Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Colombia, Venezuela, and Guianas. Planted as an
ornamental in southern Florida.
OTHER COIIIMON Ni\BfES.-YagrUmO, llagrum0,
grayumo hembra (Puerto Rico) ; trumpet-wood
(Virgin Islands) ; .yapmo, yafirumo hembra
(Dominican Republic) ; yngruma, yagruma hem-
bra (Cuba) ; guarumo (Guatemala, Costa Rica,
Colombia) ; igarata (Guatemala) ; trumpet-tree,
trumpet-wood, pumpwood, snakewood (United
States, English); shield-shaped trumpet-tree
(United Sh tes) ; pop-a-gun (Barbados) ; bois
canon (Trinidad) ; wanasoro, congo-pump (Brit-
ish Guiana) ; bois trompette (Haiti, Gundeloupe) ;
bois canon (Guadeloupe, Martinique) ; wild papaw
(Dutch 71Test Indies) ; bospapaja (Surinam).
I~~NICIL
MULBERRY FAMILY (MORACEAE)
SYNONYB~. - Cecropia asperrima
Pittier.
English and French common names refer to the
use of the hollow blanches for trumpets or other
inusical instruments. Also, children sometimes
make flutes from the llollow petioles.
An unrelated tree of generally similar appear-
nnce is yngrumo macho (Didympanux mro-
totoni ( Aubl. ) Decne. & PI.).
21. Palo de goma, India-rubber fig Ficus elastica Nois,*
Occasionally planted in Puerto Rico for ornament
and shade, this handsome spreading tree is
characterized by : (1) an extensive superficial root
system and numerous aerial roots about the trunk ;
(2) abundant milky juice or white latex; (3)
large; leathery, oblong or elliptic, shiny green
leaves 4-12 inclies long and 2-3 inches broad, thick
and stiff, abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded
at base, and with sides bent upward at midrib; (4)
numerous straight, parallel, lateral veins very
close together on each side of the midrib and nearly
at ri ht an les to it; and (5) oblong greenishyellow
f! glike f ruits about l/2 inch long, paired and
stalkless at base of leaves.
A medium-sized to large evergreen tree to 60
feet in height and 3 feet in trunk diameter. In
India, its native home, it becomes 100 feet tall mith
a giant fluted trunk, often buttressed at base and
with long surface roots. The bark is light ra
smoothish with small horizontal rid es, and t ic .
I
t P
Inner bark is reddish and bitter. he crown of
long branches provides dense shade. The stout
twigs have faint rings at the nodes. A large,
showy, long-pointed, reddish sheath or scale
(stipule) 1-2 inches or more in length forms the
outs~de of the bud and covers each new leaf.
The alternate leaves have stout petioles 9/-1%
inches long. Leaf blades are lighter colored beneath
and much larger on young shoots than on
others, not toothed on edges. There is a variation
mith yellow variegated leaves.
The elli tic multiple fruits (syconin) are
covered wit 1 a sheath when young that sheds, leaving
a basal cup. There is a ring and slight pointed
opening nt apex. Many tiny male and female
flowers (monoecious) and seeds are borne inside
the slightly fleshy fruits, which are eaten by birds
and sometimes by children. Fruiting probably
through the year.
The sapm-ood is whitish and moderately hard.
The mood is little used in Puerto Rico. In native
forests and extensive plantations of India this
species was the ori inal commercial source of rubber.
However In d ia rubber has been replaced by
Parii rubber (~evea) from Brazil, which produces
higher yields and at an earlier age in plantations.
Propagated by cuttings or layers and adapted to
molst regions, where it grows rapidly. However,
the many horizontal roots on top of the ground
may be objectionable in street planting. It is reorted
that the large heavy limbs are easily broken
$ wind. Where native, the plants usually start as
air plants (epiphytes) from seeds erminating on
other trees, sending down aeria f roots to the
ground and afterwards strangling and killing the
supporting trees.
Planted for ornament and shade along streets
and in parks and gardens in Puerto Rico and
Virgin Islands.
Ra~a~.-Native of tropical Asia from India to
Malaya. Widely cultivated in tropical regions,
sometimes escaping and as a potted ornamental
in temperate regions. Planted in southern Florida,
Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Virgin
Islands, Guadeloupe, and Dutch West Indies.
Also from Mexico to South America.
OTHER COJIMON NAMES.--caucho, hiyera (Dominican
Republic) ; goma el&stica, caucho (Cuba) ;
amate, hule (El Salvador) ; caucho de la India
(Colombia) ; India-rubber fig, India rubber-plant,
Indin rubber-tree, rubber-plant (United States,
English) ; caoutchouo (Haiti).