GINSENG FAMILY (ARALIACEAE) 



Key to the 2 species illustrated (Xos. 200-201) 



A. Leaves simple — 200. Dendropanax arhoreiis. 

 AA. Leaves digitate or palmately compound, with usually 10 or 11 leaflets— 201. Didymopanax morototoni. 



200. Polio 



A small to medium-sized tree characterized by : 

 (1) mostly loniT-stalked (to 4 inches) elliptic to 

 ovate leaves, dark green and slightly shiny above 

 and light green beneath; (2) terminal compound 

 flower clusters of numerous small, usually 5- 

 parted, greenish-yellow flowers %6 ii^ch across on 

 shorter stalks in ball-like clusters 1/2-% inch 

 across, which are borne on long equal stalks along 

 the main axis; and (3) fleshy rounded fruit 

 (berry) about V^ inch in diameter, turning from 

 whitish green to black at maturity. 



An evergreen tree to 40 feet or more in height 

 and 1 foot in trunk diameter, with wide spreading 

 rounded crown, hairless throughout. The bark is 

 light gray, smooth or warty with raised dots 

 (lenticels) or becoming slightly fissured. Inner 

 bark is whitish and tasteless. Twigs are gi'een, 

 turning to gray, slender or stout. 



Leaves are alternate, the green petioles mostly 

 long but varying from very short to very long, 

 14-4 inches. Blades are 2-8 inches long and II4- 

 314 inches wide, short- to long-pointed at apex and 

 shoi't -pointed to roiinded at base, thin to slightly 

 thickened, not toothed on edges, the lateral veins 

 often slightly sunken on upper surface. On young 

 shoots the leaves are reported to be often 3-lobed. 



Flower clusters (raceme of umbels with com- 

 pound umbel at apex) are 2-5 inches long and 2 

 inches across, the branches about % inch long and 

 flower stalks about y^ inch long, the axis and 

 branches yellow green. Flower parts usually 5, 

 sometimes 6 or 7, of each kind. A flower consists 

 of a basal tube (hypanthium) about i/ig inch long 

 and broad, partly enclosing the inferior 5-celled 

 ovary and bearing the minute 5-toothed calyx, 5- 

 pointed yellow petals more than i/jg inch long, 5 

 erect stamens V^e inch long, and top of ovary with 

 5 partly united styles. 



The fruits upon drying become 5-angled and 

 contain 5 flattened seeds nearly I/4 inch long, ar- 

 ranged starlike. The styles remain at apex of 



Dendropanax arboreus (L.) Decne. & Planch. 



fruit. Flowering and fruiting nearly through the 

 year. 



The sapwood is whitish or yellowish brown. 

 The moderately soft, moderately lightweight wood 

 (s))ecific gravity 0.5) is little used. 



Elsewhere a decoction of the leaves and roots 

 has been employed in home medicines. A honey 

 plant. 



Widely distributed in the lower mountain and 

 moist limestone regions of Puerto Rico, especially 

 in the coffee plantations of the central and west- 

 ern Cordillera. Also in St. Thomas and Tortola. 



PunLic FORESTS. — Caiubalache, Guajataca, Lu- 

 quillo, jVIaricao, Rio Abajo, Susiia, Toro Negro. 



MlNICH'ALITIES WHERE ESPECIALLY O0MM0>f . — 6, 



35. 



Range. — Common and widespread in tropical 

 America. Greater Antilles, St. Thomas, Tortola, 

 St. Vincent. Grenada, and Trinidad. Mexico 

 (Sinaloa to Tamaulipas and southward) to Co- 

 lombia, Venezuela (including Margarita), Peru, 

 and Bolivia. Also planted in southern Florida. 



Other common names. — palo de polio (Puerto 

 Rico) ; ramon de costa, ramon de vaca, lengua de 

 vaca, palo de burro (Dominican Republic) ; 

 vibona, ramon de vaca, ramon de caballo, palo 

 santo (Cuba) ; mano de oso, mano de leon, palo 

 santo, palo de danta, palo guitaro (Mexico) ; 

 mano de leon (El Salvador) ; vaquero (Panama) ; 

 paina (Venezuela) ; galipee, angelica-tree (Ja- 

 maica) ; bois negresse (Haiti). 



Botanical synonym. — Gilibertia arborea (L.) 

 E. March. 



Gongoli (Dendropanax laririfolhts (E. March.) 

 Decne. & Planch.), also called palo de polio negro, 

 palo de cacliumba, palo de vaca, vibona, and 

 vibora, is a related tree species known only from 

 moist forests of Puerto Rico. It has the flower 

 clusters si)reading and branched (umbels in 

 umbel-like clusters), the stalks of the branches up 

 to 11/^ inches long. 



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