Plant Industries and Climatic Plant Formations 373 



gion. Yet it may be safely stated that only a beginning has been 

 made in the utilization of tropical plant products ; certainly the 

 possible forest products are largely unknown. 



Among woods of this region the most important is the so- 

 called '' mahogany " of commerce. Wood from not less than 

 forty different species of trees are imported into the United 

 States under this name. This gives some idea of the large number 

 of hard, fine-grained woods, suitable for cabinet work and veneers, 

 that occur in tropical forests. There are also many lighter woods 

 in the tropical forests which are suited to general construction 

 purposes, and eventually these will be exported to the United 

 States. 



Formerly much wild rubber came from the American tropics, 

 but the yield is now so small as compared with the demand 

 that most of the rubber used in the United States comes from the 

 rubber plantations in the East Indies. Logwood and other 

 dyewoods are of growing commercial importance. Tobacco 

 is extensively cultivated. Sugar cane and cotton furnish the most 

 valuable products of herbaceous plants. Cinnamon is derived 

 from the inner bark of a tree now cultivated in the West Indies. 

 The bark is carefully removed, piled in heaps, and allowed to 

 ferment. When fermentation has reached a certain point, the 

 bark is dried and prepared for the market. Coffee is obtained 

 from the fruit of the coffee tree. The outer husk is removed and 

 the two seeds or '^ beans " in each fruit dried and sent to market. 

 Coffee is of some commercial importance in this region, but most 

 of our supply comes from Brazil. Nutmegs are also seeds of a 

 tree fruit. The fleshy part of the nutmeg fruit is discarded when 

 fully ripe, and the seeds dried. The outer coat is then broken 

 and removed and sold under the name of '' mace." The inner 

 part is the familiar nutmeg of commerce. 



Tapioca is prepared from the starch of the cassava, which is 

 related to our American milkweeds. Cocoa is derived from the 

 seeds of the cocoa tree. Oranges, lemons, grapefruit, guavas, 



