STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 413 



small, white, in short racemes, long-pedicellate; fruit ellipsoid, compressed, 2.5 

 to 3 cm. long. 



6. HYMENAEA L. Sp. PI. 1192. 1753. 



Some of the species occurring along the East African coast furnish valuable 

 gums which are exported as "copal gum " for the manufacture of varnish. The 

 gum is exuded chiefly about the roots, and in some localities deposits of "fossil " 

 gum are found, where the trees themselves have disappeared. From 800,000 to 

 1,200,000 pounds of the gum are said to be exported annually from Zanzibar. 

 1. Hymenaea courbaril L. Sp. PI. 1192. 1753. 



Hymenaea candoUeona H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 6: 323. pi. 566. 1823. 



Tepic to Chiapas, Veracruz, and Tabasco. Widely distributed in Central 

 America, the West Indies, and South America. 



Unarmed tree, 5 to 25 meters high, or even larger, the trunk sometimes 2 

 meters in diameter, sometimes furnished with buttresses, the bark thin, whitish ; 

 leaves bifoliolate, persistent, the leaflets obliquely ovate, oblong, or oval, 5 to 10 

 cm. long, obtuse to acuminate, thick and leathery, gland-dotted; flowers large, 

 whitish or purplish, corymbose-paniculate; fruit large, brown, rough, usually 

 2-seeded, indehiscent, the valves very thick and hard. " Cuapinol," " cuapinole," 

 "cuapinoli," " coapinol," " guapinol," " guapinole " (Tabasco, Oasaca, Veracruz, 

 Jalisco, Central America, etc. ; from the Nahuatl cucu-pinolli, sometimes written 

 quauhpinoli) ; " nere " (Oaxaca, Zapotec, Reko) ; " copinol " (Guatemala, El 

 Salvador) ; " algarrobo " (El Salvador, Cuba, Porto Rico, Panama, Venezuela) ; 

 " quiebra-hacha," " curbaril " (Cuba); " palito Colorado" (Guatemala, Hondu- 

 ras, Blake). 



The name " courbaril " is said to be employed in British Guiana and " jatoba " 

 in Brazil. The wood is very hard, tough, and heavy (the specific gravity re- 

 ported as 0.90 and 1.06), and is colored somewhat like mahogany; it is em- 

 ployed for general construction, ship building, furniture, sugar mills, etc., and 

 is sometimes exported. The Indians of Brazil use both the trunks and the bark 

 for making canoes. The seeds are surrounded by a sweet pulp, which becomes 

 mealy when the fruit is ripe. This pulp is edible ; it is mixed with water to 

 prepare a kind of "atole," which is said to be very nutritious, and is some- 

 times fermented to produce an alcoholic beverage. A pale yellow or reddish 

 gum (" resina de cuapinole," " goma anime de Mexico." " ambar del pais," 

 " Smbar de cuapinole," " succino del pals," " succino criollo," " goma de la 

 tierra," " incienso de la tierra," " incienso de Petapa " ) exudes from the trunk, 

 and is found more abundantly on the roots. In Mexico this has been much 

 used for incense in churches, and is employed in making varnish for furniture, 

 patent leather, etc. It is sometimes collected in Mexico for export, and this 

 tree is supposed to be the source of the " gum anime," of which large quantities 

 are shipped from Brazil. This was formerly used in official medicine, espe- 

 cially in the preparation of ointments and plasters, but now it is employed only 

 in the manufacture of varnish and incense. The fruit contains large resin 

 pockets whose contents harden into gum. In the regions where the tree is 

 native the gum is sometimes smoked to relieve asthma and is employed locally 

 for rheumatism, catarrh, ulcers, and venereal diseases. The decoction of the 

 bark is reputed to act as an arterial sedative and to have purgative vermifuge 

 and carminative properties.^ For an illustration of the fruit see Contr. U. S. 

 Nat. Herb. 8: 2)1- 4i- 



7. BAUHINIA L. Sp. PI. 374. 1753. 



Trees or shrubs, often armed with spines, sometimes scandent, the stems 

 often compressed; leaves simple and palmately nerved, entire or bilobate, 



' See Noriega, Bol. Dir. Estud. Biol. (Mexico) 2: 357-363. f. IS. 1918. 



