49 



in the keel; ovule long stipitate, multi-ovulate; style 

 slender. Legume stipitate, bladder-like, borne on a pedi- j 



eel 1 to 1.5 cm. long. Seeds 6 or less, oblong. | 



DescrixJtion of the wood 



Sapwood thin, nearly white; heartwood light greenish- 

 yellow, ,,'ood hard, heavy, very strong, close grained, talcing 

 a high polish. Annual rings of growth not visiole under the 

 high power microscope. ; 



Vessels (transverse section) numerous, small (.08 mm. 

 in diameter) , round when solitary, or radially flattened 

 when in radial rows and closed with dark yellowish tyloses 

 in the heartwood. Vessel walls ( Icngitudinal section) with 

 numerous small bordered pits or small round or occasionally 

 transversely elongated simple pits where in contact with 

 pithray cells and Vi/ood-parenchyma fibers. Bordered jjits 

 larger where two vessels are adjacent tc one another. i:nd ' 



walls of vessel segments usually horizontal and perforation 

 simple. vVood fibers about ,82 mm. long, v;ith very thick 

 walls and nearly obscured cell cavities, and very small, 

 slit-like and oblique simi^le pits, -/ood-parenchyma fibers 

 arranged in tangential lines of from 1 to 2 rows of cells ! 



wide and surrounding all vessels. These elements are i 



easily recognized in transverse section by their thin walls ! 



and large cell cavities. Pith rays very narrow, from 1 to I 



4 cells wide and from a few to 20 cells high. 



'■c' 



Distribation, commofa names and use s. 



The genus Diphyaa contains several species, scattered over 

 Central America and the northern borders of ocuth jimorica. 

 They all are small trees, net easily distinguished from each 

 other. Up to the present time, hov/ever, D. carthagenensis , 

 first described from near Cartagena in oolombis , is the 

 only Si^ecies reported from the Isthmus of Panama, where it 

 grows sparingly on the bi rders of savannas and is known lo- 

 cally under the name of Cacique or ..la c a no . In Cartagena 

 it is called vivaseca or "dry and alive" and in Ccsta aica 

 the near related ij. robinioides and J. sennoides Jenth, 

 (or possibly only one of the two) go by the nahuatl name 

 of gaachipilin , v;hich probably means a tree-rattler, an 

 allusion to the noise made by the dry ^jods when they are 

 shaken by the wind. The name of bladder-pod tree explains 



