by him from trees and living material supple- 

 mented by herbarium specimens. On field trips 

 through Puerto Kico and on brief visits to Mona, 

 St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, and Tortola, he 

 collected about 1,200 numbers of herbarium speci- 

 mens of trees. As a result, a few additional island 

 records were obtained and one new tree species was 

 named. An article on the trees of Mona Island 

 (20) was based mainly on his two field trips there. 

 In checking the identifications, he examined the 

 collections from Puerto Kico and the Virgin 

 Islands in the National Herbarium of the United 

 States National Museum, Washington, D.C. Sets 

 of specimens have been deposited there and in the 

 herbarium of the Institute of Tropical Forestry 

 and will be distributed to other herbaria. 



The junior author, Director of the Institute of 

 Tropical Forestry, has conducted forestry investi- 

 gations in Puerto Rico continuously since 1942 and 

 has studied many of these tree species in the for- 

 ests and experimental plots. He has prepared the 

 chapter "Forests and Forestry in Puerto Rico and 

 the Virgin Islands," checked the descriptions, and 

 contributed notes on wood and uses. Also, he has 

 compiled the data on propagation, growth rate, 

 and site adaptability, and distribution by forest 

 types. 



The manuscript was completed in 1955, then 

 translated into Spanish for the Spanish edition, 

 ancl has been slightly revised in 1962 before publi- 

 cation. The notes on Puerto Rican woods have 

 been expanded to include later investigations at 

 the Institute of Tropical Forestry. Also, many 

 common names recorded in recent floras of other 

 countries have been added. 



PLAN 



The 250 common tree species of Puerto Rico and 

 the Virgin Islands described and illustrated in this 

 volume are grouped by plant families in the usual 

 botanical arrangement adopted by Britton and 

 Wilson (.5) and within each family alphabetically 

 by scientific names. However, the three large sub- 

 families of the legume family often accepted as 

 separate families are kept apart. Sixty-eight 

 plant families and 185 genera are represented. 



Illustrations 



Facing their respective descriptions, the line 

 drawings show foliage and flowers and usually 

 also the fruits. Most are natural size (or very 

 slightly reduced), but some have been reduced to 

 % and a few to 14 natural size as indicated. Near- 

 ly all were made from fresh specimens in Puerto 

 Rico. 



Tree Names 



The heading for the descriptive text of each 

 species contains on the left the preferred common 

 names in Spanish and English, on the right the 

 accepted scientific name, and at top center the 



family names. An asterisk (*) after the scientific 

 name means that the species (or family) is exotic, 

 or introduced, and not native in Puerto Rico and 

 the Virgin Islands. At the end of the text of each 

 species are listed other common names in use and 

 botanical synonyms, the other scientific names 

 used formerly or sometimes now. These names 

 appear also in the Index of Common and Scientific 

 Names. English family names are derived from 

 an impoi'tant example, while scientific or Latin 

 family names terminate in "aceae" with few excep- 

 tions. 



Preferred Common Thames 



Common names of trees often vary from place 

 to place, some being applied to more than one un- 

 related species, while other species may sometimes 

 lack a distinctive local name. The authors have 

 attempted (1) to record all names commonly ap- 

 plied within this region to each species: (2) "to se- 

 lect as a preferred name the one most widely em- 

 ployed locally if not associated more commonly 

 with another species; and (3) to suggest for 

 species with no local common name one extensively 

 used elsewhere. Since Spanish is the language of 

 Puerto Rico, and English that of the Virgin 

 Islands, two names are given for most trees pres- 

 ent in both areas. 



The Spanish common name in the heading is 

 that preferable for Puerto Rico, based chiefly upon 

 prevalent usage. The selection has been made 

 after consultation with local botanists and with 

 foresters both of the Commonwealth Division of 

 Forests, Fisheries, and Wildlife and of the Insti- 

 tute of Tropical Forestry, United States Forest 

 Service. Personnel of the Division who completed 

 an island-wide forest inventory provided valuable 

 information on usage. 



English common names in the heading include 

 those found in the Virgin Islands or in widespread 

 use elsewhere. These preferred names, many of 

 which were listed by Britton and Wilson (5), 

 were checked in the field with rural inhabitants 

 on different islands. For the 65 species also native 

 or naturalized in the United States, chiefly south- 

 ern Florida, there is added the name accepted by 

 the United States Forest Ser\dce in the Check 

 List of Native and Naturalized Trees of the 

 United States (19). For some less known species 

 without local English names, those adopted else- 

 where, such as in other West Indian islands, in 

 Standardized Plant Names (-?7), or in commerce, 

 have been accepted. Wliere two English common 

 names are listed, the first is the local name in the 

 Virgin Islands, and the second is either the Check 

 List name adopted by the United States Forest 

 Service and recommended for the United States 

 or another name also widely employed. If no 

 English name has been selected, the Spanish com- 

 mon name may be suitable or the generic name 

 may serve. 



