634 Forestry Quarterly. 



resembles very much the conditions known to ns in Cuba, Porto 

 Rico, or Jamaica. Here, as there, the Rhizophora mangle and 

 Avicennia nitida form the mangrove forest, and other famihar 

 names occur, like the parasitic Ficus and Ceiba, and Diptero- 

 carpaceae with various species. This forest knows only broadleaf 

 trees, mostly of hard, heavy wood, several hundred species 

 and mostly even botanically undetermined. Dr. Jentsch collected 

 600 woody plants. He enumerates by common names some 150, 

 and describes in more detail some 40 species, only half of which 

 could be botanically placed ; and as technically recognized and 

 used, only 14 species are named. As to the value of most of these 

 species there is as yet no certainty. 



So far, only two species are being exploited for export, namely 

 Kickxia elastica, for rubber, and Diospyros dendo (together with 

 other Diospyros species, of which 12 are cited) for ebony. For 

 home consumption some 10 to 15 species are utilized. Several 

 mahogany woods (Mimusops djave, the magnificent Terminalia 

 supcrba and the botanically undetermined Bope ba mbale, and the 

 teak-like Chlorophora excelsa, several cedar woods, yellow woods 

 and other dyewoods promise to come into the market. 



The most widely represented family in the dominant stand are 

 Leguminosae with 43, Apocynaceae with 25, Euphorbiaceae with 

 22, Moraceae with 20, and Annonaceae with 10 species. In the 

 underwood, Rubiaceae and Acanthaceae are most frequent. 



Biisgen gives a very complete list and description of this flora 

 with illustrations of wood sections. Four groups of woods are 

 distinguished which make it easier to classify for technical pur- 

 poses, namely 



a. wood parenchyma not distinguishable with magnifying glass, 



but vessels and pithrays visible. 



b. parenchymatous tissues very fine, lines crossing pithrays 



prominent ; 



c. wood parenchyma forming striking figures, namely c. i. more 



or less coherent lines, or c. 2. more or less isolated fields 

 surrounding vessels ; 



d. grain figures not visible to naked eye, and only very fine struc- 



tures differentiated under magnifying glass. 



The important woods are mahogany-like, rosewood-like, ebony- 

 like, cedar-like, oak-like, pitch pine-like, a number of species as a 



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