STANDLEY — TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 419 



The wood (logwood) is a well-known article of export and has been ex- 

 ported from Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies in vast quantities. 

 Formerly its export was the chief industry of Yucatan and Tabasco, and it is 

 still shipped in considerable amounts. It is stated that when Grandmont 

 captured Campeche he burned more than a million logs stored there. The 

 wood is used principally for dyeing, its properties being dependent upon the 

 peculiar principle, haematoxylin or hematin, which it contains. Logwood is 

 one of the few natural dyewoods which has not been replaced satisfactorily 

 by synthetic dyes. Its properties were made known at an early date, and the 

 wood was soon an important article of export to Spain from Mexico and the 

 West Indies. Acosta relates that in 1587 130 quintals of it were shipped to 

 Spain from Santo Domingo. The tree seems to be native in Hispaniola, but it 

 was naturalized at an early date in Jamaica and the Bahamas, where it did 

 not grow naturally. 



The heartwood is official in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, being used in medicine as 

 a mild astringent, especially in diarrhoea and dysentery. The wood contains 

 about 10 per cent of tannin. The seeds are sometimes employed to flavor food. 

 2. Haematoxylum brasiletto Karst. Fl. Columb. 2: 27. pi, lilt. 1862-69. 



Haematoxylum boreale S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 21: 426. 1886. 



Chihuahua to Baja California, Oaxaca, and Morelos. Guatemala to Colombia 

 (type locality) ; Haiti. 



Tree, similar in habit to the last species, rarely more than 7 meters high, 

 often only a shrub ; bark dark brown ; leaves persistent until the appearance 

 of the new ones, the young leaflets usually tinged with bronze ; leaflets oblong- 

 oval to orbicular, often broadly cuneate, 0.5 to 2 cm. long, rounded or emargi- 

 nate at apex ; fruit 2.5 to 5.5 cm. long, 0.8 to 1.5 cm. wide, very thin, sessile, often 

 red or purple. Known generally as " brasil " or *' palo de brasil," but the names 

 " palo de tinta " and " palo de Campeche " are applied in the south ; " azulillo " 

 (Oaxaca); " brasileto " (Colombia). 



This species has often been confused with the preceding one, and in com- 

 merce no distinction is drawn between the two. The wood is equally valu- 

 able, and has been exported in large quantities from the west coast of Mexico. 

 It is used locally for dyeing various objects and is employed as a remedy 

 for jaundice and erysipelas. The plant is described by Hernandez* in a 

 chapter entitled " De Curaqua, seu Brasilio Hispanorum." The accompany- 

 ing figure is a very poor one and may represent some other plant. He states 

 that the plant was called " curaqua " in Michoac^n, " quamochitl " or " vitz- 

 quahuitl " by the Mexicans, and " brasil " by the Spaniards. " Its wood dyes 

 thread red, for it is much like sandalwood. The decoction of the juice is at 

 first yellow, but it turns red, and if it is boiled longer, purple, and if mixed 

 with alum, red or vermillion. This tree is refrigerant, febrifuge, astringent, 

 and corroborative." 



9. HOFFMANSEGGIA Cav. Icon. PI. 4: 63. 1797. 



Herbs or small shrubs, usually with glandular foliage ; leaves bipinnate, the 

 leaflets small ; flowers yellow, racemose ; fruit linear or oblong, flat, often 

 falcate. 



Several herbaceous species of this genus occur in Mexico. 

 Calyx without black glands ; plants leafless or nearly so. 



Stems and leaves puberulent or short-pilose 1. H. microphylla. 



Stems and leaves glabrous 2. H. intricata. 



Calyx with black sessile glands ; plants usually copiously leafy. 



* Thesaurus 121. 1651. 



