226 botanical gazette. [September, 



cloth. Like the "Chacuar," which is either the same or a 

 similar species that grows in the Chaco australis, its threads 

 have been employed by the Indians from time immemorial 

 for making various articles, such as garments, cords, fishing- 

 nets, baskets, and even coats of mail, which are said to be 

 impenetrable by arrows. Several other species of the same 

 family are found here, all of which can be used for the same 

 purposes. One of these, which I have collected, grows 

 upon ledges of red sandstone, and has a tall scape of flowers 

 with scarlet bracts and calyx and bright blue petals. 



Of forest trees it may be said that no pine, oak, ash, 

 hemlock, spruce, hickory or maple is known to occur in 

 Paraguay, but the country produces many interesting and 

 valuable woods. With few exceptions they are very com- 

 pact and durable, and susceptible of a fine polish, but they 

 are generally too cross-grained, knotty and tough to serve 

 for house-timber. Beams made of them are as heavy and 

 solid as iron. The Quebracho Colorado, for instance, which 

 is often used in building railroad bridges, furnishes timbers 



which will support enormous weights and last for years, but 

 the wood is so hard that it can scaicely be cut with a knite. 

 These woods serve admirably for cabinet work, and espec- 

 ially for the turning-lathe. I have seen beautiful cups, gob- 

 lets, card baskets, and other ornamental objects turned from 

 them, and for veneering many of them are not surpassed in 

 grain, color, delicate markings, and susceptibility of polish 

 by mahogany, black walnut or birch. Among the hand- 

 somest trees which I have met is the "Timbo" (Entero- 

 lobium timbosa), which grows sometimes to the height 01 

 seventy-five or a hundred feet, with wide-spread and sym- 

 metrical branches, and long, pinnate leaves, forming a very 

 ornamental shade tree. The wood is employed in making 

 boats and canoes, but not otherwise good for much as timber. 

 Half a dozen other species of Enterolobium, all inferior to 

 the Timbo, grow in the Paraguayan forests. Another, but 

 much smaller tree, common in this vicinity, is one of the 

 mulberry family (Broussonetia probably). This has an um- 

 brella-like head of large, drooping, palmate leaves that are 

 smooth and shining above, and silvery woolly beneath, and 

 presents an appearance quite as striking to the eye as the 

 palm. Its flowers are dioecious, both the staminate and 

 pistillate, in long, finger-shaped spikes, densely packed 

 together upon a common cylindrical receptacle. 



The best wood for furniture and all kinds of house-finish- 



