*8 



,A^ 



Grliricidia maculata is ^jropagated either from seeds or 

 from cuttings. I'he latter method is used exclusively when 

 the tree is ijlanted to grow into live-posts for hedges, as 

 is very often the oase. Youxig seedlings, raised in a nur- 

 sery, are often planted to give shade and jjrotection in 

 new cacao or coffee plantations, The roots are said to have 

 a sweetish taste and to be deadly to the field mice and rats 

 which invariably eat them in preference to those of cacao or 

 coffee trees. The green leaves are poisonous to horses, and 

 in some parts of Panama they are fried with rice and used 

 for poisoning rodents of house and field. The tree is highly 

 beneficiel to the soil as a fertilizer, both on account of 

 its bacilli-abiding roots and its leaves, which are rich in 

 nitrogen. The wood is hard and brown colored, and is used 

 sometimes for building purposes as a substitute for bladder- 

 pod ( Diphysa ) . 



The Panama 31adder-Pod tree 

 Dij^hysa carthagenensis Jac^. , oel. Jtir^^. rimer. Hist. 



208. 1763 



Description of the tre e 



Small and seldom over 6 m. high, ;vith the trunk: often 

 tortuous, the ratification short and the crown irregular; 

 bark rimose, thick, gray. Leaves alternate, iraparipinnate, 

 glabrous, the common x^etiole 5 to 10 cm. long; leaflets 9 

 to 11, alternate, the petiolules 2 to 3 m.^. long, the blades 

 ovate, obovate or oblong, rounded at the tip, 1.5 to 3 cm. 

 long, 0.8 to 1.5 cm. broad, jlacous beneath, i-'loral racemes 

 2 to 3 flowered, sin^ile or geminate in the axils of the 

 leaves; flov/ers yellow, about 2 cm. long; pedicels slender, 

 articulate, 1.2 cm. long; calyx campanulate, glabrous, 9 mm. 

 long, 5-toothed, the 2 anterior teeth short and rounded, 

 the posterior long and acute, the lateral smaller and irre- 

 gular; standard ovate-orbiculate, about 2.2 cm. long; wings 

 obovate, auriculate at the base, 7 mm. broad, the clawlet 

 4 mm. long; keel falcate, bifid at the tip, the petals ad- 

 nate and auriculate at the base; stamens 10, adnata, included 



