550 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



deserts of southern Arizona and the adjacent parts of California, and is 

 usually a small shrub. 



JAMAICA DOGWOOD (Ichthyonuthia piscipuld) is the lone represen- 

 tative of the genus, and is found in this country only in southern Florida. 

 It is not in the same family wit?-. JIG dogwoods, and its name is mislead- 

 ing. The Carib Indians formerly used the leaves to stupify fish and 

 render them easier to catch ; hence the botanical name. The leaves are 

 compound, but bear little resemblance to the foliage of most members of 

 the pea family to which this tree belongs. The flowers are the tree's 

 chief source of beauty, and are delicately clustered, hanging in bunches a 

 foot long. The fruit is a pod three or four inches long, with four wings 

 running the full length. The wings are useless for flying. Trees are 

 forty or fifty feet high and two or three feet in diameter; are common in 

 southern Florida and on the islands. The wood is of considerable im- 

 portance in the region where it grows but figures little in general markets. 

 It weighs 54.43 pounds per cubic foot, and is moderately strong and stiff. 

 In color it is a clear yellow-brown, with thick, lighter colored sapwood. 

 It is very durable hi contact with the ground, and in Florida it is used 

 for posts, and occasionally for railway ties. It has been commonly 

 reported as a wood for boatbuilding in Florida, but its importance for 

 that purpose has probably been overstated, since an investigation of the 

 boatbuilding industry in Florida failed to find one foot of this wood in 

 use, although some may be employed but not listed in reports. 



