3 1 6. CONOCARPUS ERECT A FLORIDA BUTTON-WOOD. 2Q 



2 or 2 1/2 ft. (o.75m.) and is vested in a dark gray-brown bark, fissured 

 into low flat ridges which exfoliate in thin scales and fibrous strips, 

 peeling off lengthwise. It is often found fruiting as a shrub. 



HABITAT. A tree of wide distribution, being found along muddy 

 tide- water shores of Florida south of Cedar Keys and Cape Canaveral, 

 the Antilles generally, Central America and tropical South America 

 and also on the west coast of Africa. 



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

 grained and of a dark yellowish brown color with thin lighter sap- 

 wood. Specific Gravity, 0.9900; Percentage of Ash, 0.32; Relative 

 Approximate Fuel Value, 0.9868; Coefficient of Elasticity, 102411; 

 Modulus of Rupture, 942; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 599; 

 Resistance to Indentation, 370; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 61.70. 



USES. The principal use of this tnee is for fuel, for which it is 

 excellent, as it burns slowly, almost like coal, producing good heat and 

 very little smoke. 



The bark is rich in tannin and is used to some extent as an astrin- 

 gent and for tanning purposes. 



GENUS LAGUNCULARIA GAERTNER. 



Leaves opposite, thick, flat, leathery, oblong, 1^-3^2 in. long, emarginate or 

 rounded at apex, rounded at base, smooth dull green above, paler beneath, marked 

 with small tubercles towards the margin, with straight brown midrib, obscure 

 reticulate veinlets and thick biglandular petiole l /2 in. or less in length. Flowers 

 produced throughout the year, usually perfect, y\ in. long, greenish white, sessile 

 in few flowered axillary and terminal simple tomentose spikes 1^/2 to 2 in. long 

 with minute bractlets ; calyx turbinate, prominently ribbed and bracteolate near 

 the middle and with 5 pointed, persistent lobes ; petals 5, nearly orbicular, not 

 longer than the calyx lobes, ciliate, caducous ; stamens 10, with awl-shaped fila- 

 ments and heart-shaped anthers; pistil with i-celled ovary, short style and 

 somewhat 2-lobed stigma. Fruit drupaceous, leathery, about l / 2 in. long, oblong 

 or obovoid, unequally lo-ribbed, crowned with the calyx lobes and containing a 

 single dark red stone. 



A genus of the following single species and named from Latin 

 roots alluding to a fancied resemblance in the fruits to little flasks. 



