78 



face* Inflorescence broadly paniculate, few-flowered, sub- 

 glabrous. Flowers s.nall, white, the -edicels about E m/n. 

 long; calyx laciuiate, v/ith obtuse divisions, 1.5 to 2 om. 

 long and imbricate; ^jetals 5, obtuse, twice as long as the 

 calyx divisions; stamens 10.4 inia. long and 6 ;nin. short, 

 connate at the base with the petals; ovary sessile, 1-celled, 

 1-ovalate. Pruit pedicel thick, fleshy; fruit renifcrm, 

 about Z.5 cm. long and 2 era. broad. 



|)escrljjtion of the v/ood 



Sapwood narrov/, light brown; heartwood darker and tinged 

 with yellow. Wood moderately soft, light though strong and 

 durable, coarse and invariably cross-grained and difficult 

 to v/oi'ic. jinnual rings of grovi/th usually very wide and vi- 

 sible only under the high power microsccpe. 



Pores few, large (about ,26 mm. in diameter), round, 

 open in saxJVJood, out usually closed in heartwood, and regu- 

 larly distributed throughout the v;ood, often solitary or in 

 short radial rov/s of from 2 to 4. Vessel walls with relati- 

 vely large bordered pits, where vessels border on one another; 

 where their walla are in contact with xJith**ray cells or wood- 

 parenchyms fibers, the pits are usually large snd simple. 

 Pits usually transversely elongated parallel to one another, 

 resembling scalariform markings. <Vood fibers .942 mm. long, 

 with moderately thin walls and relatively large cell cavities, 

 sometimes forked. Pits rather large with very narrow borders. 

 Pits openings usually elongated either in an oblique or trans- 

 verse position. Cell cavities sometimes septate, './ood-^^a- 

 renchyma fibers abundant and arranged chiefly around vessels 

 and bordering pith rays. Pith rays very numerous, varying 

 from 1 to 4 or occasionally 5 cells wide, and from a few to 

 10 or 15 cells high. I'he individual ray cells lart:e, usually 

 shorter near the margin and often with crystals of calcium 

 oxalate. Pits large and simj.'le. 



Distribution, common names and uses 



The giant cashew-tree is foimd en continental iimerica 

 from the Quianas to Costa Rica, growing generally along 

 rivers and only in the lower telt, from the sea-level to 

 about SCO meters. It is one of the largest and most fami- 

 liar trees of Panama, with a tough and hard wood, used in 

 the native industry for making kitchen utensils and also 



