Gums, Resins, 



302 



April 1908. 



were referred to S. biglandulosum, Muell. 

 Arg., but according 1 to the compiler of 

 the Index Kewensis, this species has 

 been considered as identical with S. 

 aucuparium, Jacq.* 



Sapium Jenamni. Hbmsl. 

 This species was named after Mr. 

 Jenman, who first discovered it, and to 

 whom we are indebted for most of our 

 knowledge of this and of the other 

 species of Sapium found in the Colony. 

 It may be easily distinguished from the 

 other two that I have mentioned by the 

 leaves ending rather suddenly in a long 

 blunt point, not a hooked gland, by the 

 two glands at the junction of the leaf 

 with the stalk being small and incon- 

 spicuous, and by the leaf bearing 

 numerous minute transparent dots which 

 do not show plainly in the fresh leaves, 

 but are most easily seen by holding a 

 dried leaf up against the light. 



When the tree is in fruit, another dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic will be found 

 in the fruit containing only one seed 

 instead of the usual three, and by its 

 splitting open into two halves when ripe. 



The Carabisi Indians know this tree 

 under the name Touchpong,t while the 

 Arawacks call it Hya-hya. 



Sapium Jenmani grows to a consider' 

 able size. Mr. Jenman speaks of it as 

 "one of the largest trees in the forest," 

 while Mr. J. E. Beckett in a report on an 

 expedition undertaken to collect young 

 plants of Sapium felled a tree, presum- 

 ably of this species, which, three feet 

 from the ground, had a circumference 

 of 5 feet, while another specimen is 

 mentioned which had a height of about 

 110 feet and a girth 3 feet from the 

 ground of nine and a half feet. 



The species is widely spread through- 

 out the lower forest lands of the colony, 

 but seems to be scarce in the immediate 



* In a copy of a paper I have just received 

 through the kindness of the author, Mows. J. Huber, 

 of the Para Museum, entitled " Revue Critique des 

 Especes au genre Sapium," I observe that our 

 specimens identified as Sapium aucupariwni, Jacq. 

 have been referred to a new species, S. Hciuslei/- 

 aimm, Huber. In order to avoid confusion, I 

 prefer in this account to adhere to the former name 

 by which several people in the colony have learnt to 

 know the tree. 



f Mr. Jenman adds the following interesting note 

 with regard to the pronunciation of this word : — 

 I have very often now heard the Indians pronounce 

 the word, and I am myself satisfied that the first 

 syllable is one of the innumerable cases in the 

 Guiana languages of what is called an ' explosive. ' 

 That is to say, there is a T sound brought out uttered 

 with a considerable and marked explosion, and this 

 constitutes the whole syllable. The best way to 

 \rate it is probably this— t'pong, 



neighbourhood of the coast, the only 

 specimen for which I am aware being one 

 planted in the Botanic Gardens which 

 is of very stunted growth. 



Sapium Aucuparium, Jacq. 

 The character which in most cases serves 

 to distinguish this species from the other 

 two, occurring in British Guiana is the 

 presence of a peculiar hooked gland at 

 the apex of the leaf, which, however, 

 is found in several other species growing 

 outside the Colony. 



The leaves show very considerable 

 variety in size and shape both in those 

 occurring in different parts of the same 

 tree, at different ages of the plant and 

 on different individuals. Thus the leaves 

 on the lowermost branches of some of 

 the trees are destitute of the hooked 

 apex and end in a long blunt point as in 

 S, Jenmani. Also the leaves of young 

 plants and of saplings even measuring 

 15 to 20 feet high are invariably wanting 

 in this characteristic feature. 



The two glands at the base of the leaf 

 are much larger and more prominent 

 than in S. Jenmani, they are thick at the 

 base and taper towards the blunt apex. 

 The rest of the characters described for 

 the genus Sapium apply in general to this 

 species. The fruits are about half an inch 

 in diameter and split open into three 

 valves, disclosing the three seeds covered 

 by the red pulp or aril. When the aril is 

 removed the dark-coloured seed-coat 

 underneath is found to be rough with 

 small warts or tubercles. 



S. aucupar ium is a tree very widely 

 distributed throughout the coast region 

 where it often reaches a considerable 

 height, though it never approaches the 

 magnitude of S. Jenmani, There are 

 many trees scattered about Georgetown 

 and several occur in various parts of the 

 Botanic Gardens where they have sprung 

 up spontaneously, probably from seeds 

 dropped by birds. 



It is the "Gum-tree" of the Creoles 

 with which almost every boy is familiar, 

 and the trees wherever accessible are 

 tapped for bird-lime. The trees in the 

 Botanic Gardens show abundant evidence 

 of this tapping, which must have been 

 going on from the time that they were 

 mere saplings, for the bark from the base 

 of the trunk to the topmost branches 

 is everywhere scarred with cuts and 

 slashes. 



The method generally followed in 

 collecting the ' gum ' is to make a cut in 

 the bark, and then the viscid and very 

 sticky latex which issues from the cut 

 is wound off on thin sticks or wires, 

 These are then stuck horizontally into a 



