Catesbaea macracantha C. Wright

Catesbaea macracantha C. Wright; Sauv. Anal. Acad. Ci
Habana6:99. 1869. A shrub, the branches green, minutely hirtellous or glabrate, the internodes 0.4M.5 cm. long, the spines stout, subascending, 1.2-3.7 cm. long; stipules minute, thin, sericeous within; leaves opposite, often deciduous, the petioles 1-2 mm. long, minutely hirtellous, the blades rounded-ovate, oval-ovate, or oval-elliptic, 4-9 mm. long, 3-7 mm. wide, rounded at the base, often abruptly short-decurrent, obtuse or rounded at the apex, apiculate, subcoriaceous, glabrous, sublustrous above, the costa prominulous, the lateral nerves usually evident, paler beneath, the costa prominent, the margin plane or subrevolute; flowers solitary, 4-parted, the pedicels in fruit sometimes 1 cm. long, recurved; calyx sparsely hirtellous or glabrate, the hypanthium obovoid, the lobes subulate, recurved, much shorter than the hypanthium; corolla very small, the lobes rounded; fruit globose, 1.5 cm. in diameter, the pericarp thick and hard; seeds numerous, irregular, 2.5-3 mm. long, reddish-brown.
Type locality: Potrero Manati, near Trinidad, Cuba. Distribution : Known only from the type locality. Illustration": Sagra, Hist. Cuba pi. 47.