52 



bola-wood extensively used in the United States for the ma- 

 nufacture ^.f tool handles and saall objects neeain^ very 

 hard iuaterial. 2hQ wood of Dalbergia hypoieuoa Pittier, 

 the oosta nican cocooola , and ^erhajjS soaie other wood of the 

 saae genus or its closer allies, is jjrobably exported to a 

 lesser extent for the same jjurposes. The Panaman ccccbola 

 has net lieen reported up to the present frca other countries 

 is found in the mixed forest or growing gregariously in 

 small clumps elong the foot hills and in ^'orges of the pro- 

 Panama (including Darien) , Cocll and Veraguas, 

 to be of rare occurrence both on the northern water- 

 in Chiriqul ^nd, being a very valuable j^roduct, 

 i^ractically eradicated from the more accessible dis- 

 The saw dust of the Panaaan cocobola is said to 

 x-zOison ^:i the men v/orkin^ it in the factories. 

 The sa^.wood is thici, yellowish, white, the heartv/ood dark 

 brown and very tough; it takes a beautiful polish., but as 

 the tree is never verv large, the useful parts are only 

 obtained in small pieces, so that they can hardly be used 

 for large objects, like ^jieoes of furniture. 



During the construction of the first transisthmian 

 railroad, cocobola was used to some extent for ties. 



The Panaman i:'lat-Pod tree 

 Platypodium maxonianum Pittier, Contr, iJ,S. Hat. Herb. 18; 



234. 1317. 



Descrij-.tion of tne tre e 



A tree EO to 25 m, high, the trunl: 12 to 15 qj. and \xj 

 to 1.20 m. in diameter; bark grayish, more cr less rinose \ 



and shaggy. Leaves altertiate 10 to 20-f oliolate , the rachis 

 10 to 20 cm, long, broadly canaliculate, the petiol-i'.r ^art 

 1.5 to 2 cm. long, leaflets leathery, strongly oblique, j 



the terminal one sometimes substituted by a setulose appen- 

 dage 7 to 9 m;a, iong; petiolules 1 to 2 ram, long, blackish; 

 blades elliptic-oblong^ subcuneate at the base, rounded 



emarginate and mucrunulau,e at the apex, lustrous, the costa ; 



