218 FLORA OF JAMAICA Swietenia 



It thrives in most soils, and varies both its grain and texture with each ; 

 that which grows among the rocks is smaller, but very hard and weighty, 

 of a close grain, and beautifully shaded ; while the produce of the low and 

 richer lands is observed to be more light and porous, of a paler colour and 

 open grain. ... It is a pity that it is not cultivated in the more con- 

 venient waste lands. It is a very strong timber, and answers very well 

 in beams, joists, planks, boards and shingles"; these may be seen in old 

 houses. The most beautiful part of the wood is that obtained by sawing 

 across the bottom of the stem and root. The bark is astringent, and has 

 been recommended in decoction for diarrhoea. (Macfadyen.) 



4. CEDRELA L. 



High trees with coloured wood. Leaves abruptly pinnate, 

 rarely imparipinnate ; leaflets in many pairs. Panicle large, 

 terminal. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 5, imbricate, more or less 

 keeled inside, and attached by the keel to the column. Disk 

 forming a column. Stamens 5, adherent to the column, becoming 

 free at its apex. Ovary sessile at the apex of the column, 

 5-celled. Ovules 8-12 in each cell, in two series, pendulous from 

 the axis. Fruit a capsule, 5-celled, septifragally 5-valved from 

 the apex, valves 2-lamellate becoming free from the septa-bearing 

 axis. Seeds pendulous, winged below ; endosperm scanty ; 

 cotyledons flat, subfoliaceous ; radicle exserted, superior. 



Species 8 or 9, natives of tropical America, including the 

 West Indies. 



C. odorata L. Syst. ed. 10, 940 (1759); Mac/. Jam. i. 173; 

 Griseh. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 131 ; C. DC. in DC. Mon. L 737 ; Cook & 

 Collins in Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herh. viii. 110; Urh. Symh. Ant. iv. 

 324. Cedrus Barbadensium &c. Pluh. Phyt. t. 157,/. 1. Pruno 

 forte afiinis arbor maxima &c. Sloane Cat. 182 & Hist. ii. 128, 

 t. 220, /. 2. C. foliis majoribus ic. Browne Hist. Jam. 158, 

 t. 10, /. 1. Cedrus odorata Mill. Gard. Diet. ed. 8 (1768). 

 (Fig. 73.) 



Jamaican, West Indian, Spanish, or Honduras Cedar. 



Wright\ Cuming] Wilson I Priori Hitchcock; Port Royal Mts., Bot. 

 Dept. 1 Hope grounds, Harris I Fl. Jam. 11,705. — Cuba, Is. of Pines, 

 Cayman, Porto Rico, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, 

 Grenada, Trinidad, tropical continental America. 



A timber tree, 40-80 ft. high ; trunk long, straight, 4-6 ft. or more in 

 diam. Leaves about 3 dm. 1., deciduous, renewed in the spring at time 

 of flowering ; leaflets opposite, in 7 or 8 pairs, unequal-sided, oblong- 

 elliptical, acuminate, base rounded, unequal, glabrous, 7-12(-15) cm. 1. 

 Calyx minutely puberulous or glabrous, about 1*5 mm. 1., irregularly 

 5-lobed. Petals oblong, about 6 mm. 1., densely puberulous with yellowish 

 hairs. Stamens included. Ovary glabrous, stigma round-compressed, 

 5-furrowed on the apex. Capsule about 4 cm. 1. Seed about 2*5 cm. 1., 

 wing about 1*5 cm. 1. 



" This is one of the most valuable timber trees of the Island. The 

 wood is of a reddish brown colour and has a pleasant smell. The leaves, 

 bark, and flowers of the growing tree on the contrary give out, especially 



