. North American trees : being descriptions and illustrations of the trees growing independently of cultivation in North America, north of Mexico and the West Indies . Trees. 836 The Calabashes. Fig. 760. — Desert Willow. Stigmas. The fruit persists all win- ter; it is a dry, thin-walled capsule, narrowly linear, i to 3 dm. long and 6 mm. thick, tapering at both ends and splitting into 2 valves. The seeds are 2-ranked, winged and bearded at each end; they are very flat, cm. wide, about 8 mm. long, without endosperm; the cotyledons are much broader than long. The wood is soft, weak, close-
. North American trees : being descriptions and illustrations of the trees growing independently of cultivation in North America, north of Mexico and the West Indies . Trees. 836 The Calabashes. Fig. 760. — Desert Willow. Stigmas. The fruit persists all win- ter; it is a dry, thin-walled capsule, narrowly linear, i to 3 dm. long and 6 mm. thick, tapering at both ends and splitting into 2 valves. The seeds are 2-ranked, winged and bearded at each end; they are very flat, cm. wide, about 8 mm. long, without endosperm; the cotyledons are much broader than long. The wood is soft, weak, close- grained and dark brown; its specific gravity is about This tree is a cheering object on the desert, while its deKcate fohage and violet- scented flowers have caused it to be planted in gardens in the southern States and in Mexico. The genus is monotypic; the name is Greek of obscure meaning. III. THE CALABASHES GENUS CRESCENTIA LINN^US i]RESCENTIA is a tropical American genus consisting of about 6 species of trees, occurring from southern Florida, throughout the West Indies and Central America to Brazil. The genus is best known for the fruit of the Calabash tree, the type species, the hard rind of which is so largely made into utensils throughout tropical America. The leaves are persistent, alternate, or fascicled, entire, membranous or leath- ery, ^thout stipules. The large flowers are perfect, solitary or in few-flowered clusters at the axils of the leaves or at the sides of the branches, on stout bracteo- late pedicels; the calyx is leathery, splitting into 2 parts, or 5-lobed, and deciduous; the corolla is obUquely and narrowly bell-shaped, pale yellow and streaked with purple, its tube swollen on the lower side, the limb slightly 2-lipped and 5-lobed, the lobes irregularly toothed; the 4 stamens and staminode are joined to the lower part of the corolla-tube, sHghtly exserted or included, the filaments thread-like, the anthers oblong, spreading; the ovary is sessile
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