164 CONTBIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBAEIUM. 



Antigua, (Suadeloupc, Martinique, St. Vincent, Bequia, Cannouan (Kew Bull. no. 

 81, p. 218), Union (do.), Barbados (Grisebacli), Grenada, Trinidad (Grisebach), Mar- 

 garita. Tropical and subtropical regions of both beniisplieres. In the Old ^^^.)rhl, 

 however, it is a cultivated phmt. 



From the bark and leaves is made a medicament used in all wasting diseases; from 

 the flowers and seeds another used for intermittent fever. The bast is employed in 

 the manufacture of paper. Its wdiitish, close-grained wood is used for fuel and also 

 makes good charcoal. 



The plant is easily recognized on account of its peculiar habit. The primary 

 petioles are very short, ihe i)innae extremely long and si)ine-poinled, the leafl(^ts 

 minute and sometimes almost abortive. 



Local nann^s, j)alo dr rmjo, for de rnyo. Jerusalem thorn (Cook and Collins), 



22. HAEMATOXYLTJM L. 



IIaemaioxyl\iin\j. Sp. PI. 1: 384, 1753. 



Calyx with a short recepta<']e; segments 5, siibequal, deeply imbricate; petals 5, 

 oblong, spreading, nearly equal, imbricate in estivation; stauiens 10, free, noarly 

 erect; filaments slightly pilose at the base; ovary subsessile, free, 2 or 3 ovidate; style 

 fdiform; stigma small, terminal; legum<Oanc(M>latej compn^ssed, membranous, adluT- 

 ing at the sutlirea, separating hmgthwise in the middle of the valves into 2 boat-shaped 

 false valves; seeds transverse, oblong, the chalaza ventral, albuminous. — Glabrous 

 trees, the leaves paripinnatt^ or bipinmite, the leaflets obovate, paucijugate; stipules 

 sometimes spinous, sometimes small and caducous; flowers yellow, small, in lax 

 axillary racemes; bracts small, caducous; Ijracteoles wanting. 



L Haematoxylum campechianum L. 



(Urban, 277.) 



Tree 5 meters high, the branches white-barked, often ispiny; leaves parlpiiniate; 

 leaflets 3 or 4-jugate, obovate, retuse, glabrous, 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long; flow(Ts yellow; 

 calyx 4 mm. long; petals oblong-obovate, G mm. long. 



Near Ponce, on the seashore; near Cabo Rojo, toward Puerta ileal, on roadsides; 

 near Mayaguez, on Mount Mesa; near Isabela, in forests near the seashore. — I?ahama, 

 Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman, Haiti, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, St. Bartholomew 

 (Stockholm Herbarium), Antigua (Grisebach), Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinitpie, St* 

 Lucia (Grisebach), St. Vincent, Bequia, Mustique (Kew Bull. no. 81, p. 248), Grenada, 

 Tobago, Trinidad. This tree is indigenous in Mexico and in Central America. It is 

 widely diffused, however, either under cultivation or naturalized, in the West Indies, 

 especially Jamaica, and in the northern part of South Am<^rica, as w^(41 as in some 

 parts of tropical Asia. 



From the blood-red heartwood of the tree (which becomes black on exposurr to the 

 air) is made logwood (campeachy-wood), an exceedingly valuable dyestuff. The 

 important crystalline princMpleof this ^vood, haematoxylin (C^^^II^^ O^,), is much use 

 as a dyestutT to j)roduce l)lue, violet, and black. The most valuable logwood comes 

 from the west coast of Yucatan, the least valuable from the Antilles. The wood is 



L 



of value in cabinet work, and the bark c(mtains a gum fnjin which one kind of India 

 ink, also called Chinese ink, is made. In the countries where tho tree is indigenous the 

 the bark, bast, and legumes are used by the people medicinally. 

 Local names, polo de campcchc, campeche. 



