1E4 



30 cm. in fliaiaeter, the bark gray, smooth, the cro'.vn irre- 

 gular, il^Leaves alternate, glabrous, the petioles 3 to 5 mm. 

 long, the blades lanjeolate, attenuate and biglandular at 

 the base, acute at the tip, 4 to 8 cm. long, 1.5 to 3 cm. 

 long, olive or grayish green. Slower heads globose, race- 

 mose, the raohis glabrous, flattened and subwinged; flo'.vers 

 small, pentamerous, hermaphrodite or only male; calyx 5- 

 lobatur, the lobes obtuse or acute; corolla none; stamens 

 normally lu, out often less, inserted in t.vo series en the 

 calyx, exserted; discus intrastarainal (or epigynAus) and 

 formed or 5 fleshy, villous glands; ovary inferior, 1- 

 celled, <i-ovulate, the style filiform, as long as the sta- 

 mens. Achenia imbricate in a cone-like head, each v/ith 2 

 well developed wings .^ 



Description of the v/ood 



Sapwood thin, light brcv/n or nearly white; heartwood 

 dark brov/n. 'Jood hard, heavy, very strong and tough, very 

 fine grained, taking a fairly good polish and very durable 

 in contact v/ith the soil. Annual rings of growth not vi- 

 ble even under the high power microscoxje. 



[Pores -(-fci^ansverse Bection( very numerous, small ( o063 

 mm. in diameter), round or nearly closed in the heartwood, 

 and. arranged singly, irregularly, more often in wavy tan- 

 gential lines. Vessel walls f Icngitudinal section) with nu- 

 merous, small oval slightly bcrdered pits, resembling a sieve- 

 like structure with large simple ijits present, i'erf ora- 

 tions simple, //ood fibers about 1,066 mm. long, with ex- 

 ceedingly thick walls, almost obliterated lumina, and 

 with minute slit-like simple pits, //ood parenchyma abun- 

 dantly developed and invariably arranged around vessels, 

 forming tangential lines connecting these. r;ays storied, 

 numerous, and very narrow, barely visible under the hand 

 lens on a smooth transverse section, 1 cell wide, and 

 from a few to 8 or 10 cells high.) 



■ Distribution, common names and uses 



Gonocarpus erecta L. is widely spread on the sea-shores 

 of xropical America, from southern Jrazil to ^'lorida and 

 the .Vest Indies on the Atlantic side and from iicuador, in- 

 cluding the 'Jalapagos Islands, to Acapulco in I^exico, on 



