84 BULLETIN" 354, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



*104. Thespesia grandiflora P. DC. Maga, Magar, Magas. 



Tree from 30 to 45 feet high and from 1 to 3 feet in diameter, occurring quite gen- 

 erally' throughout the island. The wood is highly esteemed for furniture, flutes, 

 guitar pegs, etc. It is also used largely for shelving and for foundations, house piling, 

 etc., because of its durability in the ground. 



Wood rich chocolate-brown, beautiful, fine-grained, taking a good polish, hard, 

 heavy (42 pounds per cubic foot), strong, and very durable in contact with the soil. 

 Pores solitary or occasionally in groups of two or three, evenly distributed. Pith rays 

 inconspicuous. 



XXXI. BOMBACACE^, 



*105. Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. (=Eriodendron anfractuosum DC). Ceiba; 

 Silk-cotton, Cotton tree, Kopak tree, Cork wood (Br. W. I.); Fromager 

 (Haiti). 



Tree from 60 to 100 feet high and sometimes from 8 to 10 feet in diameter, most com- 

 mon in the south and west coast regions, particularly on limestone soils. It is also 

 widely distributed throughout the* Tropics and usually present in open plains and cul- 

 tivated fields. The wood is used for making boats, dugouts, rafts, tubs, and basins. 

 Boards and shingles are often made of this wood after treating it by immersing the logs 

 in limewater. In West Africa its chief commercial value lies in the "floss" or "ko- 

 pak" 1 as it is known to commerce, which is a cottony substance surrounding the seeds. 



Wood white or light brown, coarse and straight-grained, very soft, light (about 28 

 pounds per cubic foot), rather strong, and not durable in contact with the soil. Pores 

 large, evenly distributed throughout the annual rings of growth; the latter are not 

 always clearly marked. Pith rays conspicuous. 



108. Quararibea turbinata (Sw.) Poir. Garrocha, Garrocho, Palo de Garrocha. 

 A shrub or tree from 25 to 30 feet high, common in all parts of the island. 



*107. Ochroma lagopus Sw. Guano, Corcho; Bois Liege (Haiti); Cork wood, Down 

 tree (Jamaica); Balsa wood (of commerce). 



Tree from 30 to 60 feet high and 1 foot or more in diameter common on the limestone 

 soils and along the shore directly behind the mangrove in the north and west coast 

 regions and generally throughout the south coast and south slopes of the Central 

 Mountains. Particularly common along the roads. It is a tree of the open country, 

 like the ceiba. The wood, because of its extreme lightness, is sometimes used as a 

 substitute for true cork, for stopping bottles, as floats for fish nets, and for other pur- 

 poses where a light wood is required. The bark yields a chestnut-brown fiber suitable 

 for rope making, and the seed envelopes yield a soft cotton or down extensively used 

 for stuffing pillows and mattresses and to a limited extent for making into garments. 

 The bark is also used locally for the tannin it contains, and both bark and roots are 

 used medicinally. 



The wood is nearly white or slightly tinged with red, showing practically no dis- 

 tinction between heartwood and sapwood. It has a silky texture, loose structure, 

 and soft tissue easily compressible under the thumbnail, and is very fibrous and diffi- 

 cult to work. It is said to be the lightest of all woods, having a specific gravity varying 



i This floss of the ceiba is exported in large quantities from the East Indies and West Africa; the variety 

 from Java is regarded as a fiber of great merit, and is used for stuffing pillows and sofas. Its lightness, soft- 

 ness, and elasticity render it superior to the best qualities of feathers, wool, or hair. This material has been 

 employed also as a buoyant material for packing life belts and for making hats and bonnets, and has even 

 been suggested for the manufacture of paper and guncotton. It is too short in staple and too weak to be 

 spun into yarn. Unfortunately the silk cotton from the West Indies is accounted of little value at present, 

 but it only remains for some one to start its collection here and ship it to American markets. It has been 

 estimated that the average yield of silk cotton from a single tree in the West Indies and Mexico is approxi- 

 mately 100 pounds. Many thousands of bales of silk cotton might be collected annually in the West Indies 

 and turned to economic use. In 1907 a little over 20,000,000 pounds of silk cotton was exported from Java 

 and Sumatra, and of this quantity about 3,000,000 pounds were consumed in the United States for a great, 

 variety of purposes. 



