4 COLOMBIAN MAHOGANY. 



producers of mahogany have had to seek substitutes in order to meet 

 the demand. Over 20 mahogany-like woods are now offered as true 

 mahogany, not to mention a considerable number of woods cunningly 

 stained to imitate that wood. While the consumer may derive as 

 much satisfaction from an article made of imitation mahogany as from 

 one made of the genuine wood, the discovery that real mahogany has 

 not been obtained is nevertheless ground for just complaint. 



It seems possible now, when the demand for mahogany is greater 

 than the supply, that there could be an accepted use for such woods as 

 Cariniana, acknowledged not to be mahogany, but which are so 

 similar to it in color, grain effects, and working qualities as to serve 

 for the rarer wood. There should be no objection to calling such 

 woods by their proper names. Moreover, unless all good substitutes 

 for mahogany were used, it would be impossible to meet the demand. 



Cariniana pyriformis first became known botanically in 1874, while 

 true mahogany was first described in 1760. Adequate information 

 regarding the botanical characteristics of Cariniana pyriformis, and 

 of the structural nature of the wood, has never before been pub- 

 lished. In order, therefore, to present here as complete an account 

 as possible of the species, a careful study has been made of the wood,, 

 foliage, and fruit; flowers of the tree could not be obtained. Correc- 

 tions are also made here of errors current in technical works as to the 

 origin of the botanical specimens of Cariniana previously collected. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERS. 



Young twigs (fig. I, a) are slender, flexible, with an alternate, two- 

 ranked arrangement; the older twigs have a reddish gray bark beset 

 with little warts, while the younger ones are smooth and shiny. 1 

 The leaves a re alternate and two-ranked, and smooth except on their 

 midveins; leaf-stalks slightly hairy or downy, 3 to 4 millimeters 2 

 long: leaf-blades 5 to 10 centimeters 3 long, and 2 to 3.5 centimeters 

 wide, varying in form from elliptic ovate to elliptic, with bases usually 

 long-acuminate, but sometimes rounded, or slightly acute; dark green 

 above, paler and densely covered with minute white dots beneath; 

 margins of the leaves with very fine teeth which are sometimes 

 rounded (lig. 1, b); midvein and side veins prominent on the lower 

 side, the former being slightly hairy and opposite near the base of the 

 leaf, but becoming alternate toward the apex, while the side veins 

 have very line hairs in their corners and are regularly alternate. 



The fruit (pyxidium), of a dark brown color, is somewhat pear- 

 shaped, flattened at the apex, 6.5 to 7.5 centimeters in length and 



i It was impossible to determine from the dried specimens the color the younger twigs have in the green 

 condition. 

 8 A millimeter is about one t went y-fifth of an inch, 

 * A centimeter is about two-filths of an inch. 



