158 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



lobiea, to Vouacapoua americana Aubl. 1 Its colour is a dark brown, 

 varying in depth and variegated with whitish spots, whose form varies 

 with the direction of the section ; its great solidity renders it 

 valuable for building and many domestic purposes in Guiana.' 2 The 

 Copaiva-trees have yet finer and handsomer woods, preferably 

 employed by the cabinet-maker. That of Copaifera officinalis is 

 used for marqueterie in the Antilles. The so-called Amarantli 

 woods 3 of Guiana belong to C. bracteala, and, we are told, to C. 

 pubiflora also. They are fine, hard, and elastic, even resisting 

 artillery discharges, and are hence used for making fine furniture, 

 and all kinds of constructions. 4 The Courbaril woods are also of 

 good quality. That of llymencea Courbaril L. 5 (the West Indian 

 Locust-tree) is red, hard, and full of specks, which look as though 

 engraved; it is used in the manufacture of very strong furniture 

 and utensils. 6 Several other species afford good timber. Mela- 

 noxylon Brauna Schott, the Guarauna of Brazil, is a fine tree with 

 an incorruptible, tough, black heart-wood, one of the best in the 

 country for building. 7 The chief kinds of Iron-wood (Bois de fer) of 

 the same country are Apuleia ferrea Mart., and the Juea {Casal- 

 pinia ferrea Mart. 8 ), the woods of the Vignatico {Echirospermum 

 Balthasari Allem. 9 ), and the Cana fistula (Cassia brasUiana Lamk. 10 ), 

 are also cited as excellent. The oily Vouapa or Epcru, the wood of 

 Eperua falcata" the Wallaba-tree, impregnated with a resinous oil 

 that renders it very durable, is prized in Guiana ; so, too, is that of 

 E. (Parivoa) grandifiora? used, among other purposes, in the fabri- 

 cation of the juruparis 13 of the Amazon; and especially that of the 

 magnificent Dimorpliandra excelsa" which attains a height of upwards 

 of 160 feet. Casalpinia imignis, 16 from the Amazon, is, we are told, 

 one of the Eosewoods of commerce. At the Cape of Good Hope 



1 See p. 8S, note 4. 8 Both are also termed Pao ferro, or False 



2 Gtjib., Drog. Simpl., ed. 4, in. 331. Brazil Iron-wood. 



3 Distinguished as red and purple Amaranths 9 Kx Saudamha, op. cit., 39, t. 3 (Cassia ?). 

 (Purple-wood, Purple-heart of the English; ,0 See p. 151, note 3. — SAH>ANHA, op. cit., 43. 

 Simiridi of the Galibis and Arrawacks). u See p. 105, note 1. 



« It is also used for gun-carriages, railway- !! *f C P" j 1 ? 5 ' note 2 ' figS ' ?}' 8 ^ T ,. . 



sleepers, &c. (see Gtjib., loc. cit., 322.— Lindl., Mus,cal . instruments used by the Ind.ans in 



Yeg. Kingd., 550). 



certain religious ceremonies. 



14 Jlora excelsaScno'ilii., in Trans. Linn., Soc, 



5 Spec, 537 (see above, p. 108, note 1). ... OA>7 ,.,, , e . . T .. , , 



r ' v r ' .win. 207. — 1 he seeds or certain Dunoiphanarns 



6 Guib., loc. cit., 323.— Rosenth., op. cit., are supposed to contain the largest dicotyledonous 

 1^42. embryos known. 



7 J. de Saldanha, Confgur. das Pr. " Poinciana insignis K., Mimos., t. 44. — 

 Madeir., 94, t, 2. H. B. K.,Nov, Gen. el Spec.,\\., 333. 



