courbaril (commerce, English) ; curbaril, caguai- 

 ran, algarrobo de las Antillas (Cuba) ; guapinol, 

 cuapinoj, copinol (Mexico, Central America) ; 

 guapinal, nazareno (Colombia) ; corobore (Vene- 

 zuela) ; copal (Ecuador); courliaril (Peru); lo- 

 cust (British AVest Indies, British Guiana) ; 

 West-Indian-locust, stinking-toe (Jamaica); 

 stinking-toe (Trinidad) ; locust, guapinol (British 

 Hondui-as) ; courbaril, simiri, locust (British 

 Guiana) ; courbaril (Guadeloupe, Martinque, 

 French Guiana) ; locust (Dutch West Indies) ; 



rode locus, locus, loksi (Surinam) ; jutahy, jatoba 

 (Brazil). 



The specific epithet is taken from an American 

 Indian name, courbaril. Early Spanish settlers 

 in the New World gave the name algarrobo to this 

 and other trees of tlie legume family suggestive of 

 the related Old AVorld carob tree with the same 

 Spanish name {Ceratonia siliqua L.*). The lat- 

 ter, introduced experimentally in St. Croix, has 

 pinnate leaves witli 4r-10 elliptic leaflets and flat 

 pods 4—12 inches long with edible pulp. 



LEGUME FAMILY (LEGUMINOSAE) 



CASSIA SUBFAMILY (CAESALPINIOIDEAE; CAESALPINIACEAE) 



77. Palo de rayo, Jerusalem-thorn Parkinsonia aculeata L.* 



Small spiny tree characterized by: (1) smooth 

 yellow-green or blue-green bark, branches, and 

 twigs; (2) specialized leaves consisting of a ter- 

 minal s])ine and 2 or 4 long yellow-green drooping 

 strips bearing numerous small leaflets V8~%6 inch 

 long which shed early; (3) showy golden-yellow 

 flowers % inch or more across the 5 petals, in loose 

 lateral clusters (racemes) 3-8 inches long; and 

 (4) brown pod 2-4 inches long and V4 inch or more 

 in diameter, narrowed between the seeds. 



Shrub or small tree 10-20 feet tall, often branch- 

 ing near ground, with very open crown of spread- 

 ing branches and very thin drooping foliage, green 

 tliroughout the year, thougli appearing leafless 

 after the leaflets fall. The bark is smootli and 

 very thin, yellow green or blue green but becoming 

 brown and fissured or scaly on large trunks. 

 Inner bark is green and slightly bitter. The slen- 

 der, slightly zigzag, green twigs are minutely 

 hairy when young. They have paired .^hort spines 

 (stipules) at nodes bordering the larger spine 

 %-% inch or more in length, which ends the leaf 

 axis. These spines may remain on the branches 

 and trunk in groups of 3 or singly. 



The alternate leaves actually are twice pinnate 

 (bipinnate), consisting of a very short main axis 

 ending in a spine and 1 or 2 jjairs of drooping lat- 

 eral axes 8-12 inclies long and i/s in^^'h broad, flat, 

 and slightly thickened. Each clrooijing strip or 

 streamer bears 20-30 pairs of thin, oblong, green, 

 deciduous leaflets and functions as a leaf after the 

 leaflets fall. 



Several sliglitly beanlike fragrant flowere are 

 borne on slender stalks. There is a short calyx 

 tube with 5 narrow yellow-brown lobes %6 inch 

 long, turned downward ; 5 nearly round petals 

 %-V2 inch long, yellow, tinged with orange, and 

 hairy at base, tlie upper petal slightly larger, red- 

 spotted, and turning red in withering; 10 stamens 

 14 inch long with green filaments and brown 

 anthers; and reddisli-tinged pistil 14 inch long 

 with hairy 1-celled ovary and slender style. The 



long-pointed pods contain usually 2-5 oblong dark 

 brown seeds % inch long ( 5,600 to a pound) . With 

 flowers and pods throughout the year. 



The sapwood is yellowish and thick, and heart- 

 wood light or reddish brown. The wood is mod- 

 erately hard and heavy (specific gravity 0.6), and 

 brittle, used locally only for fuel. 



Sometimes grown in fences and as a spiny living 

 iiedge. The foliage and pods are browsed by live- 

 stock. Elsewhei'e an infusion of the leaves has 

 served in home medicines. 



Often planted as an ornamental along roads and 

 escaping from cultivation or naturalized, chiefly 

 in the clry coastal region of Puerto Rico. Also in 

 Vieques, St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. Jolm, Tortola, 

 and Virgin Gorda. 



Raxge. — Widely distributed in tropical Amer- 

 ica, native of Texas, Arizona, and Mexico and pos- 

 sibly elsewhere but cultivated, spreading, and 

 becoming naturalized from soutliern United States 

 (Florida and Georgia to Texas and California) 

 south to Argentina and in the Old World tropics. 

 Also throughout West Indies, probably intro- 

 duced, and planted in Benimda. 



Other co5imon names. — flor de rayo, flor de 

 mayo (Puerto Rico) ; lluvia de oro, acacia, acacia 

 de los masones, cambron, siempre-viva (Dominican 

 lvepul)lic) ; junco niarino, espinillo (Cuba) ; palo- 

 \erde (Mexico) ; retama (Mexico to Colombia) ; 

 sulfato, sulfatillo, palo de rayo (Guatemala) ; 

 sulfato (El Salvador) ; acacia de agiiijote (Nica- 

 ragua) ; yabo, sauce, sauce espino, goajiro (Colom- 

 bia) ; espinillo, pauji, cuji extranjero (Vene- 

 zuela) ; mataburro (Peru) ; cina-cina (Uruguay, 

 Argentina) ; Jerusalem -thorn, horsebean, palo- 

 verde, Mexican paloverde, retama (United 

 States) ; Jerusalem-thorn (English) ; hoi-sebean 

 (Bahamas) ; Jerusalem (British Guiana) ; madam 

 naiz, madam yass (Haiti) ; arrete-boeuf (Guade- 

 loupe, Martinique) ; boonchi strena, wonder-tree 

 (Dutch West Indies) . 



180 



