160 



a grayish, smooth bark, the branching radiate and forming a 

 pyramidal crown, the young branchleta terete and glabroua. 

 Leaves glabrous, coriaceous, the i>etioles thick, ii to 3 cm. 

 long, the blades ovate to oblong-elliptic, acute at the 

 base, abruptly acuminate or sometimes caudate, 15 to 28 cm. 

 long, 5 to 9 cm. broad, lustrous and dark green above, paler 

 beneath with the costa and veinc prominent; stijjules connate, 

 2 to 3 mm. high, i'loral spikes ^^endulous, mostly terminal, 

 18 to 26 cm. long, glabrous; flowers sessile, solitary and 

 usually remote; calyx oampanulate, 2 mm. long, the margin 

 obscurely denticulate; corolla 8 mm. long, turbinate, pur- 

 plish ijink within, pale pink without, the 5 lobes oblong, 

 rounded, spreading, densely villous within; stamens 5, in- 

 serted on the middle of the tube, the filaments very short; 

 stigmas broad, acute. ?ruit subglobose, cherry red.) 



Description of the wood 



Sapwood thick, light brown; heartwood much darker, v/ood 

 hard, heavy, more or less brittle, very fine-grained, works 

 rather easily, and takes a good polish, annual rings of 

 growth not visible. 



fpores (transverse section) very numerous, small (.04 mm. 

 in diameter) , can not be seen under hand lens magnifying 6 

 to 8 diameters, round and often closed both in sapwood and 

 heartwood, and arranged singly or in very small groups. 

 Vessel walls (longitudinal section) with numerous, very small 

 simple and bordered pits. Perforations simple. <Vood fibers 

 about 1.52 mm. long, with thick walls, almost obliterated 

 lumina, and minute vertical simple pits. Wood parenchyma 

 sparsely developed and scattered among the wood fibers, fre- 

 quently forming short tangential rows of one cell in v;ldth. 

 Rays very numerous and narrow, scarcely visible under the 

 hand lens, from 1 to 2 cells wide and frem a few to 8 or 12 

 cells high. ) 



Jistribution, common names and uses 



Thus far, the genus Stachyarrhena had never been reported 

 outside of Brazil, and the discovery on the Isthmus of one 

 of its representatives is highly interesting. Stachyatrhena 

 fieteroohroum is knovi/n only from the Loma de la Gloria, back 



