AILANTHUS FAMILY (SIMAROUBACEAE) 

 104. Guarema, bitterbush Picramnia pentandra Sw. 



A small slender tree or shnib characterized by : 

 (1) the showy or ornamental red or scarlet fruits 

 %-% in*^'b long, in grapelike terminal clusters, 

 turning to black; (2) leaves with 5-9 elliptic to 

 ovate, mostly long-pointed leaflets liA-5 inches 

 long and 1-2 inches broad; (3) minute green and 

 reddish-tinged 5-parted flowers % inch long and 

 broad; and (4) the leaves, gray twigs, bark, fruits, 

 and seeds very bitter. 



An evergreen ti-ee or shrub to 20 feet high and 

 4 inches in trunk diameter. Bark on small trunks 

 is gray and smooth. The inner bark is brown and 

 bitter. Young twigs, vei-y young leaves, and 

 flower stalks are covered with minute grayish 

 pressed hairs. 



The alternate leaves are 5-12 inches long, the 

 axis green or reddish tinged. The leaflets have 

 short stalks y^ inch long and are short-pointed or 

 sometimes oblique at base, not toothed at edges, 

 slightly thickened, almost hairless at maturity, 

 slightly shiny green on upper surface and some- 

 what paler beneath. 



Male and female flowers are on different trees 

 (dioecious) in branched terminal clusters (pani- 

 cles) 3-7 inches long. The flowers have 5 narrow 

 sepals and 5 narrow petals about Vie inch long. 

 Male flowers have 5 stamens, and female flowers 

 a pistil with 2- or 3-celled ovary and 2 or 3 stigmas. 



Berrylike fruits, borne on slender red stalks, are 

 round to elliptic, %-% inch long, somewhat juicy 

 inside, with 1-3 shiny brown seeds \i-% inch long. 

 Flowers and fruits produced nearly through the 

 year. 



The whitisli, hard, heavy wood is little used in 

 Puerto Kico, because the trees are too small. 



The leaves and bark have been employed medic- 

 inally in Cuba against fevers. In southern 

 Florida and Cuba the small trees have been grown 

 as hardy ornamentals. A honey plant. 



In secondary forests in the coastal and limestone 

 regions of Puerto Eico. Also in Tortola and re- 

 ported from St. Thomas. 



Public forests. — Cambalache, Guanica, Rio 

 Abajo. 



Range. — Southern Florida including Florida 

 Keys, Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica ( ? ) , Hispaniola, 

 Puerto Rico and Tortola, St. Martin, St. Barthe- 

 lemy, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dom- 

 inica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and Tobago. Also in 

 Colombia and Venezuela. 



Other common names. — hueso (Puerto Rico) ; 

 aguedita, palo de peje, palo de pez (Dominican 

 Republic) ; aguedita, roble agalla, quina del pais 

 (Cuba) ; bitterbush, Florida bitterbush (United 

 States) ; doctor-bar (Tobago) ; bois poison, vail- 

 lant gar^on (Haiti) ; bois poison, bois montagne 

 (Guadeloupe) ; wild-coffee (Dutch West Indies). 



234 



