43 



cm. long; petiolules articulate, 4 to 6 urn. long; olades 

 elliptic or ovate lanceolate, long acuminate, 3 to 18 om. 

 long» 3 to 6 cm. broad, ffloral racemes single in the de- | 

 foliated axils cf the i^receding season, very long, hanging ] 

 and many flowered; bracts subulate, caducous, up to 1 cm. ' 

 long; rachia of the raceme and pedicels pubescent, the former 

 thick and subangulous, the latter retrof lected, elavate, 

 about 2 cm. long; calioc opening irregularly in 4 or 5 re- : 

 fleeted lobes about 1 cm. long; petal 1, creamy yellow, ! 

 almost square, (31 mm. long, 29 ram. broad ) ,unguiculate, emsr- 

 ginate-hastate at the base, sub 4-lobulate, with the margin 

 irregular; stamens very numerous, 6 to 10 larger, erect, 

 with a thick filament, the remaining ones shorter, the fila- ] 

 ments slender and the others small; ovary short, flattened, 

 long atipitate, 6 to 8-seeded, dehiscent; seeds large, of 

 irregular shape, sublenticular, 7 to 8.5 cm. long, 6 cm. in 

 diameter and 1.5 cm. thick, exarillate, dark brown. 



The appearence of this species seems to be unusually in- 

 fluenced by the local conditions. In the rain forests of ; 

 San ilas, its grov/th is regular and the trunk straight, while '. 

 in the hills of the Chagres and Trinidad valleys, covered ] 

 with park- life forests or sparse growth, it looked somewhat : 

 stunted and deformed. The flowers, with their unique, very 

 large petal, is striking as are also the pods, resembling a ! 

 shoe-sole, which seem seldom to mature their seeds. 



Description of the wood ' 



Sapwood almost always very thick, nearly white; heart- 

 wood usually with black streaks or sometimes uniformly nearly 

 jet black. Wood exceedingly hard, heavy, very compact, ' 

 strong, close and straight grained and subject to good polish. 

 Aiinual rings of growth not visible even under comijound micros- 

 cope. ; 



Vessels (transverse section) few, small (.12 mm. in dia- i 

 meter), round cr radially oomj^ressed, 0;.'en in napwood, often i 

 closed in heartwood and arranged singly or in radial rows of j 

 from 2 to 3. Vessels usually within the conspicuous tangen- 

 tial lines of v/cod-parenchyma fibers. Vessel walls (longi- 

 tudinal section) with uniform stmcture; pits exceedingly | 

 small and simple or slightly bordered with a transversely elon- ' 

 gated pit opening; in this case a striated effect is some- • 

 times produced. Perforations simple. Vood fibers about I 



