Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

LEGUME FAMILY (LEGUMINOSAE)
MIMOSA SUBFAMILY (MIMOSOIDEAE; MIMOSACEAE)
66. Cojdbana Piptadenia peregrina (L.) Benth.
This small to medium-sized tree is characterized inch long; and the pistil has a 1-celled ovary with
by : (1) feathery, twice pinnate leaves (bipinnate) slender style about 1/4 inch long.
with minute narrow leaflets 1/8 inch or less in The pods have raised edges and split into 2
length; (2) smtill flowers numerous and crowded parts. There :Ire severnl rounded, very thin, flat
in whitish-yellow balls 3/s-l/z inch in diameter, seeds ne:mly 1/2 inch in diameter. Flowering from
severnl in stalked lateral clustew; (3) brown flat March to dune. Pods present most of the year.
and thin pods 3-8 inches long and about s/s inch The s:lpwood is n~hitish to light brown, and the
broad, slightly narrowed between the seeds, and heartwood dark brou-n or recldisll brown. The
fine1 scaly; and (4) very rough, pay brown or wood is extremely hard, l~eavy (o ecific gravity
b~ncHsh bark on larger trees, thick, deeply fur- 0.8), strong and durable, but dl P cult to work.
rowed, and with prominent warts or irregular Used chiefly for posts in Puerto Rico. The thick
ridges.
bark is rich in tannin and has been employed in
A deciduous tree becoming 20-40 feet high and tanneries of ITeneanela.
8 inches or more in trunk diameter, generally much A i1arcot.i~ snuff called "cojobn" was prepared
smaller, with tliin widely spreading crown of at- from the finely ground seecls by the Indians of
tractive fine foliage. Outer bark is gray or dark Hispimiola and Venezuela and adjacent parts of ;i
brown, with lines of growth, and inner bark light Brtlzil. It was used in religious ceremonies. Rennd
dark brown streaked, soft, and bitter. The cently this narcotic has been studied chemically
brown twigs are minutely hairy.
and tested for possible nledicinal applications.
The alternate leaves 6-9 inches long have a light In \vooclla~ids :uld hillsides in the coastal and
bromn, finely hairy axis benring 1 oval reddish lower nlountain regions of Puerto Rico.
gland near base and usually 2 nenr apex. There Prn~rc ~on~ms.-Cambalache, Maricao.
are about 20-35 pairs of lateral bn~nches (pinnae) ,. Raxa~.-Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Dominica,
each with about 30-100 pairs of stalkless, narrow St. Vincent, Grenada, and Trinidad (doubtfully
(linear), slightly hairy leaflets, which are short- native). Reported from Jamaica, a parently in
pointed :~t apex and oblique at base, green above error. Also Venezueln, British Juiann, and
and paler beneath. Thus, each leaf has at least a B rnzil.
few t thousand leaflets.
OTHER CO~\TMON ~~1~rI?~.--~ojobi~~o, cojoba, CO-
The floieer clusters (heads) tcre lateral, several
together on slender hairy stallrs 1/2-1 inch long
jobo (Puelto Rico) ; cojoba (Dominican Repub-
:~nd bearing numerous stallrless flowers. Each lic) ; yopo (Colombia) ; cojoba, niopa, niopo, yopo,
- flower is more than $i long mllen the stamens are curubt~, (Venezuela) ; savannah yoke, colloba
fully expanded. The bell-shaped 5-toothed calyx (Trinidad) ; bois galle, bois I'i!coi.ce, ceuf de poule
is 1/16 inch long and minutely hairy; the white (Haiti) ; pnric& (Brnzil).
corolla 1/8 inch long, with tube and 5 short lobes, ROT.\NICAL s~~on~ar.-~Viopa peregrina (L.)
finely hairy on outside; 10 stamens more than '/4 Britton tk Rose.