67 



Burseraceae 



The Panaraan Iciea 



Icloa panamensis Rose, ITorth-Amer.?!. , E5^:260. 1911, 



Description of the tree 



Small or middle-sized tree, seldom over 10 m. high, the 

 trani: erect or slanting, often c^rooked, oi^vered .vith a 

 smooth grayish oaric, the limbs irre.^iaiar and few, the crown 

 Sjjarse; young branchlets glabrous. Leaves large, imi^aripin- 

 nate, about as broad as long, glabrous, the raehis 9 to 18 

 cm. long; leaflets 3 to 7; petiolules thick, the lateral 

 ones 1.5 em., the terminal one about 3 cm. long; blades 

 oblong to elliptic, bnadly rounded at the base, cbtuse or 

 subacuminate at the apex, and 12 to 18 cm. long, ?lov/era 

 white, polygamous, on short axillary _ijanicles; jjedicels Icr 

 2 mm. long; calyx cuj.— shaped, 4-partite, the lobes rounded; 

 petals 4; stamens 3 to 10; pistil slightly loi^^er than the 

 stamens, glabrous, the ovary contracted at the base and 

 apex, the stigma subsessile, 4-lobed. Drupe smooth, 

 oblong-fusiform, S to £.5 cm. long, the e^^iGarp red at ma- 

 turity. 



DescrijAion of the wood 



Sapwood rather thick and light brown; heartwood slightly 

 darker. Wood relatively soft and heavy, not strong, 

 straight and close grained, easily worked and taking a 

 very good polish. Annual rings of growth not visible. 



Pores (transverse section) very numerous, rather small 

 (.14 mm. in diameter), round when isolated or irregular in 

 outline when in groups or radial rows. Open in both sap- 

 wood and heartwood, and arranged singly, in ijairs, .^mall 

 groups, or radial rows. Hhe vessel walls (longitudinal 

 section) when in contact with one another have numerous 

 pits, large and bordered, but when in contact with the wood 

 parenchym-d and the ray cells they bear large, simple ^^its 

 with transitions tc bordered pits. The large simple pits 

 sometimes resemble scalariform perforations. Pex-f orations 



