comitry-people under the name of ber oa , borrowed from one of 

 the native languages. The wood is heavy, difficult to worJj: 

 and not extensively used. 



m 



The spurious isthmian Rubber-Tree 

 Gastilla fallax O.F. Cook, Science n. ser. 18: 438. 1903 



Description of the tree 



A large or aiddle-sized^ laticiferous tree, the branch- 

 lets thick, densely adj^ressed hairy. Leaves deciduous, co- 

 riaceous, the petioles thick, 1,5 to 2 cm, long, hairy, sul- 

 cate, the blades 30 to 40 cm, long, 10 to 15 cm. broad, obloiig 

 or oblong-lanceolate, rounded or subacute at the base, acu- 

 minate, rough and s^^arsely adpressed hairy above, ad^^ressed 

 pubescent beneath, the costa and veins very jv.rominent, the 

 margizi entire. Stipules intra^jetiolar, adnate, v;id&ribbed, 

 hairy without. i,iale receptacles single or geminate, sessile 

 or subsessile, flabellate, 1,5 to 2 cm. bread, opening by a 

 long, arcuate slit. Scales of the involucre almost free, 

 pubescent without. Interstarainal bracts scarce, triangular, 

 small. Stamens 1.5 to 2 mm. long, ?emale receptacles soli- 

 tary, sessile, small. Scales of the involucre free, silky. 

 Perianth free to the base, about 4 mm. long, silky pubes- 

 cent without, 4 to 5-lobulate at the apex. Ovary ^jartly 

 free from the perianth; style 3 to 3.5 ram. long, slender, 

 the 2 stigmas short and twisted. Fruits free, not fleshy, 

 pubescent without; seeds about 8 mn. long and 6 ram. thick. 



This species is distinguished from the other Central- 

 American rubber-trees mainly by the free, dry nutlets and 

 by the almost total absence of rubber in the resinous la- 

 tex. It is usually a small or middle-sized tree, but in the 

 forests of Darien it grows to larger proportions, the trunk 

 measuring sometimes more than 1 meter in diameter, with a 

 total height of lb to 20 meters. 



