STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 809 



10. GUAZUMA Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 382. 1763. 



1. Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. Encycl. 3: 52. 1789. 



Theobroma guazuma L. Sp. PI. 782. 1753. 



Guazuma polyhotrya Cav. Icon. PI. 3: 51. pi. 299. 1794. 



Guazuma tomentosa H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 5: 320. 1821. 



Guazuma guazuma Cockerell, Bull. Torrey Club 19: 95. 1892. 



Nearly throughout Mexico except Baja California. Widely distributed in 

 tropical America. 



Slirub or tree, 2 to 20 meters high ; leaves short-petiolate, oblong to broadly 

 ovate, 4 to 16 cm. long, acute to long-acuminate, rounded to deeply cordate and 

 usually very oblique at liase, serrulate, green and glabrate. or more commonly 

 stellate-tomentose, at least beneath; flowers small, yellowish green or whitish, 

 sweet-scented, in axillary cymes ; calyx 2 or 3-parted, stellate-tomentose ; petals 

 5, about 3 mm. long, cucullate ; short-clawed, produced above into a bifid ligule ; 

 fruit a globose or oval, woody capsule, 2 to 4 cm. long, densely tuberculate. im- 

 perfectly 5-valvate at apex; seeds numerous in each cell. " Tablote " (Mich- 

 oacan, Guerrero); " cuaulote " or " cuahulote " (Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas; 

 from the Xahuatl, cuau-olotl) ; " pixoi " or " pixoy " (Yucatan, Maya) ; " palote 

 negro" (Chiapas) ; " uiajahua de toro " (Sinaloa) ; " gu^cima " or " guScimo " 

 (Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Veracuz, Colima, Oaxaca, Durango, 

 Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela; a Carib name, 

 often written incorrectly as " gudsima " or guiizima"); " aquiche " (Tamauli- 

 pas, Escontria) ; " vflcima " (MichoacS.n, Lcdn) ; " yaco granadillo " (Oaxaca, 

 Reko) ; " bulines " {Nueva Farm. Mex.) ; " gudcima boba " (Cuba) ; " caulote " 

 (Guatemala); " guficimo Colorado" (Colombia); " cablote " (Guatemala. 

 Honduras); " guacimo macho " (Venezuela); " guacimillo " (Nicaragua). The 

 name " guayacfln " has been reported as in use in Mexico for this species, but 

 the report is probably incorrect. 



The trunk is often 30 to 40 cm. in diameter, and is covered with rough or 

 smooth, gray or blackish bark. The wood is light, fibrous and coarse-grained, 

 grayish, slightly tinged with red or pink, with a specific gravity of 0.552 to 

 0.5S0. It is rather strong and resistant, and has been employed for ribs of 

 small boats, shoe lasts, barrel staves, house furniture, paneling, firewood, and 

 other purposes, and as a source of charcoal for gunpowder. The young stems 

 yield a strong fiber, suitable for making rope. The juice has been employed 

 to clarify syrup in the manufacture of sugar. Silkworms have been fed on 

 the leaves and stock browse upon the leaves and young shoots. 



The fruit is green at first but black at maturity. When fresh it is rather 

 fleshy or pulpy and mucilaginous, and has a pleasant, sweet flavor. It is 

 sometimes eaten by people, especially in times of scarcity, either raw or 

 cooked. Sometimes, when dry, it is ground and then cooked. Pigs are said 

 to be fond of it. The flowers are said to furnish a good quality of honey. 



The plant is much employed in domestic medicine. The bark and other parts 

 are administered for malaria, cutaneous and syphilitic affections, elephantiasis, 

 diseases of the chest, leprosy, and other diseases. The plant has emollient and 

 astringent properties. 



Oviedo (Lib. VIII, Cap. VII) gives the following account of the tree: "The 

 Guaguma is a large tree that bears fruit like mulberries, and the leaves are 

 like those of the mulberry-tree, but smaller. From the fruit the Indians make 

 a beverage on which they fatten lil<e pigs; for tliis they mash the fruit and 

 put it in water, and after using it for a few days the Indians appear fat, and 

 likewise horses, if they will drink it, for other animals do not like it. The 

 wood of this tree is very light, and of it the Indians of Tierra-Firme make their 



