286 REVISION OF THE NATURAL ORDER IIEDERACEvE. 
latis; umbeliis 15-40-floris compositis, pedicellis pedunculisque brac- 
tea seariosa subrotunda basi suffultis. Species unica : 
1. S. excehum, Griseb. 1. c. p. 7. (Tab. Nostr. n. 70.) Nomen ver- 
naculum Panamense "Jobo de lagarto," Nicaraguense " Palo de la- 
cr ar to." — Geogr. distribution, Isthmus of Panama (Sutton Hayes ! 
Dnchassaing ! Seemann !), Nicaragua, between Leon and Ocotal (See- 
mann!), and Peru (Gay! n. 486). 
Sciadodendrou excelsum, the type of the genus, does not seem to be 
truly indigenous to the Isthmus of Panama ; at all events I have never 
seen it anywhere but near human habitations. The same remark 
applies to Carthagena. But I have found it truly wild in the forests of 
New Segovia, where it is one of the most common trees, and attains a 
height of sixty feet. I have lately seen in the Paris herbarium spe- 
cimens of it from Peru, where they had been collected by Gay (n. 
4S6). 
This tree is 60 feet high, with a corky, greyish bark. The brandies 
are few, straight, and terminated by the foliage. The leaves are with- 
out stipules, from 3-5 feet long, com pound ly pinnate, and impart to 
the tree a Palm-like habit, not unlike that of Caryota. The petiole is 
jointed at the base of the ramification of the leaf, and the joints 
swollen. On the whole, the leaves resemble those of Heteropanax 
fragrans, Seem. The tree flowers without leaves and very seldom, I 
having seen it but once in flower. The flowers grow from the old 
wood, and are greenish. 
In the Isthmus of Panama the tree is known by the name of Jobo 
de lagarto (Alligator Jobo), from a certain resemblance of the bark 
of the tree to the skin of an alligator. In Nicaragua it is vernacularly 
termed " Palo de lagarto " (Alligator*! tree), the name of " Jobo " be- 
ing unknown there. In the isthmus the natives apply the leaves 
(macerated) with beneficial effect to ulcers. The ashes of the wood 
are used in Nicaragua in the manufacture of soap. 
LXX 
Griseb. The flowers from specimens collected by Sutton Hayes, at Panama, 
and kindly lent by Dr. Hooker; the leaves from specimens collected by me 
the same place. Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Petals. 3. Flower with petals removed. 
4. The same, with stamens removed. 5 and 6. Stamens. 7. Pistil- 8. Cross 
section of ovary : — all magnified. 
