303. COCCOLOBIS LAURIFOLIA PlGEON PLUM. 5 



thickness and smooth, of mottled brown and gray. It exfoliates with 

 age in conchoidal fractures in thin rounded scales leaving distinct 

 curved lines of their imprints. 



HABITAT. The immediate vicinity of the sea coast of southern 

 Florida and the Keys up to a little above Cape Canaveral, on the east 

 coast, and Tampa Bay on the west ; thence southward generally among 

 the Antiles to Colombia and Brazil; also the coast of Mexico and 

 Central America. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood very heavy, hard, strong and close- 

 grained, with very fine medullary rays, indistinct annual rings and 

 quite uniformly distributed ducts. It is of a rich brown color, darkest 

 along the margin of the heart-wood. The sap-wood is lighter in tint, 

 that nearest the bark being the lightest. Specific Gravity, 0.9635; 

 Percentage of Ash, 1.37; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.9503; 

 Resistance Longitudinal Pressure, 258; Weight of a Cubic Foot in 

 Pounds, 60.05. 



USES. The hard, close-grained wood is used especially in Jamaica 

 in the manufacture of furniture and its susceptibility of a beautiful 

 polish would suggest its usefulness in turnery. It also is excellent 

 for fuel. 



The fruit, though not an article of commerce, is edible and very 

 pleasing to some tastes. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. It is this tree which is believed to yield 

 the West Indian or Jamaica Kino which is used in medicine on account 

 of strong astringent properties.* 



303. COCCOLOBIS LAURIFOLIA JACQ. 



PIGEON PLUM. 



Ger., Coccaloba-holz. Fr., Raisinier a feuilles d'aurier. 



Sp., Uvillo, Uverillo, Cucubano, Gateado. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves ovate to oblong, 2-4 in. long, rounded or 

 obtuse at both ends, thick and firm, glabrous, green above and somewhat paler 

 beneath, with entire revolute margin, pale midrib and remote primary veins, 

 petioles l /2 in. or less in length, stipular sheaths narrow. Flowers in early spring, 

 with slender pedicels about *4 m - i n length, in i to few-flowered terminal racemes 



*r. S. Dispensatory, igth Ed., p. 682. 



