STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 217 



not numerous or very satisfactory, and it is doubtful how many species occur 

 in Mexico. 



The trees grow very rapidly. Their hollow trunks are generally inhabited 

 by pugnacious ants. The trunks are often cut in two and used as troughs to 

 conduct water. Many of the native inhabitants of tropical America used them 

 also for making a kind of trumpet, and the soft spongy wood was employed as 

 tinder. In Brazil the wood has been used for making paper. The bark con- 

 tains a tough, coarse fiber used for cordage and for mats and for a kind of coarse 

 cloth by the Indians of Central and South America. The sap yields rubber, 

 but the quantity obtained by tapping is too small to be of commercial impor- 

 tance. It is said that the Indians sometimes ate the pith and that cattle eat 

 the leaves and fruit. The fruit is eaten also by birds. 



Various medicinal properties are ascribed to the plants. In Mexico the juice 

 is used as a caustic for the treatment of ulcers and the removal of warts. In 

 South America and the West Indies it is used for dysentery and venereal dis- 

 eases, and a decoction of the young leaves for dropsy, liver affections, and 

 asthma. The ashes, according to Barham, were employed as a remedy for 

 dropsy. It is said, in addition, that the plant possesses the properties of digi- 

 talis, although its toxicity is relatively low. 



According to Cook ' Cecropia peltata is known in Porto Rico as " yagrumo 

 henibra," because of the fact that it is popularly believed to be the female plant 

 of Didymopanaj; trioiototoni, which is known as " yagrumo macho." 



The trees of the genus Cecropia are first described by Oviedo* (Lib. VIII, 

 Cap. X), under the name " yaruma." He states that the Indians valued them 

 highly as a remedy for wounds. 



The following vernacular names are reported for the species : " Guarumbo " 

 (Valley of Mexico, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas) ; " guarumo " (Tabasco, Chiapas, 

 Veracruz, Costa Rica ; the word, according to Pittier, is probably of Cuban or 

 Haitian origin); " chancarro " (Veracruz, Oaxaca); " coilotopalo," " coilotil- 

 palo " (Valley of Mexico); " saruma " (Michoacfin, Valley of Mexico); 

 " guarima " (Tabasco, Chiapas). 



Pistillate spikes sessile 1. C. mexicana. 



Pistillate spikes pedunculate. 



Staminate spikes few, 10 to 15 cm. long 2. C. schiedeana. 



Staminate spikes numerous (12 to 15), 3 to 6 cm. long 3. C. obtusa. 



1. Cecropia mexicana Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 3: 151. pi. 80. 1883. 

 Veracruz to Sinaloa and Oaxaca ; type from Cordoba, Veracruz. Central 



America. 



Sometimes as much as 12 to 15 meters high. "Guarumbo" (Oaxaca); 

 " trompeta " (Sinaloa) ; "guarumo" (Costa Rica, El Salvador). 



This is probably the species reported from .ToruUo by Sesse and Mocino ' as 

 C. peltata L. It has often been reported from Mexico under that name by other 

 writers. One collection from Oaxaca, with leaves glabrate beneath, perhaps 

 represents an undescribed species. 



2. Cecropia schiedeana Klotzsch, Linnaea 20: 531. 1847. 

 Veracruz ; type from Papantla. 



' Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 8: 110. 1903. 



' Primera parte de la historia natural y general de las Indias, yslas y tierra 

 firme del mar oceano. Sevilla, 1535. An enlarged and improved edition was 

 published in Madrid, 1851-55. 



' PI. Nov. Hisp. 170. 1887. 



