90 



Uiatribatlon, oofomon nam e s and uses 



(ihis interesting member of the cacao-family was disco- 

 vered on the slOijes of the Loma de la ulcria, near the ancient 

 Sijanish settlement of Ilombre de Dios on the Carribbean, in 

 comipaiiy vjith a cohort of other new or remaricable species like 

 Pera arborea , Tapirira myriantha , Justavia x^arvifolia . . 

 nana, h^eiba gaianensis , Inga ^--anamensis , Stachyarrhena he- 

 terochroum , 3tyrax sp . , and many others.) Its vernacular 

 name is cacgo de monte and the straight stems are used in the 

 building of the native houses. 



Dilleniaceae 

 The Sandpaper-Leaf Tree 



Curat ella americana Linn. 3p. ?1. 1: 843. 1758-59. 



Description of the tree 



A small, dwarfed tree, up to 8 m. high, the trunk usually 

 crooked, covered v/ith a scaly brownish bark, the limbs robust, 

 the crown irregular. '( Leaves coriaceous, rough, the i:)etiolea 

 broad, 5 to 7 mm. long, the blades oblong to elliptic, 

 rounded or acute at the base, mostly obtuse at the apex, 10 

 to 15 cm. long, 3.5 to IE cm. bread, softly steilate-tomen- 

 tose at first, later glabrescent and scabrous, the margins 

 jaroadly crenate or repand. Inflorescence racemose, many 

 flowered, issuing from the defoliate nodes; rachis hairy, 

 v/ith paired bracts at each branching; flowers 4 tc 6 m.a. in 

 diameter, illsmelling; sepals 4 or 5, two exterior; petals 

 4 or 5, ovate, white, caducous; stamens numerous, the fila- 

 ments thickening toward the apex; carpels a, free, hairy, 

 subglobose, 1-celled, each cell 2-ovulate; style long, support- 

 ing a discoid stigma. Capsules coriaceous, hairy, about 8 

 ram. long, 2-seeded; seeds ovoid 4 mi.i. long, black, lustrous.) 



Description of the v/ood 

 3apv/ood ioarro ;, light brown; heartwood somewhat darker. 



