ECONOMIC PLANTS OF PORTO RICO. L111 
COOK AND COLLINS 
Cedro blanco. See Cedrela odorata. 
Cedro hembra. See Cedrela odorata. 
Cedro hembra colorado. See Cedrela odorata. 
Cedro macho. 
A tree from all parts of the island; height, 50 feet (15 meters); diameter, 55 to 60 
inches (153 to 150 centimeters). Wood, blackish, hard; specific gravity, 0.878; 
used in building houses. (Exp, 1857.) 
Ceiba pentandra. SILK CoTTON, CHrIBA. PLATE XXIV. 
Family, Bombacaceae; a high tree, 20 to 30 meters, with spreading, horizontal 
branches. The cotton covering the seeds is used in making beds and pillows. 
The wood is white and soft, but in Porto Rico is considered desirable for minor 
building purposes, such as inside partitions. The leaves are palmately divided, 
like those of the horse-chestnut, and the tree is sometimes called the ** five-leaved 
silk cotton,’ to distinguish it from Ochroma and others which produce a silky 
fiber. The name ‘* Bombay ceiba’’ is also used, perhaps as a corruption of 
Bombax, formerly the generic name. 
The ceiba tree is much more common on the south side of the island, but nearly 
all have had the larger branches twisted off by the hurricane, the wood being 
soft and brittle. The trunks of young trees of this species are beset with large, 
conical spines, but in age these fall away and are to be found only on the branches. 
The trunk is further transformed by the growth of prominent wings or buttresses, 
sometimes 2 feet (0.6 meter) wide, while but a few inches thick. In west Africa, 
where this tree is larger and more luxuriant, pieces of these supporting wings are 
sawed out and used as doors of native houses. 
A specimen near Ponce measured 36 meters in circumference at 4 feet from the 
ground, by following the sinuosities of the trunk. 
Grosourdy (2:375) says of the wood: 
[tis white, soft, very light, but rather strong and resists water moderately well, 
for which reason it is used to make canoes, although for this purpose it is not as 
durable as is generally supposed. The bottoms of such boats are sometimes coated 
with the fat from turtles to render them more durable, but when so treated the 
bottom is likely to crumble suddenly. The wood is also used to make tubs and 
basins. Specific gravity, 0.520.” 
The fiber surrounding the seeds of this and related species is the ** kapok’’ of 
commerce, and is exported in considerable quantities from the west coast of 
Africa. 
Ceibilla. 
A tree from all parts of the island; height, 40 to 45 feet (13 to 14 meters); 
diameter, 40 to 45 inches (100 to 115 centimeters). Wood, white, soft; specific 
gravity, 0.642; not used. (Exp. 1857.) 
Cenizo. See Chenopodium album, Fagara martinicensis, and Tetrazygia elaeag- 
noides. 
A tree from all parts of the island; height, 90 to 100 feet (27 to 80 meters); 
diameter, 15 to 20 inches (37 to 50 centimeters). Wood, yellowish. soft: specific 
gravity, 0.741; not used. (Exp. 1857.) 
According to Captain Hansard the specific gravity is 0.74 and the wood was for- 
merly used for hogsheads. 
Under this name Grosourdy refers to a number of species of Zanthoxylum and 
describes it as alarge, dense tree, one kind, ‘* massa de hercules.”’ reaching 15 to 
20 meters in height, with a straight, rather long. spiny trunk from 24 to 80 inches 
(60 to 75 centimeters) in diameter. The wood is light-colored and very hand- 
some. It is fibrous in texture, rather hard, light, and strong. Used in the con- 
