58 SHADE IN COFFEE CULTURE. 



the trunk. Morris objects to it even for shading cacao in Trinidad and Jamaica 

 because the leaves are deciduous, and are absent from January to May, at the end of 

 the dry season, when the cacao most needs the shade. It is also said to be a surface 

 feeder, and to send out long superficial roots, which impede cultural operations in 

 the plantations. In Trinidad there has also been a movement set on foot by 

 Superintendent Hart, of the British Gardens, to supplant Erythrina with a species 

 of Lonchocarpus introduced from Nicaragua. Many planters are also said to have 

 substituted Hura crepitans, the sand-box tree, the advantage of which, if any, proba- 

 bly lies in the more open habit, an indication that the use of Erythrina resulted in 

 overshading. 



According to Lecomte, Erythrina amasisa is sparingly planted for coffee shade in 

 the French West Indies. 



Erythrina subumbrans. Dadap. 



Synonym. — EypapJwrus subumbrans. 



Common name. — Dadap (Java). 

 According to Lecomte, this species is the true Dadap, and distinct from E. litho- 

 sperma (Dadap djangoen), to which Hypaphorus subumbrans is usually referred as a 

 synonym. 



Erythrina umbrosa. 



Common names. — Anauca (Trinidad) ; Bucare (Venezuela) ; Coral tree; Immor- 

 tel; Madre de cacao. 

 This species was originally described from trees planted for cacao shade between 

 La Guaira and Caracas, Venezuela, and has probably on that account been taken to 

 be the species cultivated for the same purpose on several of the West Indian Islands. 

 As noted under E. poeppigiana this is not now thought to be the case, and all the 

 West Indian references to E. umbrosa may need to be transferred to the former 

 species, under which this question is discussed. 



Erythrina velutina. 



Common name. — Bocare (Trinidad). 

 According to Hart, this species is planted in Trinidad in cacao plantations of low 

 elevation and casts a denser shade than E. umbrosa, which is used higher up. 



Erythrine de Cayenne (Martinique). (See Erythrina poejypigiana.) 



Eugenia jambolana. 



Common names. — Black plum (British India) ; Jambolan; Java plum. 

 A tree native in British India and extensively planted for its subacid edible fruit. 

 The bark is used in dyeing and tanning and is valued as an astringent. The leaves, 

 fruit, and seed are also supposed to have medicinal properties. The tree attains 

 moderate size and is enumerated by Lecomte among those used for coffee shade. 



Eugenia jambos. (See Jambosa jambos.) 



Eugenia zeylanica. 



Enumerated by Lecomte as a coffee-shade tree. According to Watt, this is a small 

 tree noted only as yielding wood used for building purposes and for field tools.. 



Ficus asperrima. 



Common name. — Gargatti (Coorg, India). 

 An indigenous forest tree left standing in coffee plantations for shade, but said to 

 be of inferior value for this purpose. (Cameron. ) 



