CALYCOPHYLLUM (from sAvE, calyx, and cpeAltov, leaf), a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Cinchonacete. It has the limb of the calyx truncate or bluntly 5-toothed, one of the teeth expanded into a petiolate coloured membranous leaf ; the corolla campanulate or funnel-shaped with a 5-plaited limb ; 5 stamens, the filaments rising from the throat free, the length of the corolla ; the anthers oval, exserted ; the style ending in 2 reflexed stigmas ; the capsule dehiscing at the apex, oblong, 2-celled, many-seeded ; the seeds fixed to the linear placenta, imbricate, oblong, girded by a very narrow membranous wing. The species are small smooth trees, with opposite glabrous leaves, short stipules, and flowers disposed in axillary and terminal dichotomous corymba.
One of the most remarkable species of this genus has been de scribed by Sir Robert Schomburgk as a native of British Guyana.
There are several genera closely allied to Calycophyllum, as Mussamela Pinkneya, dm., in which one of the teeth of the calyx expands into a petioled and coloured leaf of a membranaceous texture. In the species discovered in Guyana the bract-like expansion of the calyx has a rose colour, and as the flowers are very numerous the whole tree assumes the colour of the rose. In describing the discovery of this plant, Sir
Robert says, " Let imagination convey you to the great garden of nature in Guyana, clothed in tropical exuberance ; and, among those productions of a congenial sun and fertile soil, figuro to yourself trees from 40 to 50 feet high, presenting a mass of leaves the colour of our favourite flower, from a deep pink to the lightest rose, and perhaps your fancy will assist you to form some idea of the picture I beheld at one of the valleys of the river Rapunnuni, where a high mountain on the river's left bank turns its bed boldly to the east. The banks of the stream and the steep side of the bill were alike covered with trees clothed with rose-coloured leaves ; and only on a near approach could the shining green leaves and the spikes of flowers of a velvety blue be discovered." This plant is called by its discoverer, in honour of the present Lora Derby, Calycophyllum Stanleyanum. The wood of the tree is very hard. It is very bitter to the taste, and like the rest of the order is probably febrifugal.
(Hooker, London Journal of Botany, 1844.)