Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

SPURGE FAMILY (EUPHORBIACEAE)
121. Varital Drypete8 glauca Vahl
h smtill to medinm-sized understory tree char- with hairy 1-celled ovary and broad stipa. The
acterized by: 1) smooth whitish or light gray fniits (drupes) are finely hairy or hairless and
bark ; (2) broa 6 ly lance-shaped, dark pen leaves, 1-seeded. - -- Flowering md fruiting from spring to
:3M-6 inches long and 1%-2 inches broad, abru tly fall.
long- or short-pointed, usually widely spaceJ in The sal>wood is whitish and hard. The wood is
2 rows on harizontnl or slightly drooping tw~gs; used for chnrconl and posts ttnd in the Lesser
(3) small reenish flowers about 9/ra inch across :tntilles for construction.
and I/a inc f 1 Iiigh, 1 to several at base of leaves, Widel distributed in the lower mountain rethe
male nnd female flowers on different trees gions o ? P~ierto Rico. Also reported long ngo
(dioecious) ; nnd (4) whitish elliptic fleshy fru~b from St. Croix.
5/g inch long, borne nlong the branches at base PUBLIC mnr~~s.-Cnrite, Guilarte, Luquillo,
of lenves.
Maricno, Toro Nep.
,111 evergveen tree commonly 10-30 feet high RANOE.-Hispaniola, Puerto Rim, and Lesser
and to 6 i~lclles in trunk diameter, with sprdn Antilles from St. Ritts to St. Vincent. (Reported
brnnches, reported to m h larger size. The bar f nlso from Jamaica, perhaps in error.)
lins small wnrts (lenticsls). The innar bark is OTIIER COBfMON NAB~w.-~~~o blanco, d?
light brown or ornnge and sli~htly bitter. Young tlceituna, cafeillo (Puerto Rim) ; bois ca e cafe
t1vit.s are green, minutely hairy, becoming gray. pnd bois (Gundeloupe) .
file alterrurte leaves have petioles %-s/4 inch Three additional s sies of this genus are trees
lor~g and bltides often oblique at base, a little or shrubs. Hueso ( 5 rypetes &a Poit), known
tliickened, not toothed on edges, slightly shiny also as palo de vnca and cafefllo, has smaller ellip-
011 up ler surfnce, and paler beneath.
tic whitish fruits less than s/g inch long. Cuerillln
I e flo\vers on short, hairy stalks less than j/4 duro or Guinnaplum (D. Zaten'flm Sw.) Krug &
inch long have 4 5 yellow-green, minutely hairy, Urban), native also as far as sout I ern Florida,
sepals, 6-8 spreading stamens, and a has rounded dark brown fruits I/+ inch long.
broad spredinft lo ed disk. Female flowers are single or Encinilla (D. iZicifoZia Krug & Qsban), known
pnired on short hair stalks about 5.8 inch lon only from northern Puerto R~co, has spiny toothed
with 4 greenish, slig t tly hairy sepals and pisti 5' oblong leaves and elliptic fruits about s/4 inch long.