31 



irregular bordered pits with obliciue slit-like openings. The 

 vessel segments are short and have their ends absorbed. V/ood 

 fibers about 1.6 ram. long with rather thick walls and small 

 cell cavities. The pits are very minute. ;Vood parenchyma 

 developed abundantly around the pores and in short tangen- 

 tial lines often connecting neighboring pores by lines of 

 this soft tissue. Starch is present. Pith rays numerous 

 and rather small, from 1 to 5 cells wide and from 6 to many 

 cells high. 



Distribution, common names and uses 



The llazarene v/ood is conspicuous for the intense purple 

 color of its heart-'wocd; this color has 'oeen compared by the 

 common people with that of the spilled blood cf Christ of 

 Ilazareth on the aross, whence the name cf nazarenc , mora do 

 which means purple, is another aynoiaym. There is~lin imper- 

 fectly known species of the same genus ( Peltogyne porphyrc - 

 cardium (Jriseb.) growing on the island of Trinidad, the wood 

 of which is of the same color, but this does not seem tc be 

 the case v/ith the Amazonian species, which are said to have 

 a reddish or brownish heart. The v/ood of the Ilazarene tree 

 is very hard and heavy and though often spoken of is not of 

 much iise. 



The showy Ivlacrolobium 



Macrolobium floridum Karsten, Fl. Golumb. 1:151, t, 



75 - 1858-61. 



Description of the tree 



Middle sized and up to 25 meters high, the truni: about 

 35 cm. in diameter with a smooth grayish bark, the crown 

 elongated. Leaver glabrous, 2-fcliolate; stipules subulate, 

 glabrous, 6 to 12 ram. long, caducous; petiole 6 ram. long, 

 very thick; leaflets subsessile, oblique, obovate-lanceolate, 

 25- to 30 cm, long, 9 to 11 cm. broad, the nervation promi- 

 nent beneath, the exterior half broadly rounded at the base. 



