ABSTRACT
Before urbanization, there was an almost continuous West Indian forest along the southeastern Florida coast extending from at least Miami to West Palm Beach. Scattered through this forest were small trees with leathery leaves that are dark green above and satiny brown below. When the wind blew across these forests, they glistened like the gold that the Spanish conquistadores sought because of the exposed undersides of the leaves. The trees are stainleaf (Florida, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico), Chrysophyllum oliviforme.
