47 



polish, and very durable in ccntact with the soil, iinnual 

 rings of grov/th distinct, narrow, though very variable. 

 The early wood is very porous and contrasts strongly with 

 the denser and darker late wood. 



Pores (transverse section) in early wood very nu.'nerous, 

 .1 ma. in diameter), round, open in the sapwood, but com- 

 pletely closed with dark reddish tyloses in the heartwood, 

 thus rendering it impervious to water. J,ll pores are 

 surrounded by several rov/s of v/ood-^arenchyma fibers, espe- 

 cially in the early wood vvhere they form ccntinucus tangen- 

 tial bands. Vessels in late wood scattered singly or less 

 often in sroall irregular groups or short radial rows of from 

 2 to 3. Vessel walls ( loiieitudinal section) -.vith numerous 

 small bordered pits. Perforations simple, ..ood fibers 

 .840 mm. long, with thick walls, small cell cavities and 

 few, small, slit-like simiJle pits. ,7ood-parenchyma fibers 

 very abundant in early wood, where they form the bulk cf 

 the tissue, especially in wide annual rings of growth; in 

 late wood usually surrounding small pores and occasionally 

 form short tangential lines betv/een pores (transverse sec- 

 tion). Crystals present, ^'ith rays narrow, visible only 

 under a hand lens on a smooth transverse section, and from 

 I to 5 cells wide and from 2 to 4 cell high. 



Distribution, commun names and uses 



The spotted Gliricidi a is found almost everinr/here in 



the Oijen and cultivatea country between Venezuela and Te- 

 huantepec, azid up to an altitude of about 1400 meters. 

 3ut it appears very seldom in an absolutely wild state, 

 being one of those trees which are tranSj..orted from settle- 

 ment to settlement on account of their maiii' uses, and which 

 seem to have been under semicultivation from inaemorial 

 times. 



The natives have several names for this tree. & few 

 of these are indigenous, and two , mata-^aton (kill-mouse) 

 and madre-de-cacao (mother of the cacao tree) are used in- 

 differently by Spanish- speaking people all over the s^^ecific 

 area. In the Kekchi language of ilta Veraj^az, in CJuate.iala, 

 it is called kan-td , the suffix te_ meaning tree. In Costa 

 2ica it is called i..adera negra or 3ala , the latter name 

 being also used in Manama. 



