Based on the fundamental investigations of Loesener (1942), Robson (1965,1966) and Archer & van Wyk (1993, 1997) I regard the genus Elaeodendron Jacq. as clearly separated from the Old World genus Cassine L., to which the New World species had been included. The number of taxa reported for the Antilles and their taxonomic level has been treated very differently by various authors, which will be briefly referred to. After comprehensive studies of herbarium specimen of the Antillean species, including leaf morphology and anatomy, fruit morphology and ecology during field studies, I recognize, based on the geographic-morphological method, seven species for the Greater Antilles. The greater part of the species are endemic, for example E. nipensis Bisse is a local endemic species from the charrascos of Sierra de Nipe and E. lanceolatum Urb. & Ekman from limestone in coastal regions of western Hispaniola. A larger distribution is shown by E. xylocarpum (Vent.) DC. This species was first reported in 1803 from St. Thomas. It is distributed in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba, where it also can be found in the rain forests of the Sierra Maestra and also in the Sierra de Escambray. Elaeodendron attenuatum A. Rich., a species described from western Cuba in 1866, occurs mainly on limestone in coastal regions all over Cuba and the Bahama Islands. A new species has been found in dry scrub forest (serpentine) of Sosúa in western Puerto Rico, the Prov. Altagracia and Isla Saona of eastern Hispaniola.