THECUBAREVIEW 15 



THE WEST INDIAN LOCUST OR ALGARROBA TREE 



The West Indian locust is one of the important timber trees of tropical America. It is 

 closely related to the black locust {Robinia pseiidacacia) of the United States, and is botani- 

 cally knowTi as Hymenaea courbaril. Both of these trees belong to the pea family of plants, 

 but they are easily distinguished from one another bj^ the fact that the black locust has pinnate 

 leaves consisting of from five to ten pairs of leaflets and an odd terminal one, and the West 

 Indian locust has leaves composed of a pair of leaflets at the end of the leaf stalk. The arrange- 

 ment of the leaflets in the latter species suggested the generic name Hymenaea, which has refer- 

 ence to Hymen, the god of mariiage; the specific name courbaril is one of the original native 

 names. 



The tree has a good many local designations and its popular nomenclatm-e is greatly con- 

 fused. In Cuba and in other Spanish-speaking countries it is called algarroba; in Jamaica, 

 courbaril and locust tree; in Central America, guapinoe; in Curacao, tamarijn di HoUanda; 

 in Surinam, bastaardlocus, jengi kanda, locus, lokisi kaka and simiri; in British Guiana, bastard 

 locust and courbaril plum; in French Guiana, bois de courbaril, locustrier, cacachien, caroubier 

 de la Guyane, copalier de Amerique and diphylle pois confitm-e; and in Brazil, jatai, jatoba, 

 jatahy, simiri and algarobo. It is known in English also as South American or leather-leaved 

 locust, Brazilian gum-copal tree, gum animi tree and courbaril; in German, anime baum, gem- 

 einer lokust, heuschrec kenbaum, hulsenbaum and locustenbaum; in French, bois de sim.ire; 

 and in Dutch, cannariboom, gom anime boom, locusboom and sprinkhaanboom. In Surinam 

 the wood of this tree is called Surinaamsch Teakhout, Westindisch teakhout, julchihout and 

 courbarilhout . In the trade it is generally known as West Indian locust or simiri. 



Adapted to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, the West Indian locust is one of 

 the m.ost widely distributed of the tropical American timber trees. It is native to the southern 

 States of Mexico and extends southward through Central America into South America, where 

 it is very comro.on along the Amazon River and its tributaries, but it forms nowhere pure 

 forests. It is said to be most abundant in some parts of the river forests of British Guiana. 

 It is claimed by some that the West Indian locust tree did not originally grow naturally on 

 the islands of the Caribbean Sea, but that it was introduced there from the Spanish Main by 

 the early settlers, who prized the tree more or less highly on account of the fruit which possesses 

 som.e of the properties of the St. John's bread of southern Europe. It has now become thorough- 

 ly naturalized to all part of Cuba and other West Indian islands. It is a common tree in Porto 

 Rico where Grosourdy has described two varieties, which he called "algarrobo amarillo" 

 and "algarrobo Colorado." These two forms are not, however, botanically different. 



The tree is noted for its colossal size and remarkable longevity. It thrives best in sandy 

 soil where it usually develops into a stately tree with a lofty spreading crown, often attaining 

 a height of 100 feet or more and from 60 to 80 feet to the first branch. Like a good many 

 of its associates the West Indian locust develops exceedingly large buttresses ; some have been 

 measured that were 84 feet in circumference. According to some authorities numerous trees 

 have been found with a diameter of from 15 to 18 feet where the trunk assumes its usual cyUn- 

 drical form.. The majority of the trunks of mature trees are not over 6 feet in diameter, which 

 have been estimated to be more than a thousand years old. The age of some of the larger 

 trees has been placed at from two to three thosuand years. There are some trees at present in 

 the forests of Brazil which, according to some calculations, are supposed to have been of cdu- 

 siderable size at the commencement of the Christian era. 



The wood is rather hard, strong, tough and elastic. The figures on weight determined 

 for this wood are exceedingly variable. Capt. Fowke* states in his report on the various colo- 

 nial woods exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1855, that the wood from Jamaica weighs 

 about 42 pounds per cubic foot and that from British Guiana about 44 pounds, but the bulk 

 of the air-dried wood normally weighs between 50 and 60 pounds per cubic foot depending upon 

 the age of the tree and upon the character of the soil in which the trees grow. One author who 



*Reports from Commissioner, Paris Universal Exposition, Vol. XXXVI (19), Part 1, 1S56. 



