Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

In Puerto Rico flowering usually from January to
March, sometimes also in August, the fruits ma-
turing from Febrllary to May.
The wood is whitish, soft, perishable, and little
used in Puerto Rico.
Formerly the trees were widely planted in
Puerto Rico for coffee shade. Now, however, they
are not recommended for that purpose. They
grow- to large size, larger than desirable for coffee
shade and thus may compete with the crop be-
neath. The \real< branches are easily broken by
strong winds or hurricanes. The trees are grown
also as ornamental and shade trees.
Centuries ago this species was transported over
the American tropics from its home in lower slopes
of the Andes as a shade tree for coffee nnd cacao
plantations and pastures and for living fences. In
some countries, especially in the Andes, this is still
a popular coffee shade tree.
The bark, twigs, and seeds of various species of
this genus are more or less toxic. They have pro-
vided drugs and medicines locally and have been
employed also to stupefy fish. It is reported that
the flowers of this species have been eaten in soup
and salad.
Chiefly in coffee plantations in the lower Cordil-
LEGUME FAMILY (LEGUMINOSAE)
lera and moist limestone regions of Puerto Rico.
Also in St. Thomas.
MU~ICIPA~,ITY TVHERE EBPECWLLY COMMON.-73.
RANGE.-Native robably from Venezuela to
Panama, south to %cuador, Peru, Bolivia, and
Brazil. Now extensively planted and naturalized
in tropical America north to Guatemala and introduced
into the Greater Antilles, Guadeloupel Martinique,
and Trinidad and Tobago. Cultivated
also in the Old World tropics and recorded from
southern Florida.
Onm~ co~rafo~ NAXES.-bucare gigante, bucare,
b6car, brucayo, palo de boya (Puerto Rico) ; bumatell
(St. Thomas) ; brucal, amapola, mapola
(Dominican Republic) ; piii6n de sombra, bucare
(Cuba) ; pito evtranjero (Guatemala, El Salvador)
; pisamo, saivo, cacliimbo, c6mbul0, pito
gigante (Colombia) ; bumre, wibo (Venezuela) ;
bomb6n (Ecuador) ; nmasisa (Peru) ; saibo (Bolivia)
; anauca (United States) ; mountain immortelle,
bois imlnortelle (Jamaica, Trinidad) ;
anauca immortelle, cocoa-mamma? coffee-mamma
(Trinidad) ; bois immortel (Haitl) ; bois immortel,
immortel jaune (Guadeloupe) ; mulungi
(Brazil).
BOTANICAL sr~onnf.-Eqthm'na micropterym
PWPP.
PEA SUBFAMILY (LOTOIDEAE; FABACEAE)
85. Mata-ratbn, mother-of-cocoa Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Stead.'
Mata-rathn, a small introduced tree commonly
planted in fence rows and for ornament, is distinguished
by : (1) odd pinnate leaves 6-16 inches
long with 7-17 ovate, elliptic, or lance-shaped leaflets;
(2) numerous showy whitish-pink or purplish-tinged
pea-shaped flowers about % inch
long in lateral clusters along old branches when
leafless or alon branches back of leaves; and (3)
flat blackish po 5 s 4-6 inches long.
A small deciduous tree or shnib, becoming 25
feet tall and 8 inches in trunk diameter, with irmgular
spreading crown of thin foliage. The
bark is pity or light brown, smoothish to slightly
fissured. Inner bark is whitish and almost tasteless.
Young twigs are light green and finely hairy,
the older twigs light brown.
The alternate leaves have slender yellow-green
finely hairy axes. Leaflets, paired except the terminal
one, have hair stalks about s/16 inch long.
The thin leaflet bldes are l'/r-2% inches long
and inches wide, short- to long-pointed at
apex, rounded or short- ointed at base, not toothed
at ed es, dull green a ove, and gray green and
7
slight y hairy beneath. g
The numerous lateral flower clusters (racemes)
2-6 inoles long are many flowered. The attractive
flowers have a slender green stalk and a bell-
shaped light green calyx tinged with red, '/r inch
long and broad, minutely 5-toothed at apex; the
butterfly-shaped corolla about s/8 inch long consists
of 5 whitish-pink or purplish-tinged etals,
the broad standard turned back and yellowis i near
bnse, 2 oblong curved wings, and 2 united petals
forming a keel; 10 whitish stamens ."/s inch long,
9 united in a tube and 1 separate; and pistil 6/
inoh long, with stalked narrow red ovary an61
whitish bent style.
The pods are yellow pen when immature, turning
blackish, s-% inch wide, short-stalked at base
and short-pointed at a ex, splitting open at maturity.
There are 3-8 d' at, elliptic, shin , blackish
seeds % inch long (2,000 to a pound). $lowering
in winter and sprlng (December to May), the fruit
maturing from winter to summer.
The snpwood is light brown and the heartwood
dark brown, turnin reddish brown on exposure.
The nvood is hard, f ieavy, strong, and considered
durable in the ground as posts. It is used chiefly
for this purpose in Puerto Rico because promptly
set posts generally sprout and take root, lasting
indefinitely. Elsewhere the wood has been emloyed
for railroad ties and heavy construction.
bretty and taking a ood olish, it should be suitable
for furniture an sma P 1 articles.
This tree is a popular ornamental or hedge plant,
being readily propagated from cuttings as well as