Blacktorch

Erithalis revoluta Urban, Symb. Ant. 3: 379. 1903
A shrub 3-4 meters high, glabrous throughout, the branches terete, grayish or brownish, the branchlets more or less quadrangular, resinous; stipules short-connate, 1.5-2 mm. long, the lobes deltoid; petioles 4-7 mm. long, marginate; leaf-blades obovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 3-5 cm. long, 1-2 cm. wide, acute or short-acuminate, gradually narrowed to the base, rigid-coriaceous, green above, the costa prominent, the lateral nerves obsolete, beneath slightly paler, the lateral nerves obsolete or 1 or 2 of them prominulous; inflorescence axillary, corymbose, 7-15-flowered, about equaling the leaves, the peduncles 1-3 cm. long, the bracts triangular, acuminate; calyx 1 mm. long, 5-dentate, the teeth deltoid; corolla 4 mm. long, the tube nearly obsolete, the 5 lobes lance-linear, obtuse; anthers oblong-linear, 1.5 mm. long; fruit obovoid, 3.5-4 mm. long, 5-6-celled.
Type locality: Coastal thickets near Cano Gordo, Porto Rico. Distribution: Known only from the type locality.

Erithalis fruticosa L. vSyst. Nat. ed. 10. 930. 1759
Erithalis odorijera Jacq. Sel. Stirp. Am. 72. 1763.
Erithalis inodora Jacq. Sel. Stirp. Am. 73. 1763.
Erithalis fruticosa var. inodora i)C. Prodr. 4: 465. 1830.
Erithalis elliptica Ksii.SyXvaTitW. 23. 1838.
Erithalis odorata Raf. Sylva Tell. 123. 1838.
Erithalis fruticosa var. odorifera Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 336. 1861.
Erithalis rotundata Griseb. Mem. Am. Acad. II. 8: 507. 1862.
Erithalis parviflora Griseb. Cat. PI. Cub. 134. 1866.
A shrub or small tree, sometimes 5 meters high, the branches gray, blackish, or brown, the branchlets stout, glabrous or obscurely puberulent, the internodes short or elongate; stipules short-connate, 2-G mm. long, usually nuicronate or sulnilatc-mucronate; petioles stout, 0.3-2 cm. long; leaf-hladcs verj' variable, oblanccolatc-obiong or obovate to orbicular, 2-12 cm. long, 1-6 cm. wide, rounded or obtuse at the apex, rounded to acute at the base, often short-decurrent, chartaceous to thick-coriaceous, glabrous, usually lustrous, green above, the co.sta prominent or impressed, the lateral nerves obsolete or prominulous, beneath slightly paler, the costa prominent, the lateral nerves prominulous or often obsolete, the margin jjlane or revolute; inflorescence axillary, cymose-paniculate, usually many-flowered, pedunculate, the branches sparsely puberulent or glabrous, the flowers usually 5-parted, mostly long-pedicellate, the bracts minute; calyx and hypanthium 1.2-2 mm. long, the calyx obscurely denticulate; corolla white, 4-10 mm. long, glabrous, the lobes oblong-linear, obtuse, the tube very short; anthers oblong or linear, 1.5-3.5 mm. long, longeror shorter than the filaments; fruit globose or depressedglobose, 2.5-4 mm. in diameter, usually 5-10-carpidiate, black.
Type locality: Jamaica.
Distribution: Southern P^lorida; West Indies; Yucatan to Honduras; growing chiefly in thickets on or near sea beaches.