
COOK AND COLLINS—-ECONOMIC PLANTS OF PORTO RICO. 75 
name ‘‘ pimiento,”’ but the present is probably that which Hill and others have 
supposed to be allspice. (Stahl, 4: 72.) 
A tree 45 to 50 feet (14 to 16 meters) high, the straight, rather long trunk 15 to 
24 inches (35 to 55 centimeters) in diameter. Furnishes a moderately hard and 
heavy wood, fine and compact in texture. The sapwood is very light red with 
darker lines, while the heart is brownish red, brown, or on account of the knots, 
almost black. It is susceptible of a very high polish. Specific gravity, 0.909. It 
is one of the best and most valued woods of these countries, very strong and dur- 
able, suitable for carpenters and cabinetwork, and it is exported to some extent. 
The bark is rough and ash-colored, and peels after the manner of the sycamore. 
(Grosourdy, 2: 398.) 
Amyris balsamifera. Rosmwoop. 
A rutaceous shrub or small tree of 2 to 8 meters. Extends from Florida to 
Cuba. Jamaica, and South America. Known in Porto Rico only from the vicin- 
ity of Guanica. (Urban, Add. 3: 292.) 
Amyris elemifera. ToRCHWoop. CUABILLA. 
A rutaceous shrub or small tree, 2 to 8 meters in height, extending from Florida 
tc Trinidad and known in Porto Rico in littoral thickets near Bayamon and Ponce. 
Native names are as yet unknown, and the above are from Florida and Cuba. 
Amyris maritima. Tha. 
A shrub or small tree from 5 to 10 meters in height, growing in thickets near 
the sea; Cangrejos. Fajardo, Coamo, Ponce, Guanica, and Salinas de Cabo Rojo. 
(Urban, Add. 3: 292.) 
Amyris silvatica. Tha. 
A wild tree whose height reaches 25 or 30 feet (8 or 9 meters) and the diameter 
of its trunk 5 to 8 inches (12 to 20 centimeters). Furnishes an aromatic wood, 
strong, solid, whitish in color, breaking with a vertical fracture. 
On account of its resinous quality, splinters of this wood are used by the country 
people as torches for fishing and to light their huts. It is also suitable for fur- 
niture. (Grosourdy, 2: 379.) 
Anacagutitas. See Sterculia carthaginensis. 
Anacahuita. 
Probably the same as “‘ anacagititas.”’ 
In Cuba a Mexican boraginaceous tree, Cordia boissieri, is known by this name, 
and the wood, yielding an oil supposed to be a specific for consumption, was for- 
merly exported to Europe from Mexico, but experiments in Germany failed to 
show the presence of any medicinal virtues. 
Flowers called by this name were sold in the market of Ponce for making a tea 
for colds, etc. 
Anacardium occidentale. CasHEw. PAJUIL. 
There is also a considerable variety of common names, such as ‘‘cajou,”’ 
“acaju,’’ and ‘‘ maranon.”’ 
This tropical tree gives its name to the family Anacardiaceae, to which our 
poison ivy and sumac also belong. It is a handsome, quick-growing species, and 
bears fruit while still very young, sometimes when but two years old. Ultimately 
it reaches a height of 30 or 40 feet (9 to 13 meters) and has a close-grained, strong, 
and durable wood, useful for boat building and other purposes, and said to weigh 38 
lbs. per cubic foot. It has large, entire oval leaves, not at all resembling those of 
its relatives mentioned above, but it shares with the poison ivy the possession of an 
acrid substance strongly irritant to the human epidermis and the mucous mem- 
branes. The poisonous material is not, however, spread through the plant, but is. 
mostly concentrated in the rather soft shell of the nut, which is borne upon a 
pear-shaped, red or yellow fleshy receptacle 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) long. 
