been used to stupefy fisli. The seeds are toxic to 

 luunaiis and livestock and have been emplo^'ed in 

 poisoning animals and in medicine, but such use is 

 dangerous. When explodiiiir, the mature seed cap- 

 sules may injure or frighten persons and livestock. 



In some tropical areas, including southern Flor- 

 ida, the trees are planted for shade. However, the 

 poisonous sap makes the trees objectionable around 

 houses. Young trees gro^Y rapidly but require 

 plenty of light. Windstorms damage the trees. 



Connnon as a roadside shade tree and living 

 fence along the moist coast of Puerto Rico, mostly 

 east of San Juan. Occasionally elsewhere on the 

 island, planted and wild. Through the Virgin 

 Islands scattered in moist forests and pastures and 

 ])lanted along fence rows and for shade. St. 

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



Range. — Through "West Indies from Cuba and 

 Jamaica to Trinidad and Tobago and on the con- 

 tinent from Costa Rica south to Peru, Bolivia, 

 Brazil, and Guianas. Planted also in southern 

 Florida and southern California, Bahamas, and 

 Dutch West Indies. Cultivated and occasionally 

 naturalized in Old World tropics. 



Otheh coMJiox NAMES. — javilla (Puerto Eico) ; 



monkey-pistol (Virgin Islands) ; habillo, habilla, 

 jabillo, jabilla (Spanish) ; salvadera, haba 

 (Cuba); tronador, nune (Panama); ceibo ama- 

 rillo, ceiba de leche, acuapar, tronador, castaneto 

 (Colombia) ; ceiba, ceiba blanca, ceiba habillo 

 (Venezuela) ; catahua (Peru) ; ochoho (Bolivia) ; 

 hura (commerce) ; hura, hura-wood, possumwood, 

 sandbox, sandbox-tree (United States, English) ; 

 monkey-pistol, possumtree (English) ; monkey 

 dinner-bell (British Guiana); sablier (French); 

 arbre au diable (Haiti); bois du (liable (Marti- 

 nique) ; zandkokerboom, sandbox-tree (Dutch 

 West Indies) ; possentrie (Surinam) ; assacu 

 (Brazil, commerce) ; cataua, areeiro (Brazil). 



The English name sandbox and French name 

 sablier refer to the early use of the hollowed out 

 shell of immature seed capsules to hold sand, em- 

 ployed in blotting ink before blotters came into 

 use. Paper weights have been made by filling the 

 capsides with lead, but the capsules may come 

 apart on drying. 



A closely related species of jabillo (Hura poly- 

 andra Baill.), differing in the white male flowers 

 with more numerous stamens in a column %-% 

 inch long, is native from Mexico to Costa Rica. 



126. Cedro macho 



SPURGE FAMILY (EUPHORBIACEAE) 



Hyeronima clusioides (Tul.) Muell,-Arg. 



This medium-sized tree limited to Puerto Rico 

 is characterized by: (1) a very uniform, dense, 

 bright green crown, pyramidal on young trees; 



(2) twigs, petioles, branches of flower clusters, and 

 flowers covered with tiny dotlike brown scales, 

 which are less conspicuous on both leaf surfaces; 



(3) the elliptic leaves blunt-pointed or rounded at 

 both ends with wavy and often recurved edges, 

 slightly jointed and bent where the blade is at- 

 tached to the usually reddish-tinged petiole; and 



(4) numerous minute yellowish-green flowers less 

 than % inch long in lateral branched clusters, 

 male and female on different trees (dioecious). 



Evergreen tree to 70 feet in height and 3 feet 

 or more in trunk diameter. The bark varies from 

 scaly to fissured and rough, from gray to dark 

 brown, and becomes more than 14 inch thick. 

 Inner bark is brown or reddish and slightly bitter. 

 Twigs are light brown. 



The leaves are alternate on petioles Vi-'^Vi 

 inches long and have slightly thickened blades 

 214-5 inches long and 11/4-3 inches broad. The 

 upper surface is green and slightly shiny, and the 

 lower surface paler and with midrib often hairy. 



Flower clusters (panicles) 1-4 inches long bear 



flowers almost stalkless along the branches. Male 

 flowers have a cup-shaped, 3-5-toothed scaly calyx, 

 a hairy disk, and 3-5, usually 5, spreading sta- 

 mens. Female flowers have a cup-shaped scaly 

 calyx and a pistil with 2-celled ovary and 2 or 3 

 2-forked styles. The nearly round fruits are less 

 than i/g inch long, reddish to blackish, slightly 

 fleshy, and 1 -seeded. Flowering mainly in summer 

 and fall and in fruit from late summer to winter. 



The sapwood is light brown, the heartwood rich 

 reddish brown. The wood is hard, heavy (specific 

 gravity 0.8), finishes well, and takes a good polish. 

 It is susceptible to attack by dry-wood termites. 

 The wood has been employed both for furniture 

 and construction. It is considered heavy for the 

 former use but is very attractive. 



Distributed in Puerto Rico chiefly in the moist 

 limestone and western lower Cordillera regions. 



Public forests. — Cambalache, Carite, Guaja- 

 taca, Guilarte, Maricao, Rio Abajo, Toro Negro. 



Range. — Known only from Puerto Rico. 



The generic name also is spelled Hieronyma. 

 Reports of this species from Jamaica and from 

 Dominica to Trinidad refer to H. jamaicens'ts 

 Urban and //. caiibaea Urban, respectively. 



278 



