NOTES ON IDENTIFICATION OF TROPICAL WOOD 



489 



a long time in reaching the pubHc, but 

 they are manifest to all, and you may 

 well rejoice in the beneficence and 

 spirit which give you an opportunity 

 to make your institution one of the 

 agencies through which shall come the 

 restoration and conservation of our 

 forests. 



The work that associations and so- 

 cieties may perform is such as the other 

 instrumentalities named are not espe- 

 cially seeking to accomplish, for that of 

 the former is mainly along esthetic 

 lines. The efiforts of associations and 

 societies lead to an appreciation of the 

 beauty of the wooded landscape, the 

 opportunities the forests offer for na- 

 ture study, and their enjoyment as 

 places of amusement, recreation, and 

 health resorts. Though not what com- 

 mercial forestry mainly seeks, their 



work is of great importance. Yet some 

 of these, like that of the Pennsylvania 

 Forestry Association, have taken up the 

 practical as well as the sentimental fea- 

 tures of forestry and have accomplished 

 much good. 



Lastly, is the individual. Here, as 

 well as elsewhere in all societies, com- 

 munities, and nations, the height which 

 each attains and keeps is practically that 

 of the average individual composing 

 them. Our forestry advance will be 

 just what the average individual en- 

 deavors to make it, and you and I must 

 take upon ourselves the work that is 

 to be done as though the burden were 

 ours alone, to the end that this nation's 

 prosperity shall be continued and main- 

 tained and new forests grown for those 

 who are to come after us. 



NOTES ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF 

 A TROPICAL WOOD 



By C, D, MELL, Assistant Dendrologist, Forest Service 



SUCOPIRA is an empirical name 

 of a Brazilian wood submitted for 

 identification, with the object of 

 ascertaining its botanical name and of 

 learning something about the distribu- 

 tion and occurrence of the tree and its 

 commercial importance. The sample 

 was collected by Mr. H. von Bayer, in 

 Para, Brazil, and has no other data ex- 

 cept that it was cut from the heartwood 

 of a log about two feet in diameter and 

 that the wood is occasionally imported 

 into Europe for the manufacture ol 

 walking canes. 



The common or trade name of a wood 

 often aids in determining its botan- 

 ical name, but entirely different woods 



^Systema Materies Medicce Vegetahilis Bra- 

 ziliensis, Composnit Car. Frid. Phil. De Mar- 

 tins. Lipsiae, 1843. 



^Archiv der Pharmacie. Januar. 1862. 



often have the same common name, and 

 very careful study and comparison are 

 therefore necessary before one can be 

 sure that an identification is correct. 

 After a long search in botanical litera- 

 ture, it was found that Doctor von 

 Martins^ described in his Materia Med- 

 ica a Brazilian tree called Sebipira, 

 Sicopira, Sebupira, Sebepira, Sepipira, 

 Sucopira, or Sicupira,botanically known 

 as Bozvdichia virgiloides H. B. K. It 

 was not safe, however, to conclude 

 without further technical investigation 

 that the tree from which this wood was 

 taken is a species of Bozvdichia. 



Pecholtz^ made a study of Sicopira 

 gum, and in this connection described 

 the wood of the Sicopira tree as being 

 hard, heavy, very resinous, and highly 

 esteemed in Brazil for all kinds of 

 building purposes. He also stated that 

 the stems yield a fluid known by the 



