122 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
Coffee is a very popular beverage on the island. As usually prepared it is very 
black, due, in part, to the custom of roasting the beans with sugar. This is some- 
times added when the roasting is nearly completed and is supposed to coat the 
beans with a thin layer of burnt sugar, which helps to retain the aroma. 
Coffee. See Coffea arabica. 
Cohune nut. See Attalea cohune. 
Coitre. See Commelina. 
Coix lachryma-jobi. JoB’s TEARS. CAMANDULA. j PLATE XXIX. 
A grass with large oval, very hard seeds, smooth and polished, and of a light 
pearly-gray color; they are sometimes strung for beads or rosaries. This species 
is not uncommon in waste places in Porto Rico. 

Cojoba. See Copaifera hymenaeifolia and Acacia berteriana. 
According to Captain Hansard cojoba wood is used for posts and fencing; spe- 
cific gravity, 0.60. 
A wild tree found sparingly in the eastern part of the island, 40 to 50 feet (12 
to 15 meters) high, 2 feet (60 centimeters) in diameter; furnishes a wood that is 
flesh-colored, very hard, breaking vertically with great difficulty; used in boat 
building and for fences, in which case it strikes root; also called ‘‘ palo de hierro,”’ 
and ‘‘ quiebra hacha.’’ (Grosourdy, 2: 376.) 
Cojoba blanca. 
A tree from the eastern part of the island; height, 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 meters) ; 
diameter, 12 to 15 inches. Wood white, very hard; specific gravity, 0.928; used in 
boat building. (Exp. 1857.) 
Cojoba negra. 
A tree from the eastern part of the island; height, 20 to 25 feet (6 to 8 meters); 
diameter, 12 to 15 inches (30 to 37 centimeters). Wood dark, very hard; specific 
gravity, 0.994; used in boat building. (Exp. 1857.) 
Cojobana. See Piptadenia peregrina and Pithecolobium jfilicifolium. 
Grosourdy (2: 376) refers this name and ‘‘ cobana”’ to Swietenia mahagoni. 
Cojobilla. See Piptadenia peregrina. 
Bello reports this name under Acacia angustiloba. 
Cola. See Cola acuminata. 
Cola acuminata. COoLa. 
The cola tree was introduced into the West Indies from West Africa during 
slave trading times for the benefit of the slaves. It has become naturalized in 
Trinidad and probably in other islands. 
Coladilla. See Polypodium polypodioides. 
Coleus amboinicus. See Coleus aromaticus. 
Coleus aromaticus. 
Family Labiatae. Bello reports the name ‘‘ oregano de Espana” for Coleus ~ 
amboinicus. (Stahl, 6: 170.) 
Collards. See Brassica oleracea. 
Colocasia esculenta. Taro. YAUTIA MALANGA. BLEEDING HEART. 
Family Araceae; the ‘*‘ taro’’ of Polynesia. 
Elsewhere about the Caribbean Sea the same plant has a most confusing variety 
of native names, ‘‘coco’’ in Jamaica, ‘*‘eddo’’ in Barbados, ‘* tannia’’ in Trini- 
dad, ‘‘taya’’ in the French islands, ‘‘oto’’ on the Isthmus of Panama, and 
‘““tiquisquis ** in Nicaragua. European travelers and residents are commonly not 
aware of the differences between these closely similar plants, and generally apply 
these names indiscriminately to both Colocasia and Xanthosma; and some botanists 
have even failed to appreciate the differences. . 
reas 



