io HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



of a pinkish brown color, lightest near the bark. Specific Gravity. 

 0.7709; Percentage of Ash, 0.87; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.7642; Coefficient of Elasticity, 110973; Modulus of Rupture, 961; 

 Resistance to Indentation, 221; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 48.04. 



The wood of the Coco Plum is not of commercial importance, 

 though of desirable properties for use in turnery, for fuel, etc. The 

 fruit is juicy and of pleasant flavor and is eaten by country folk to 

 some extent, as are also its fragrant rich seeds when fresh. Such is 

 the oily nature of the kernel of these seeds that it readily burns and 

 they are sometimes used as candles. The seeds are sometimes sent to 

 England from the African coast under the name of "Varach" seeds. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES of an astringent nature are found in the 

 bark, leaves and roots and they are used in tropical America for lotions 

 and applications where such action is indicated. 



ORDER LEGUMINOS^: PULSE OR PEA FAMILY. 



Leaves alternate, usually compound, with stipules. Flowers regular or 

 papilionaceous and usually perfect; stamens io or many, with diadelphous (some- 

 times distinct) filaments and 2-celled anthers opening longitudinally; pistil 

 solitary, with one or several-celled superior ovary. Fruit a legume. 



A very large and important family of trees, shrubs and herbs of 

 wide distribution throughout all temperate and tropical regions, gen- 

 erally free from obnoxious properties and many of its representatives 

 of the greatest economic importance. There are about 7,000 species 

 grouped in nearly 450 genera, and of these seventeen have arborescent 

 representatives in the United States. 



GENUS LYSILOMA BENTHAM. 



Leaves deciduous, evenly bipinnate with 2-5 pairs of pinnae, the terminal pair 

 shortest, the slender petiole, bearing a large gland near the first pair ; pinnae 

 with 10-30 pairs of small leaflets, stipules membranaceous, J/2 in. or less in length. 

 Flowers usually whitish, perfect, in terminal or axillary clusters of globular 

 many flowered heads, calyx bell-shaped, with 5 short lobes ; corolla funnel-shaped 

 with 5 reflexed lobes ; stamens about 20, twice as long as the corolla, with slender 

 filaments united into a tube at base ; anthers minute, versatile ; pistil with sessile 

 smooth ovary, slender subulate style and terminal stigma. Fruit maturing in 

 autumn, a straight, flat, legume, the valves separating from the margins at 

 maturity ; seeds flattened, oblong, transversely arranged in the pod and each with 

 a long funicle attached. 



A genus of about ten species of tropical American trees and shrubs 

 with unarmed slender branchlets. The following one species finds its 



