ETJTACEA5.
83
AMYRIS.
Flowers hermaphrodite or polygamous; calyx gamosepalous, 4-toothed; petals 4,imbricated in aestivation, hypogynous. Fruit, a 1-seeded drupe. Leaves 1 to 3-foliateor unequally pinnate.
Amyris, Linnaeus , Gen. ed. 6, 188. — A. L. de Jussieu, Gen. chon, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, xiv. 320. — Baillon, Hist.
371 (in part). —Endlicher, Gen. 1139. —Meisner, Gen. PI. iv. 483. —Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. n. ser. xxiii. 226.
74. —Bentham & Hooker, Gen. i. 327. — Triana & Plan-
Glabrous glandular-punctate trees or shrubs, with balsamic resinous juice. Leaves opposite, orrarely opposite and alternate, destitute of stipules, persistent, the petioles often winged; leaflets oppo-site, petiolulate, entire or crenate. Flowers white, minute, produced generally in three-flowered corymbsin terminal or axillary branched panicles, bibracteolate at the base of the branches. Pedicels slender,bibracteolate. Petals much longer than the minute calyx, spreading at maturity. Disk of the stami-nate flowers inconspicuous; that of the pistillate and perfect flowers thickened and pulvinate. Stamens eight, hypogynous, opposite and alternate with the petals; filaments filiform, exserted; anthers ovate,attached on the back below the middle, introrse, two-celled, the contiguous cells opening longitudinally.Ovary ellipsoidal or ovoid, one-celled, rudimentary or sterile in the staminate flowers; style short,terminal, or wanting; stigma capitate; ovules two, collateral, suspended near the apex of the ovary,anatropous; micropyle superior. Drupe globose or ovoid, aromatic; putamen one-seeded by abortion,chartaceous. Seed pendulous, exalbuminous; testa membranaceous. Embryo minute; cotyledonsplano-convex, fleshy, glandular-punctate; radicle very short, superior.
The genus Amyris 1 is tropical American and north Mexican. Twelve or fourteen species 2 aredistinguished, two extending into the territory of the United States ; one of these, A. maritima, a smallWest Indian tree, is common on the shores of south Florida . Amyris parvifolia , 3 a shrub of the SierraMadre of Mexico , has been noticed in Texas near the mouth of the Rio Grande .
The plants of this genus are fragrant and yield a balsamic resin which, in Amyris sylvatica , 4 isaromatic and stimulant. Amyris balsamifera 5 of the same region is reputed poisonous. The branchesof this tree produce in burning an agreeable odor, recalling that of roses, and fires are made with themto perfume dwellings . 6 The wood of Amyris is heavy, hard, and close-grained. It furnishes valuablefuel, and is sometimes employed in cabinet-making. According to Baillon, the Lemon -wood 7 of com-merce is produced by Amyris sylvatica.
The name Amyris, derived from yvp f>a, relates to the balsamic properties of the plants of this genus.
1 Amyris was formerly united with Burseracece. Hooker, in theGenera Plantarum, although he retained the genus at the end ofthat family, suggested that it might be united more properly withAurantiece in Rutacece. Triana & Planchon (Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5,xiv. 320) adopted this view, pointing out that the flower and fruitof Amyris and Glycosmis are so similar that these two types can-not be separated, and that if Glycosmis, in spite of its short persist-ent style, is to remain in Rutacece, it is necessary to place Amyriswith it. The genus is, however, widely separated geographicallyfrom the other Aurantiece which are confined to the Old World, andare destitute, moreover, of the resinous gum peculiar to Amyris.
2 Browne, Nat. Hist. Jam. 208. — Jaequin, Stirp. Am. 107.—Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. Gen. et Spec. vii. 37, t. 610.—De Candolle , Prodr. ii. 81. — Walpers , Rep. i. 560 ; ii. 831 ; v. 420;Ann. vii. 552. — Macfadyen, FI. Jam. 230. — Grisebach, FI. Brit. W.Ind. 174. — Triana & Planchon, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, xiv. 321.—Karsten, FI. Columb. t. 158. — Hemslev, But. Biol. Am. Cent. i. 180.8 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. n. ser. xxiii. 226.
4 Jaequin, Stirp. Am. 107.
6 Linnseus, Spec. ed. 2, 496 (A. toxifera, Willd. Spec. ii. 336).
6 Triana & Planchon, l. c.
7 Hist. PI. iv. 448.