petals 1½′ 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, 2½′—3½′ 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, covered when they first appear with matted silky white hairs, becoming glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers on stout pedicels, ¼′—⅓′ long and covered with long silky white hairs, cup-shaped, bright canary yellow; sepals ovate, acute, soon reflexed; petals 6, erect and spreading, 1½′—1¾′ long, ½′—¾′ wide. Fruit oblong, often curved, glabrous, dark red, 1′—1½′ long, ½′—¾′ thick.

A shrub, 4°—8° high, 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 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 terminal ½′ long and ¼′ thick, the axillary ⅙′—¼′ in length and nearly surrounded by the narrow 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 fœtida_ 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, 1′—2′ in length. Flowers on stout hoary-tomentose pedicels ½′—1′ 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 1½′—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, 1½′—2½′ thick; seeds obovoid or triangular-obovoid, more or less flattened, ½′ long.

A tree, of pyramidal habit, 60°—100° or rarely 120°—135° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° or occasionally 4°—4½° 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. Winter-buds pale or rusty-tomentose, the terminal 1′—1½′ in length. Bark ½′—¾′ 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 distinguishable from the sapwood of 60—80 layers of annual growth; little used except for fuel.

Distribution. Rich moist soil on the borders of river swamps and Pine-barren ponds, or rarely on high rolling hills; coast of North Carolina southward to De Soto County, Florida, extending across the peninsula, and in the neighborhood of the coast through the other Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, ranging inland to central Mississippi and to southern Arkansas, and northward on the bluffs of the lower Mississippi River to the mouth of the Yazoo River, Mississippi; best developed and most abundant on the bluff formation of the lower Mississippi River, and of its largest size in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.

Largely cultivated as an ornamental tree in all countries of temperate climate; in the eastern United States precariously hardy as far north as Trenton, New Jersey. Numerous varieties, differing in the form of the leaf and in the duration of the flowering period, have appeared in European nurseries; of these, the most distinct is the variety _exoniensis_ Loud., with a rather fastigiate habit and broadly elliptic leaves densely clothed with rusty tomentum on the lower surface; this variety begins to flower when only a few feet high.

4. Magnolia virginiana L. Sweet Bay. Swamp Bay.

_Magnolia glauca_ L.

Leaves oblong or elliptic and obtuse or oblong-lanceolate, covered when they unfold with long white silky deciduous hairs, at maturity bright green, lustrous and glabrous on the upper surface, finely pubescent and pale or nearly white on the lower surface, 4′—6′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, with a conspicuous midrib and primary veins; falling in the north late in November and in early winter, at the south remaining on the branches with little change of color until the appearance of the new leaves in the spring; petioles slender, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers on slender glabrous pedicels ½′—¾′ long, creamy white, fragrant, globular, 2′—3′ across, continuing to open during several weeks in spring and early summer; sepals membranaceous, obtuse, concave, shorter than the 9—12, obovate often short-pointed concave petals. Fruit ellipsoidal, dark red, glabrous, 2′ long and ½′ thick; seeds obovoid, oval, or suborbicular, much flattened, ¼′ in length.

A slender tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk rarely more than 15′—20′ in diameter, with small mostly erect ultimately spreading branches and slender bright green branchlets hoary-pubescent when they first appear, soon glabrous, marked by narrow horizontal pale lenticels, gradually turning bright red-brown in their second summer; usually a low shrub. Winter-buds covered with fine silky pubescence, the terminal ½′—¾′ long.