682 



Naked wood 



leaves, and small perfect flowers in axillary clusters; there are 5 calyx- lobes, 5 

 petals, 5 stamens, and the oxsltj is 3-celled with i ovule in each cavity. The 

 fruit is 3-lobed, spUtting when ripe into 3 valves. 



The Nakedwood, or Soldier wood, inhabits extreme southern Florida, and is 

 distributed throughout the West Indies from the Bahamas to St. Vincent and 

 Jamaica. It attains a height of at least 20 meters, with a trunk up to 1.5 meters 

 in diameter. The orange-brown bark is deeply irregularly furrowed and ridged, 

 falling away in papery layers. The young twigs are finely hairy, reddish, becoming 

 smooth, round, and brown. The leaves vary from ovate to elliptic or ovate-lan- 



FiG. 634. Nakedwood. 



ceolate, and from 4 to 8 cm. in length; they are entire-margined, bluntly pointed, 

 smooth when fully grown, the rounded or narrowed base bearing 2 glands; the 

 slender leaf-stalks are usually i cm. long or more. The hairy flower-clusters are 

 stalked, and as long as the leaf-stalks or shorter; the pointed calyx-lobes are keeled 

 on the inner side; the hooded petals are shorter than the calyx- lobes, each enfolding 

 a stamen; the rather slender style is 3-lobed at the top. The fruit is orange-red, 

 nearly round, 8 or 10 mm. in diameter, splitting into three 2-lobed valves, each 

 containing one black shining oblong seed. 



The wood is dark brown, hard, strong, and heavy, its specific gravity being 

 about 0.82. 



