46 RHIZOPHORACE^E. — COMBRETACE.E. Rliizopliora. 



Wood heavy, hard, not strong, rather tough, close-grained, compact, 

 inclined to shrink and warp badly in seasoning, susceptible of a beautiful 

 polish ; medullary rays numerous, very obscure ; color bright brown tinged 

 with red, the sap-wood nearly white ; manufactured into lumber and used 

 in the construction of buildings for plates, boarding, and clapboards, in 

 cabinet work as a substitute for black walnut, and for veneering and street 

 pavements. 



The balsamic exudation obtained from this species at the South is col- 

 lected by herbalists, and sometimes used in the form of a syrup as a sub- 

 stitute for storax in the treatment of catarrhal affections, or externally 

 as an ointment. 



RHIZOPHORACE^E. 



140. Rhizophora Mangle, L. 

 Mangrove. 



Semi-tropical Florida, — ■ Mosquito Inlet and Cedar Keys to the southern 

 keys; Delta of the Mississippi River; coast of Texas; West Indies and 

 tropical America; and now widely naturalized throughout the tropics of 

 the Old World. 



A tree 12 to 18 metres, or exceptionally 27 metres, in height, with a 

 trunk 0.30 to 0.60 metre in diameter, or more commonly not exceeding 4 

 to 7 metres in height; low saline shores, reaching, in the United States, its 

 greatest development on Bay Biscayne and Cape Sable; south of latitude 

 29°, bordering with almost impenetrable thickets the coast of the Florida 

 peninsula, ascending the rivers for many miles, especially those flowing 

 from the Everglades, and entirely covering many of the southern keys. 



Wood exceedingly heavy, hard, and strong, close-grained, checking in 

 drying, satiny, susceptible of a beautiful polish, containing many evenly 

 distributed rather small open ducts; medullary rays numerous, thin; 

 color dark reddish brown streaked with lighter brown, the sap-wood 

 lighter ; used for wharf piles and furnishing valuable fuel. 



COMBRETACE^E. 



141. Conocarpus erecta, L. 

 Buttonwood. 



Semi tropical Florida,-— Cape Canaveral and Tampa Bay to the south- 

 ern keys; through the West Indies to Brazil. 



A low tree, often 8 metres, or exceptionally 1"> to 18 metres, in height, 

 with a trunk sometimes 0.60 metre in diameter ; common, and reaching its 

 greatest development, in the United States, on Lost Man's River, north of 

 ('ape Sable; or sometimes reduced to a low under-shrub. 



Wood very heavy and hard, strong, close-grained, very compact, suscep- 



