Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

ELM FAMILY (ULMACEAE)
Key to the 2 species illustrated (Nos. 15 and 16)
A. Leaves less than 2 inches long, short-pointed, rough hairy on both surfaces-15. Wema lamarckiana.
AA. Leaves 3354 inches long, long-pointed, rough hairy above, soft hairy on veins beneath-16. Trmra mfcrantha.
15. Palo de cabrilla, West Indies trema Trema lamarckiana (Roem. & Schult.) Blume
This slirub or snlall tree of openings in dry avs is ch:~racterizecl by: (1) n thin, very spread~ng
clro\vn of 11orizont:tl or sliglitlg drooping branches;
(2) smnll, lance-sl~t~ped let~ves usually less than 2
il~clles long, rough and hairy on both sides, bhick
nntl wit11 the finely . saw-toothed edges turned
~lntler. ~vitli 3 m:~in veins at b:rse, nnd with network
of veins sunken on upper surftrce and raised on
lower surface; (3) the lellves in a flat arrangement
in a rows: and (4) mmy small greenish flowers
nnd pink fruits l/fi inch in diameter clustered at
bases of leaves.
,111 evergreen shrub or tree to 20 feet in height
11nd 10 inches in trunk dinmeter. Tlie smoothish
light bro~vii bark 11:~ mnny thiy wnrty dots (lenticaels)
and thin fissures. I~lller brrrk is light b~u>nm
or pinltish, fibrous, ancl sligl~tly bitter. Tlie slentler
twigs, green tvlien young t~ncl becoming brown,
are covered wit11 minnte, stiff, whitish hairs.
The nlternnte leaves huve short hairy petioles
$/x-M inch long. Leaf blatles are mostly 9/4-11/2
iricl~es in length and %-% inch in width, somet
imps to 39; inclres long and 11h inches broad, usu-
~rlly sllort-pointed nt apes, ronnded or slightly
oblique at base, green above and light pen
I)enenth.
The liniry flower clusters (cymes) about 3/s inch
t~cross bet~r several short-stallred hairy flowers less
thnn I/g i~~clr across, mostly male and female togel
her (monoecious) . M ~le flowers have 5 sepals,
5 stnmens, ancl rudin~entaly pistil; female flowers
have 8 sepals and pistil cornposed of ovary with 2
stiglnns. The fleshy fruits (clrupes) contain 1
brc~vn seed s6 inch long. Flowering and fruiting
probt~bly tllrougli most of the year.
Tl~e ligllt brown soft wood is seldom used in
Puerto Rico.
In open areas along the edges of forests and
rrlong mntlsides in the southwestern part of the
lower Cordilleln region of Puerto Rico.
I'u~ttrc ~on~s.rs.-liuricao, SusGa.
I~AN~E.-Southern Florida including. Florida
Keys, 13ermuda, Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and
Lesser Antilles from Saba to St. Vincent.
01'1r~n COJIJLON SAJIFS. - cnbrilla (Puerto
Rico) ; memizo de majagun, memizo cimarnjn,
mt~jagua, memiso (Dominican Republic) ; capuli
cin~nrnh, gumimilla (Cuba) ; West Indies trema
(I'nitecl States) ; Lamarrk trema, pain-in-back
(I311lramas) ; nrahaut pi~nent (Haiti) ; orme petites
feuilles (Frel~ch West Indies).