156 



6 to 8 mm. long, turning blaoJc by dessication; corolla 5 

 to 6-lobate, softly pubescent without and within, the tube 

 equal to the calyx, the lobes narrow, obtuse, the limb 

 about 3 cm. in diameter; anthers 5 or 6, sessile, inserted 

 at the throat of the corolla tube; ovary inferior, 2-celled; 

 style included, broadening toward the apex in a yBllow 

 stigma. 3erry ovoid, glabrous, many seeded, about 5 cm. 

 long, the outer shell coriaceous, the mesocarp pulpy.) 



Description of the v/ood 



Sapwood thick, nearly white; heartwood darker. Wood 

 very hard, heavy (1), very brittle and close grained, taking 

 an excellent polish. Annual rings of growth visible only 

 under the high power microscope. 



(Pores very numerous, small (.069 mm. in diameter), 

 round, open, and arranged singly or in short radial rows. 

 Vessel walls ( loiigitudinal seotiofi^ with nixmerous small bor- 

 dered pits, iind walls completely absorbed, usually nearly 

 horizontal and circular or elliptical in outline. Wood fi- 

 bers about 1.28 mm. long, with thick walls, very small cell 

 cavities, and few simple, slit-like, oblique pits. '.Vood-pa- 

 renchyma fibers Si^aringly developed, usually present only 

 around vessels. Contrary to wood fibers they have thin walls 

 and large cell cavities. Pith rays very abundant, narrow, 

 not visible to the naked eye, from 1 to 3 cells wide, usually 

 only 2, or from a few to 20 cells high. The marginal cells 

 very large, often from 4 to 6 times as wide as the inner ones.^ 



Distribution, common names and uses 



Senipa Oarato Is very closely allied with Genipe america - 

 na L., the smooth- leaved Genipa ; all posible transitions be- 

 "tween the two can be observed and their distributive areas 

 are the same. A number of authors are inclined to think that 

 they should be considered simply as extreme forms of one 

 single species, the name of which, according to the law of 

 priority, would be G. americana L. Both forms grow more or 

 less intermixed throughout the /.'est Indies, and in the low 

 belt of tropical America, up to about 500 meters of elevation. 



(1) Density 0.730 elasticity 3.263; resistence 0.762, according 

 to Heckel (Plantes utiles des colonies francaises). 



