482 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL, HERBARIUM. 



roasted beans and use them for making " pinole." The tree is mentioned by 

 Clavigero (Historia de la California, 1789) as " palo hierro." 



26. GLIRICIDIA H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 6: 393. 1823. 

 Trees with pinnate leaves ; leaflets estipellate, usually blotched beneath ; 

 flowers in axillary racemes, pink or purplish ; fruit stipitate, broadly linear, 

 exalate, bivalvate. 

 Leaflets rounded at apex, densely sericeous beneath when young with long 



hairs; flowers about 1.5 cm. long 1. G. guatemalensis. 



Leaflets mostly acute, glabrate beneath or sparsely strigose with very short 

 hairs; flowers about 2.5 cm. long 2. G. sepium. 



1. Gliricidia guatemalensis Micheli, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2: 442. pi. 10. 1894. 

 Oaxaca. Guatemala ; type from Sacabaja. 



Leaflets 11 to 17, oval, 1.5 to 3.5 cm. long, blotched beneath with bronze 

 or purple; flowers long-pediceled. in lax racemes. 



2. Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 688. 1841. 

 Robinia sepium Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 28. 1760. 



Gliricidia maculata H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 6: 393. 1823. 



Robinia maculata H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 6: 393. 1823. 



Lonchocarpus maculatus DC. Prodr. 2: 260. 1825. 



Robinia variegata Schlecht. Linnaea 12: 301. 1838. 



Gliricidia lambii Fernald, Bot. Gaz. 20: .583. 1895. 



Sinaloa to Veracruz, Yucatan, and Chiapas. Central America and northern 

 South America ; naturalized in the West Indies and Philippines ; type from 

 Cartagena, Colombia. 



Tree, 3 to 9 meters high or larger, the trunk usually short and crooked ; 

 bark grayish, smooth or shallowly fissured ; leaflets ovate or elliptic, 3.5 to 6.5 

 cm. long, acute, green above, pale beneath and usually blotched with bronze; 

 flowers 2.5 cm. long, in clustered racemes, bright pink ; fruit long, flat. 1.5 cm. 

 wide; sapwood yellowish, turning reddish brown on exposure, the heartwood 

 darker, tinged with red, hard and heavy, very tough, close-grained, taking 

 a good polish. " Cacahuananche " (MichoacAn, Guerrero, Sinaloa, Tepic) ; 

 " cacahuauano " ( Oaxaca ; from the Nahuatl " cacahua-nantl," " cacao- 

 mother") ; " lengua de perico " (Veracruz) ; " madre de cacao" (Jalisco, Chia- 

 pas, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Philippines); " xak-yaab," 

 " sacyab " (Yucatan, Maya) ; " iaiti " (Chiapas) ; " cansim " (Guatemala) ; " ma- 

 dera negra " (Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua); " sangre de drago " (Costa 

 Rica); " bala " (Costa Rica, Panama); " madriado " (Nicaragua); " mata- 

 rat6n " (Panama, Colombia); " bien vestida," "pin6n florido," " pin6n amo- 

 roso" (Cuba) ; "cacaute" (Philippines). 



Often planted for hedges, and a favorite shade tree for cacao and coffee plan- 

 tations ; grown from seeds or cuttings. The leaves are eaten by cattle but. like 

 other parts of the plant, they are poisonous to rats, mice, and other rodents. 

 The seeds or powdered bark mixed with rice, etc., are used in tropical America 

 for poisoning rats and mice. The tree is said to have been introduced into the 

 Philippines from Mexico at an early date. 



This tree was first described by Ovie<lo (Lib. VIII, Cap. XXX), who says that 

 in order to protect the cacao " they plant between the trees other trees Avhich 

 the Indians call yaguaguyt and the Christians madera negra, which grow almost 

 twice as large as the cacao trees and protect them from the sun. and they 

 prune the branches to make them grow straight. These trees are of such a na- 

 ture that they live much longer than the cacao trees and never decay ; it is one of 

 the strongest woods known. The madera negra has very beautiful flowers, pink 

 and white, in bunches, and they have a good odor ; the fruit consists of pods 



