OCOTEA (said to be the native name of the tree in Guiana). SYN. Oreodaphne. ORD. Laurineae. A large genus (about 200 species) of stove or greenhouse trees, or rarely shrubs, for the most part natives of tropical and sub-tropical America, a few being found in the Canary Islands, South Africa, and the Mascarene Islands. Flowers small, glabrous, or rarely slightly tomentose, disposed in axillary or almost terminal pedunculate panicles; perianth tube short or campanulate; limb segments six. Leaves alternate or scattered, rarely almost opposite, coriaceous, penniveined. The undermentioned is probably the only species yet introduced. It thrives in well-drained loam, and is propagated by cuttings of the young ripened wood, inserted, during summer, in a sandy soil, under a bell glass. OCOTEA bullata (blistered). fl. green, remarkably small, racemose. l. olive or brownish-green, alternate, coriaceous, elliptical, entire, acute, rather obtuse at base, and having at the axils of two or more of the lower costal veins on the under side, deep pits or hollows, exhibiting on the upper side corresponding elevations (whence the specific name). Cape of Good Hope. Greenhouse tree. (B. M. 3931, under name of Oreodaphne bullata.) OCOTEA californica. See Umbellularia californica.