areas in Puerto Rico, chiefly in the moist limestone 

 and lower Cordillera forest recjions. In the Cor- 

 dillera restricted chiefly to steep rocky areas with 

 soils in the Mucara (rroiip or in associated well- 

 drained rocky soils. In a few experiments the 

 native seed has not produced promising forest 

 plantations. 



Seed from continental America formerly re- 

 jrarded as a distinct species, cedro espahol 

 or Mexican-cedar {Cedrela mfxicana M. J. 

 Roem.), has also been tested in Puerto Rico. 

 Thoufjh widely planted in the public forests for 

 timber, most of the trees became chlorotic and died 

 for reasons not understood. Nevertheless, a few 

 trees grew very rapidly. The handsome shade trees 

 commonly seen alonf? roadsides are from imported 

 seed. 



Public forests. — Carite, Guajataca, Guilarte, 

 IMaricao, Rio Abajo, Toro Neja'c 



Range. — Widely distributed in wet forests of 

 low elevations in tropical America. Native ap- 

 parently through West Indies in Greater Antilles 

 and Lesser Antilles to Trinidad and Tobago, the 

 range spread by cultivation. Also native in con- 

 tinental tropical America from Mexico (Sinaloa 

 and San Luis Potosi .southward)" to Ecuador, 

 Peru, Brazil, and Guianas. Introduced into 

 southern Florida and the Old World. 



Other common names. — cedro, cedro oloroso, 

 cedro del pais, cedro hembra del pais, cedro mexi- 

 cano, cedro espahol (Puerto Rico) ; cedro (Span- 

 ish, commerce); cedro hembra (Dominican Re- 

 public, Cuba); cedro macho (Cuba); cedro 

 Colorado, culche (Mexico) ; cedro real (El Salva- 

 dor) ; cedro amargo, cedro bianco, cedro dulce, 

 cedro Colorado, cobano (Costa Rica); cedro 

 amargo (Panama) ; cedro bianco, cedro oloroso, 

 cedro caoba, cedro clavel (Colombia) ; cedro 

 amargo, cedro amarillo (Venezuela) ; cedro de 

 Castilla (Ecuador); cedro Colorado (Peru); 

 Spanish-cedar, West -Indies-cedar, Mexican-cedar, 

 Central-American-cedar, South-American - cedar 

 (English); cigarbox - cedar, cigarbox cedrela 

 (United States) ; cedar, Jamaican-cedar, Hon- 

 duras-cedar (Jamaica) ; redcedar, acajou (Domin- 

 ica, Trinidad) ; cigarbox-cedar, cedar (Trinidad) ; 

 redcedar (Tobago); cedar (British Honduras); 

 redcedar, cedar, kurana (British Guiana) ; acajou 

 rouge (French) ; cedre, cedre espagnol (Haiti) ; 

 acajou amer, acajou senti, acajou a muebles, acajou 

 ]iays (Guadeloui>e) ; acajou (Dutch AVest Indies) ; 

 leli (Curacao) ; ceder (Surinam) ; acaju, cedro 

 vermelho ( Brazil). 



Botanical synonyms. — Cedrela sintenisii C. 

 DC, C. mcxicana M. J. Roem. 



MAHOGANY FAMILY (MELIACEAE) 



109. Guaraguao, American muskwood 



Large tree of moist forests distinguished by : 

 (1) a dense crown of large, alternate, even pinnate 

 leaves with 8-20 or more paired, elliptic to oblong, 

 glossy, dark green leaflets, with sunken veins giv- 

 ing a slightly corrugated appearance ; (2) the apex 

 of the woody leaf axis continuing to grow like a 

 stem and forming new leaflets at tlie tip after the 

 other leaflets are mature; (3) many 4-parted 

 greenish-white flowers %-% inch a^'ross; and (4) 

 the reddish-brown seed capsules home in narrow 

 grapelike clusters, nearly round, %-% inch in di- 

 ameter but narrowed at base, covered with many 

 raised dots (lenticels), and splitting into 4 parts, 

 with 4 or fewer reddish seeds. 



An evergreen tree of the forest canopy 40-75 

 feet tall, with straight clear trunk (forked low in 

 open grown trees) 1-3 feet in diameter, a few 

 larger, becoming fluted when large, and with a 

 widely spreading crown. The bark is rough, with 

 many longitudinal fissures, brown with a reddish 

 tinge, thick ( % inch or more) . Inner bark is pink- 

 ish and slightly bitter. T\vigs are brown and 

 stout, with many raised dots (lenticels). 



The leaves are 8-24 inches long on stout round 

 brown woody axes. The leaflets, borne on short 

 stalks Vs inch long, are 5-7 inches long and ly^- 

 21/2 inches broad, short-pointed at apex and base, 



244 



Guarea trichilioides L. 



edges not toothed, slightly thickened, dark green 

 on upper surface and paler lieneath. 



Flower clusters (panicles) are borne laterally, 

 branched but narrow, 4-12 inches long. The nu- 

 merous fragrant short-stalked flowei-s are spread- 

 ing and minutely hairy. The calyx is 4-lobed; 

 there are 4 haiij petals i/4 inch long; white stamen 

 tulje 14 inch high with 8 anthers inside top; and 

 pistil 3/jg inch high on a disk with 4-celled ovary, 

 style, and stigma. The seeds are %-V2 inch long. 

 Flowers and fruit are produced over most of the 

 year. 



The sap wood is whitish to brownish, and the 

 veiy attractive heartwood pinkish to red, turning 

 light reddi.sh brown. The wood is of medium 

 weight or moderately heavy (specific gravity 

 0.51), hard, strong, tough, medium-textured, 

 straight-grained, somewhat brittle, and aromatic 

 when green though odorless when seasoned. Rate 

 of air-seasoning is slow, and amount of degrade 

 is moderate. Machining characteristics are as fol- 

 lows: planing, .shaping, turning, mortising, and 

 resistance to screw splitting are good; boring is 

 fair; and sanding is excellent. The wood is re- 

 sistant to attack by diy-wood termites and is dur- 

 able in the ground. 



This pretty wood makes fine furniture and cabi- 

 nets, since it resembles mahogany and Spanish- 



