308. SlMARUBA GLAUCA PARADISE-TREE. 15 



of trunk is quite smooth and of a mottled brownish gray color, finally 

 exfoliating in thin scales. It^is considered by many as the handsomest 

 of the tropical trees found in Florida, with its beautiful glossy foliage 

 and massive clusters of yellow flowers or bright red and purple fruit. 

 It is probably due to this fact that it is called the Paradise-tree. 



HABITAT. The Hammocks of southern Florida south of Cape 

 Canaveral, and the southern Keys; also on the Bahama Islands (where 

 it is known as "Ash"), and in Cuba, Jamaica, Central America, Guiana 

 and Brazil. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood very light, soft, not strong, with 

 scattered open ducts, indistinguishable annual rings and very fine 

 medullary rays. It is of a quite uniform pale yellow color, with some- 

 what lighter sapwood and intensely bitter flavor. Specific Gravity, 

 0.4136; Percentage of Ash, 0.93; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.4098; Coefficient of Elasticity, 93217; Modulus of Rupture, 564; 

 Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 426; Resistance to Indentation, 

 86; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 25.78. 



USES. Little if any use is made of the wood of this tree, though 

 it possesses in a marked degree the tonic properties which give the 

 closely related Quassia wood its medicinal value. The highly orna- 

 mental value of the tree and its rapidity of growth suggest a marked 

 value for ornamental planting within or n ; aar the tropics. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES of a bitter tonic and aromatic nature are 

 found in both bark and wood, and in Costa Rica an infusion of the 

 bark is used in the treatment of intermittent fever. 



ORDER BURSERACE^: TORCHWOOD FAMILY. 



Leaves alternate, odd-pinnate and without stipules. Floii'ers small regular, 

 perfect or polygamous and borne in panicles or racemes; calyx of 3 to 6 imbri- 

 cated sepals, persistent; petals of same number, sometimes slightly united, 

 deciduous; stamens twice as many as the petals, inserted with them under a cup- 

 like or annular disk with subulate filaments and introrse 2-celled anthers opening 

 lengthwise; pistil with superior 2-5-celled ovary with 2 pendulous ovules in 

 each cell, short style and 3-5-lobed stigma. Fruit drupe like, rather fleshy and 

 usually dehiscent epicarp at maturity; seed with membranaceous coat and no 

 albumen. 



A family of about 20 genera and 200 species of trees and shrubs of 

 the tropics of both hemispheres, with aromatic gummy sap. The fol- 

 lowing single genus is represented in the trees of the United States. 



