72 



The arboreoas Pera 



Pera arborea Llatis, Vet» Akad. Handl. Stock. 5; 299. 1374 



Deacriijtion of the tree 



A middle sized, monoecious tree, the traiilL slender, sel- 

 dom straight, o eve red v.'ith a smooth, whitish bark, the 

 crovm S|;arse and flat. leaves glabrous, subcoriaceous, the 

 jjetioles 1 to 1.5 o;:i. loiio, sulcate, the blades ovate, cu- 

 ueate and auodecurrent at the base, oriefly aouiiiinate, 10 

 to IB cm. loiig, 5 to 8 cm. oread, reticulate, the costa and 

 veins .jrorainent on the lov/er face. ]?lowers unisexual, the 

 inflorescences clustered in the axils of the leaves, and 

 jjedicellate . Involucre calyx-like, the 2 outer bracts co- 

 riaceous, broad, concave, hairy outside, red inside, the 2 

 inner bracteoles small, white, petaloid; neither calyx nor 

 corolla; male f lov/er central, surrcmided by rudimentary ova- 

 ries, the stamens numerous; female flowers 4 in each invo- 

 lucre, the ovaries 3-celled, the stigmas almost sessile, 

 stellate. Capsule loculioid, ^jear-sha^jed; seeds de^^ressed, 

 black and lustrous. 



Desorixition of the wood 



oa^jv/ood thick, very light brown, nearly white; iieartwood 

 darker, Jood moderately hard and heavy, rather strong, wavy 

 and fine grained, taking an excellent polish, -^nnual rings 

 of growth not clearly visible under hand lens. 



Pores (transverse section) fairly numerous, rather small 

 (.17 mm. in diameter), round or rsdially compressed, open 

 both in sapwood and in heartwood and arranged either single 

 or in short radail rows. Vessel walls (longitudinal section) 

 Y/ith numerous, small, transversely oval bordered pits, with 

 transitions to larger simple pita. Perforations simple, 

 .Vood fibers about 1.244 m:n. long, with very thin walls and 

 relatively large cell cavities and small vertical slit-like 

 simple pits. Jood parenchyma abundant and arranged in very 

 narrow, always indistinct, tangential lines from 1 to 2 

 cells wide, ^^ays numurous, very narrow, usually . only one 



