129 



and cal/x laid over with a dense coating of oOlclen brown, stel- 

 late scales. (^Leaves membranous, opposite or 3 to 4-verticillate, 

 the petioles anfi^alous c?r sulcate, 5 to 12 mm. long, the blades 

 3-nerved from the base, lanceolate, long acuminate, 7 to 23 cm. 

 long, 1.5 to 5 cm. broad; mar^^in obscurely sinuate. Panni- 

 cles terminal, 10 to 15 cm. long, ijyramidal. Plov/ers penta- 

 merous, sessile; oalyx oaraj-'enulate, 2 ;am. long, irregularly 

 denticulate; petals ovate, 2.2 nn. long, white, denticulate 

 and truncate at the apex; stamens 10, 3 to 3.5 mm. long, gla- 

 brous, the filaments flat, the anthers euneste, truncate at 

 the apex, opening b;?- 2 longitudinal slits; ovary semi-infe- 

 rior; style about 4 mm. long, glabrous, subclavate.] 



Description of the wood 



Sapwood thin, light brown; heartv/cod darker, .'/cod ntdera- 

 tely hard, heavy, tough, very fine-grained, susceptible to 

 good polish, and ver;;/ durable in contact with air and water. 

 Annual rings of growth very narrovi/ and visible only under a 

 hand lens: or comjjound microscope. 



Pores (transverse s"ec"tiLii) very numerous, Si'nall (.04 m:a. 

 in diameter), round, open or occasionally closed, v>?ith 

 whitish tyloses in the heartwood, and arranged singly in 

 small grouj^s or distinct radial rows of from 2 to 6 or mere, 

 gradually becoming smaller toward the outer end of the row. 

 Vessels sometiiaes partly surrounded by a single rov; of wood- 

 parenchyma fibers. Vessel walls Clongitudinal section) thin, 

 and where in contact with pith-ray cells the pitting varies 

 from simple to bordered; large bordered i.jit3 where two vessels 

 abutt on one another, 2nd v^alls always wholly absorbed. 

 V/ood fibers .927 ana. long, with thin walls and relatively 

 large cell cavititjs; pits usually simijle, though occasio- 

 nally bordered, ,/ood parenchyma fibers not conspicuously 

 developed and only occaring among vessels. Individual cells 

 of these fibers usually long-. Pith rays inconspicuous, 

 only one row of cells wide and from a few to 10 or more cells 

 high. 



Distr i bution, common names and uses 



This Species seems tc be very polymorphous and in its 

 many forms spreads from the .Amazon Basin to Central ;imerica, 

 appearing also in some parts of the '.'.'est Indies. In Ghirifjuf, 



