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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD, 1893
PUBLICATION 350
BOTANICAL SERIES VOLUME XII
THE FORESTS AND FLORA OF
BRITISH HONDURAS
BY
PAUL C. STANDLEY
ASSOCIATE CURATOR OF THE HERBARIUM, DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY
AND
SAMUEL J. RECORD
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN WOOD TECHNOLOGY, FIELD MUSEUM
PROFESSOR OF FOREST PRODUCTS, SCHOOL OF FORESTRY, YALE UNIVERSITY
IN COOPERATION WITH
THE CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS AND THE AGRICULTURAL OFFICER
OF THE COLONY
B. E. DAHLGREN
CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OP BOTANY
EDITOR
CHICAGO, U.S.A.
JANUARY 27, 1936
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
FOUNDED BY MARSHALL FIELD, 1893
PUBLICATION 350
BOTANICAL SERIES VOLUME XII
UNIVERSITY' Of UltftOlS
THE FORESTS AND FLORA OF
BRITISH HONDURAS
BY
PAUL C. STANDLEY
ASSOCIATE CURATOR OF THE HERBARIUM, DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY
AND
SAMUEL J. RECORD
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN WOOD TECHNOLOGY, FIELD MUSEUM
PROFESSOR OF FOREST PRODUCTS, SCHOOL OF FORESTRY, YALE UNIVERSITY
IN COOPERATION WITH
THE CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS AND THE AGRICULTURAL OFFICER
OF THE COLONY
B. E. DAHLGREN
CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY
EDITOR
CHICAGO, U.S.A.
JANUARY 27, 1936
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA
BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS
FB
CONTENTS
PAGB
List of plates 5
Foreword 7
INTRODUCTION
Geography 9
Geology 10
Soils 11
Climate 12
Population 13
Agriculture, by H. P. Smart 13
Forest produce 17
PART I. THE FORESTS
Introduction 18
Forest types 19
Mangrove forest 19
Savanna forest 19
Pine forest 20
High rain forest 21
Secondary rain forest , 24
Forestry 25
Timbers of economic importance 28
Logwood 28
Mahogany . 30
Cedar 32
Rosewood 32
Pine 33
Banak 34
Santa Maria 35
Yemeri 36
Black poison wood . 37
Woods for paper pulp ., 37
Requirements for wood pulp mill 37
Paper-making tests 38
3
4 CONTENTS
PAGK
The cohune palm . . 39
Chicle gum industry 40
List of economic trees and their uses 43
Bibliography 47
PART II. THE FLORA
Relationships of the flora 52
Collections studied 55
Plan of the systematic list 59
Common names 59
Annotated list of genera and species 60
Additions 405
Index . 414
LIST OF PLATES
I. Logwood trees along Belize River.
II. Weighing logwood at Belize.
III. An old Honduras mahogany tree.
IV. Rafting mahogany logs down New River.
V. Squaring mahogany logs for export.
VI. Cedar tree surrounded by cohune palms.
VII. Stand of pine in Stann Creek District.
VIII. View of the Great Southern Pine Ridge.
IX. A typical banak tree.
X. Thatching a native hut with cohune palm.
XL Sapodilla forest.
XII. Primary intermediate forest, with sapodilla tree in
foreground.
XIII. Chicleros tapping sapodilla trees.
XIV. Sapodilla tree with chicle bag attached.
XV. Cooking sapodilla latex.
XVI. Kneading chicle gum into blocks.
FOREWORD
At the time of the organization of the Forest Department of
British Honduras there was very little reliable information as to
the identities of the trees and other plants with which it had to
deal. With comparatively few exceptions, the trees were known,
if at all, by vernacular names only, and these varied in different
localities and according to whether the language spoken was English,
Creole, Spanish, North Maya, South Maya, Kekchi, or Carib.
To assist the Department in overcoming this handicap, I began
about ten years ago to compile a list of all of the available scientific
and local names of the woody plants of the Colony. The first con-
tribution, entitled, "Preliminary check list of British Honduras
woods," was published in the initial issue of Tropical Woods,
March, 1925. It was only a short list, but it had a fairly substantial
foundation and served at least to call attention to the need for
much collecting. The hearty co-operation of the foresters was se-
cured and has been maintained, with the result that a great many
names have been added to the list, numerous doubtful classifications
have been cleared up, and many new species have been described.
Most of the determinations of the herbarium material have been
made by Mr. Paul C. Standley at Field Museum of Natural History.
Following my first visit to British Honduras in 1926, I began
the issuance in typewritten form of revisions and extensions of the
first check list. Each of these has been in two parts, the first con-
taining the botanical and common names of the species arranged
by families and genera, the second consisting of the common names
and their botanical equivalents. Copies were sent to the Forest
Department and were made the basis for further additions and
corrections. Six revisions were prepared, dated as follows: No. 1,
August 27, 1926; No. 2, January 1, 1927; No. 3, June 14, 1927;
No. 4, November 12, 1928; No. 5, March 21, 1929; No. 6, November
1, 1929; No. 7, November 1, 1930; No. 8, June 20, 1932. A list of
the common and scientific names was published in Tropical Woods
24: 15-28, December 1, 1930, and was five times as large as the first
one printed six years previously.
The present report consists of two parts, the first on the country
and the forests providing the setting for the flora which follows.
Part I is compiled largely from articles and reports published in
Tropical Woods, the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, and
8 FOREWORD
elsewhere. Part II has been prepared by Mr. Standley, my own
share being limited to notes on the woods. The wood descriptions
are short because all of the more important species have been covered
more fully in Timbers of Tropical America or in special articles
in Tropical Woods.
In the flora emphasis is placed on the woody vegetation, the
herbs being listed only by name. It is far from complete, but I
believe that making it available now will stimulate further field
collections and observations necessary for filling the gaps and cor-
recting mistakes.
SAMUEL J. RECORD
FORESTS AND FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS
PAUL C. STANDLEY AND SAMUEL J. RECORD
IN COOPERATION WITH
THE CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS AND THE AGRICULTURAL OFFICER OF THE COLONY
INTRODUCTION
GEOGRAPHY
British Honduras, the extreme northeastern portion of Central
America, lies between 15 53' and 18 30' N. Lat. and 87 28' and
89 16' W. Long. It has an area of approximately 8,655 square
miles of mainland, besides numerous small and large islands totaling
about 212 square miles in area and lying from two to fifty miles from
the coast. In area it is smaller than any of the Central American
countries except Salvador, is about twice as large as the island of
Jamaica, and of almost the same size as the State of Massachusetts.
British Honduras, the Department of Pete"n of Guatemala,
and the Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo,
form the Yucatan Peninsula, which projects northward from the
Central American mainland, separating the Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean Sea. A glance at a map of North America shows that this
peninsula extends almost to western Cuba, and study of the area
reveals that physiographically, geologically, and floristically it has
much in common with that island. From a botanical standpoint
the northern half of the Colony has relatively little in common
with the rest of Central America.
British Honduras is divided into two approximately equal regions
by the Belize River. The portion of the Colony lying north of the
river is a fairly level plain, sloping gently eastward from a western
elevation which rarely attains more than 400 feet above sea level.
Its two principal rivers run northward and empty into Chetumal
Bay, between British Honduras and Yucatan. In the southern
portion, southward from the Belize River or westward from the
coast, the land rises into hills, the coastal plain averaging from ten to
fifteen miles in width. There are several extensive areas of elevated
land and of hills or low mountains, the chief being the Cockscomb
Mountains, whose principal peak, Victoria Peak, has an elevation
of 3,676 feet. That the country as a whole has a considerable eleva-
tion is shown by the estimates of Mr. Lester H. Ower, Imperial
Geologist, who states that about 3,000 square miles, or 36 per cent
9
10 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
of the Colony, including the whole of the northern region, have
an elevation of 500 feet or less, but that 4,760 square miles, or 57
per cent, have an elevation of more than 1,000 feet.
GEOLOGY
Variations in the forest and the collective flora of British Hon-
duras are influenced primarily by the topography, soil variation,
and geology, and to a large extent also by the rainfall.
Recent geological sketch surveys show that two series of earth
movements have been responsible for the topography of the Colony.
The first (in Miocene times) and more important involved the
neighboring countries and developed, in an approximately east and
west direction, heavy foldings of which the central mountain mass
represents an eroded anticline and the Toledo plain and the northern
plain represent synclines. These are terminated in the extreme
south by a high limestone escarpment thrown up by heavy faulting
approximately along the Sarstoon River and in the north by the
limestone hills on the Mexican side of the Rio Hondo and on the
west side of Booth's River in the Colony, which may represent a
fault or the re-emergence of the limestone forming the anticlinal
fold of Yucatan.
The second and much later folding (late Tertiary and Recent)
with an approximate strike of 20 to 30 degrees east of north and
the accompanying minor faulting can now be traced in the lime-
stone coastal hills of Toledo and Manatee and in the corrugations
of the northern plain, which now determine the drainage of that
region.
The northern syncline was apparently submerged immediately
after the first folding and the limestones which then accumulated
were raised above sea level by the second folding and are now to
be found covering a large area of the northern and western portions
of the northern plain, the remaining area being recent alluvial
deposit in the valley of the Belize River.
GEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS
The following summarized and abbreviated account of the
geological divisions of the country has been taken from Ower's
Geology of British Honduras.
Alluvial Deposits. These cover 1,100 square miles, and except
for a large area west of Belize, lying between the Belize and Sibun
rivers, they form the coastal plain running between the hills and
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 11
the coast southward from Belize. They were laid down in the sea
during the period when the coast line lay along the foot of the hills,
and consist of material brought down by the mountain streams.
Toledo Beds. These occupy 650 square miles south of the
mountain area in the southern extremity of the Colony. They
are of Upper Miocene age, consist mainly of thin bedded shales
and mudstones, with some blue calcareous sandstones and patches
of limestone, and lie between the alluvials of the coast and the Rio
Dulce limestone of the hills. Weathering of the rocks of the Toledo
series results in a soil of high fertility.
Rio Duke Limestone and Marls. The Oligocene beds to which,
from their ample exposure in the gorge of the Rio Dulce near
Livingston, Guatemala, this name is given, cover the greater part
of the Yucatan Peninsula, and are represented also in Cuba, the
Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Haiti. They cover all the northern
half of British Honduras, and extend along the western and southern
sides of the mountains, amounting to an area of 5,070 square miles.
They consist of thidc beds of hard white limestone, which often
form conical peaks, frequently weathered to form caves. The lime-
stone is not found above an elevation of 2,500 feet. The marls,
which represent the younger beds of the white limestone series,
are confined to the northern portion of the Colony; these are derived
from the disintegration of flints and quartzite veins.
Igneous Rocks. The granites and porphyries formed by in-
trusions of molten rock during Upper Carboniferous times cover
irregular and often isolated areas totaling 370 square miles, of
which the granites occupy 290 square miles. Such formations out-
crop to form the higher hills and mountains. The detritus in the
basins of the granite hills provides rich and fertile soils.
Slates. These are also of Upper Carboniferous age and cover
about 1,020 square miles. They are confined to the so-called Maya
Mountains, the name given to the whole of the mountainous area,
but touch the coastal plain on the east.
SOILS
The soils of the northern plain are characteristically shallow,
overlying soft limestone or marl. The arenaceous soils of the water-
sheds support pine and a dry grass savanna and are non-agricultural.
On the sites of ancient cays or on old lagoon sites where clay and
silt have accumulated, a fairly deep black or brown clay is found,
supporting a high forest characterized by the prevalence of Cohune.
12 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
This type is the chief agricultural soil of this region. Intermediate
between these two extremes of fertility is a black or red soil, support-
ing forest in which Mahogany and Sapodilla are of frequent occur-
rence. The cutting of Mahogany and the bleeding of Sapodilla
have for a long time been the principal forms of exploitation of
this soil type.
The soils of the central and southern coastal plain are similar
in formation to those of the northern plain, the greater part being
covered by sandy detritus supporting only Pine forest and dry
savanna. The alluvial belts along the rivers support a luxuriant rain
forest with the characteristic Cohune palm. These soils are derived
from the igneous rocks of the central mountains and are generally
deeper, less clayey, and more fertile, though more acid than those
of the north.
The soils of the valleys and foothills in the mountain region are
characteristically deep red and fertile in the granite areas but shallow
in the areas of slate, schist, and quartzite.
The soils of the southern Toledo section are fertile and deep in
well-drained areas but over a large portion of the region are heavy
waterlogged clays.
CLIMATE
While British Honduras lies wholly within the tropics, its climate
is only sub-tropical. The humid atmosphere of the coastal plain
is tempered by sea breezes and trade winds that blow for nine
months of the year. Meteorological data for Belize for ten years
indicate a mean shade temperature of 80 F., with a maximum of
92 F. and a minimum of 59 F.
There is a well-marked dry season from February to May. The
rainfall is heaviest in the south and in the central mountain mass,
and decreases rapidly toward the north, the following annual averages
being recorded for stations at low altitudes or on the coast from
south to north, an indication of the number of years used in deter-
mining the average also being given :
Inches Yean
Punta Gorda 170.41 24
Kendal (10 miles inland) 96.16 3
Stann Creek 83.22 16
Belize 81.88 25
Cayo (65 miles inland) 65. 55 18
Botanic Station (6 miles inland) 65.55 11
Orange Walk (30 miles inland) 56.68 20
Corozal .52.25 27
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 13
The following figures for stations on the Stann Creek Railway
from the coast into the hills are also of interest, in showing the rapid
rise in precipitation due to elevation:
Inches Years
Stann Creek (coast) 83.22 16
Agricultural Station (11 miles inland) . . .102.44 1
Industrial School (14 miles inland) Ill .33 6
Middlesex (25 miles inland) 140 .97 5
POPULATION
The census of 1931 reported that the population was 51,347 or
5.79 per square mile. The country as a whole, however, is even more
sparsely inhabited than that figure would indicate, since 32.49 per
cent of the population of the Colony lives in the capital, Belize, and
a further 20.35 per cent in the five district townships, giving an urban
population of 52.84 per cent of the total population, the remaining
47.16 per cent being distributed in the smaller villages and isolated
settlements. Owing to the fact that transportation is chiefly by
water, most of the population is concentrated near the coast or along
the streams as far as they are navigable by motor boats or by dories,
the local dugout canoes.
AGRICULTURE
H. P. SMART, AGRICULTURAL OFFICER OF BRITISH HONDURAS
Until recently agriculture has not taken the prominence in the life
of the community that is usual in other countries. This may be ac-
counted for by the fact that only lately has the urgent need for greater
self-support arisen. Before this revival there was no such demand for
home-grown foodstuffs as is now apparent. People were content to
import the bulk of their requirements, thereby being assured of a con-
tinuous supply of produce of uniform quality at a more or less reason-
able price. Such produce as was grown in the Colony was unreliable
in quality and quantity.
There was no incentive to develop agricultural exports, since
labor employed in the forest industry returned a far larger revenue
than that obtained by a similar output of labor in the cultivation of
the soil. The war and, latterly, depression following several years of
over-production of timber and other forest produce of British Hon-
duras, the growing inaccessibility of merchantable stocks of Ma-
hogany and Cedar, and the worldwide trade stagnation have all
combined to force agriculture into greater importance, thereby re-
ducing the country's dependence on external sources of staple foods.
14 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
NATURE OF LANDS SUITABLE FOR AGRICULTURE
Agriculture as it exists today is carried on for the most part on
the river side areas. The soils of these areas, except in the higher
reaches, contain a very high percentage of clay and are therefore
difficult to cultivate with the most common and often only imple-
ment in use namely, the cutlass or machete. Being adjacent to
waterways they are the most convenient, the average native being
an excellent waterman. These lands are nothing more than narrow
strips bounded on one side by water and on the other as a rule by
low-lying swamps. They seldom reach a width of more than a quarter
of a mile. In the north of the Colony cultivation is carried on on
the Cohune cays and it is on this type of land that sugar has been
grown for a hundred years or more. The cays are composed of a
rich, well-drained black soil varying in depth, overlying marl.
Along the coast and on the cays plantations of coconuts are
maintained. There the soil is generally of a sandy nature. In the
south of the Colony, where sugar cane is also grown and where
the Indian agriculture exists, the soils are mainly stiff clays and
for the most part well drained.
PAST AGRICULTURE
There is evidence that parts of British Honduras were under
cultivation during the period of the Maya empires and it would seem
that these activities were carried on in areas which even today show
the most hopeful possibilities.
It is known from records that in the seventeenth century there
was a certain activity in sugar-growing for which a small number of
East Indians were imported for estate work. This industry, still
conducted in an extremely primitive manner, and the cultivation of
coconuts have survived to a greater or less extent to the present day.
During the nineteenth and the early years of the present century the
Colony actually exported sugar. This, however, did not survive for
very long owing to the introduction of beet sugar and the continued
use of uneconomic and primitive methods of production.
Certain foodstuffs have always been cultivated by a small pro-
portion of the population. The methods adopted, being of a shift-
ing nature and primitive, resulted in the production of supplies totally
inadequate for home demands. An exception to this is the produc-
tion of the Indians, which has always been sufficient for their re-
quirements, often leaving something over for sale. In the early days
it was usual for persons employed in Mahogany works to produce
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 15
small quantities of foodstuff the bulk of which was corn (maize) for
feeding the livestock used for haulage purposes.
Coconuts, although of moderately early origin as a crop in the
Colony, have received more attention within the last twenty to
twenty-five years than previously.
The banana industry is noteworthy as at one time it was of a
comparatively flourishing nature; hopes of continued prosperity
were dashed by the appearance and rapid spread of Panama Disease.
There seems little possibility of restoring the industry even to its
former importance since the disease has obtained too firm a hold in
the easily accessible areas.
Cacao is one of the staple articles of diet among the Maya
Indians. It has played its part in the agricultural history of the
Colony but has never been of much commercial importance. In
past years it was grown as a plantation crop on two or three estates
but the entrance of cheap West African cacao on the market lowered
the price to such an extent that this Colony was forced out of the
market. It is interesting to note that lately the Criollo type has
been recorded in the Colony (Kew Bulletin, 1930), but whether it
is truly indigenous or not is not certain.
PRESENT AGRICULTURE
Agriculture at the present time, except for the cultivation of
coconuts, grapefruit, and to a certain extent vegetable crops, is still
of a shifting character and very primitive. Within the last few years
there have been, however, definite signs of improvement in the
methods of cultivation, resulting in increased production. This is
attributed in part to the realization that agriculture practiced on
better and improved methods is a necessity for the well-being of
the Colony, and in part to the influx of agriculturists from the West
Indian islands. Nevertheless, the fact that individuals are still
able to obtain land far in excess of their actual requirements tends to
keep alive the shifting nature of local agriculture, which under the
conditions is extremely wasteful and harmful to the country. It is
probable that such a state of affairs can not be remedied until the
population of the Colony greatly increases.
The coconut industry is still the most important of the agri-
cultural industries, despite the extremely poor market conditions.
Both whole coconuts and copra are exported from the Colony,
mainly to Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and
Mexico. The growth of this crop is almost entirely confined to the
16 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
coastal fringe and cays, where soil and climatic conditions are most
suitable. The average yearly production amounts to approximately
twelve million nuts, of which from nine to ten million are exported
either as whole nuts or copra.
Of late years much interest has been taken in the cultivation
of grapefruit, and the British Honduras product has won the major
award at the Imperial Fruit Show, England, in the years 1928 to
1931, inclusive. Although only about 500 acres at present are grow-
ing improved varieties the acreage is being increased gradually each
year. So far only the Duncan and Marsh Seedless varieties are being
planted, and all are propagated by budding from selected trees on
sour orange and in a small number of cases native seedling stock.
The planting of grapefruit actually started in 1913 when about
twelve acres were set out, but it was not until about 1924 that the
possibilities of expansion and export of the fruit were seriously in-
vestigated. The extension of the industry is confined for the present
almost entirely to the Stann Creek Valley, but planters in other
parts, notably in the Corozal District, are now showing an interest.
The exports of this fruit amount to 15,000 cases per season (Sep-
tember to March) and it is expected that within the next four
years the Colony will be shipping at least four times the quantity.
The Colony is admirably suited to the growth of certain other
citrus and many of the common tropical fruits, but the limited local
market and lack of enterprise in exporting such fruits have hindered
their development.
Of field crops the most important need only be mentioned. These
are maize, beans (Phaseolus spp.), cassava (Manihot spp.), cowpeas,
rice, yams (Dioscorea spp.), cocos (Xanthosoma spp.), sweet potatoes
(Ipomoea Batatas), and plantains (Musa paradisiaca). Maize and
beans are the main crops of the Indians who, it may be mentioned,
practice probably the highest type of agriculture that exists in the
Colony at present among the non-European section of the com-
munity. Cassava and yams, although generally grown, are essentially
the food crops of the Carib element, while the Creole planter grows
a little of all. Recently the production of corn, rice, and beans has
been encouraged by the establishment by the Government of two
rice mills and two drying kilns. The increase in rice production is
noteworthy, having risen from twelve tons to a hundred tons in four
years. Three agricultural stations have been or are in process of
being established in the main agricultural areas of the Colony in
the extreme north and south, and in the center at Stann Creek.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 17
In spite of the production of all these crops and many others,
the importation of essential foodstuffs is enormous. The native
planter endeavors to grow just sufficient to feed himself and his
family and perhaps a little over, the sale of which will enable him
to buy necessities that he is unable to produce. Unfortunately it is
not always that he does produce sufficient for home consumption.
In the last few years there has been shown a progressive interest
in the raising of small livestock, especially poultry. With properly
organized marketing the time is not far distant when the Colony
should be self-supporting in eggs and table birds.
Hog products are an important item in the diet of the bulk of
the population, yet, in spite of the excellence of this country for hog-
raising, the imports of salted pork and other pork products are very
high. The Indians are the chief hog raisers.
Sheep are seldom to be seen, mutton being a meat not relished
by the natives of the Colony.
Cattle were at one time of great importance, being the only
means of draft in the forest industry. The tractor, however, has dis-
placed the ox, resulting in the present decline in cattle-breeding.
There is no milk production at all except on estates where cattle are
actually kept, thus forcing the Colony to depend entirely on imported
canned milk, butter, and cheese.
The improvement of the local livestock industry depends largely
on the importation of good breeding animals, the establishment of
cold-storage facilities, and the revival of prosperity.
FOREST PRODUCE
British Honduras, being an importer rather than an exporter
of agricultural products, depends for its material welfare and balance
of trade primarily upon forest products, which comprise more than
three-quarters of its exports. The exports of forest produce are de-
rived almost wholly from five trees for which this region has been
long noted : Mahogany, Spanish Cedar, Sapodilla (from which chicle
gum is tapped), Logwood, and Rosewood. In 1930 the exports of
Mahogany and Cedar had a value of $1,007,615; Chicle, of $171,797;
Logwood, of $5,130; and Rosewood, of $1,870. The only other im-
portant exports were coconuts, valued at $140,434, and bananas,
at $32,087.
Historically, the forests have played an important role in the
life of the Colony. The original settlement in Belize was made about
18 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
the middle of the seventeenth century by British Logwood and Ma-
hogany cutters, the value of the forests being such that the settle-
ment was a continual source of strife, and it was not until 1798 that
the British were left in undisputed possession. The export of forest
produce was the sole reason for the original and the continued settle-
ment of the Colony.
PART I. THE FORESTS
INTRODUCTION
The importance of the forests may be gauged by their extent.
The vegetation map recently compiled by the Forest Department
of the Colony indicates that the vegetation of the mainland is made
up of the following approximate proportions:
Per cent
Mangrove forest 2.8
Savannas
Brackish water savannas']
f Wet savannas 2.7
Fresh water savannas J
Inland savannas']
> Pine forest and dry savannas . 15.4
Pine forest J
High rain forest
Swamp forest 2.3
Intermediate forest 17 . 9
Mountain foresth
Advanced forest
? Advanced forest 51.9
Secondary rain forest
High forest 1 J
Existing or recently abandoned cultivation 7.0
1 In present stage of investigation may be included in advanced forest.
'The secondary forest of the Maya Empire has been included in advanced forest as it is believed
that the whole of the area of the Colony except the swamps, savannas, and Pine forest was once
under cultivation by the Mayas and the second growth is now again well advanced towards its
apparent climax.
In 1921 Hummel reported on the forests of British Honduras,
and his report, which contains an extensive account of the forests,
the industries derived from them, and suggestions for a far-reaching
forest policy, is still the standard work on the subject and the basis
of the accepted forest policy of the Government. Oliphant, in a
statement prepared for the 1928 British Empire Forestry Conference,
gives a statistical estimate of the present condition of the forests of
the Colony and estimates that of the Pine forest 1,836 square miles
contain merchantable stocks and 1,030 square miles are unprofitable
or inaccessible. Of the broad-leaved forest 1,124 square miles are
unprofitable or inaccessible and 3,418 square miles contain mer-
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 19
chantable timber, that is, in respect of Mahogany, Spanish Cedar,
Logwood, and Rosewood. The volume of merchantable Pine is
estimated at 275 million cubic feet, and of broad-leaved species, in
respect of the four trees noted above, at 20 million cubic feet. These
figures are being revised, but new data are not yet available.
No definite statement is available regarding the quantity of
chicle-producing trees in the Colony but figures obtained from the
Forest Department indicate that in the primary forests of the
northern plain, Sapodilla trees of all sizes average 11.6 trees per
acre, 7.7 trees per acre being more than three feet in girth at breast
height.
FOREST TYPES
The classification of the vegetation types suggested by Duncan
Stevenson in Oliphant's Forestry in British Honduras has now
been amplified by further exploration and by detailed cruising work
undertaken in connection with a Forest Resources Survey. The
main divisions have already been noted with estimated proportions.
MANGROVE FOREST
The Mangrove forest occurs in brackish water along the main-
land and island coasts and in tidal lagoons and swamps; it is found
also in depressions, previously tidal lagoons, which still retain a
high degree of salinity, but where the deposition of silt has been
insufficient to raise the area to the level permitting colonization by
the savanna associates. The predominant species is Rhizophora
Mangle (Red Mangrove), which forms a low covering on tidal flats,
and thickets up to twelve feet in height along the sides of the drain-
age channels through these flats.
SAVANNA FOREST
Brackish Water Savannas. The brackish savanna replaces the
low mangrove forest as the sites on which the latter occurs are built
up above the tidal limits. The soil is generally a dark-colored silt,
which is colonized by a tall cyperaceous (sedge) vegetation. Common
among these tussock-forming Cyperaceae are Fuirena and Maris-
cus species.
Fresh Water Savannas. These savannas are fed by fresh water
and are formed on the sites of inland lagoons and on the low-lying
watercourses left during the meanderings of the streams and rivers
through the coastal plain. These sites are populated by a cyper-
aceous "tussock grass" flora. Panicum barbinode Trin. (Para grass)
20 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
often forms a dense consociation over large areas in the riverain
savannas and old watercourses. These fresh water savannas are
subject to periodical inundation during the rains and to fire during
the short dry season.
Inland Savannas. The inland savannas are characterized by a
shallow sandy soil overlying marl beds in the north, alluvial clay
or grits in the central region and northern Toledo coastal plain,
and the parent rock in the mountains of the central metamorphic
region.
There are two main associations: The first is formed on the
moist shallower sands of the depressions, which are subject to
partial waterlogging in the rainy season, and the second colonizes
the deeper sands with better drainage.
While both types support a low grass growth, the association
of the moist type is predominantly cyperaceous, while that of the
dryer type is largely of true grasses (Gramineae). There is a differ-
ence in the associations which each subsequently supports.
PINE FOREST
The local Pine forest forms a type that is not characteristic of
Central America, except for similar areas in near-by Guatemala and
certain portions of Atlantic Honduras and Nicaragua.
The colonization by Pinus caribaea (Pine) of the inland savannas
occurring on the coarse grits and quartz beach sands derived from
the metamorphic rocks of the central region has created extensive
forests of this species. The colonization of the moist type has prob-
ably occurred after an intermediate stage of Crescentia Cujete
(Calabash) and Acoelorraphe Wrightii (Palmetto) association. Pal-
metto survives in the Pine forest, which on the low-lying coastal
plain is characterized by frequent Acoelorraphe clans. In this moist
type Pine seldom exceeds eighty feet in height and in extremely
moist sites height growth is often reduced to forty or fifty feet.
Pine enters the dry type apparently without such an inter-
mediate stage and, finding its optimum habitat, attains a height
growth of more than one hundred feet. Its usual associates in a
scattered undergrowth are Quercus spp. (Oaks), Curatella americana
(Yaha), and Byrsonima crassifolia (Craboo).
Pine also occurs in the Mountain Pine Ridge at elevations up
to 3,000 feet and in isolated patches on the tops of other ridges
between 1,000 and 3,000 feet in altitude. Its existence there, in
the absence of any indication as to its mode of entry, can only be
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 21
explained by the undoubted fact that Pine is the first tree colonizer
of the soils derived from the siliceous rocks.
There are numerous low shrubs of many families, and a great
abundance of wiry grasses and sedges and large and small herbs.
Botanically this area is attractive because of the surprising diversity
of the herbaceous plants, some of which are unknown elsewhere in
Central America. Many of them are species frequent in Cuba and
Florida and the general aspect of the Pine forest is astonishingly
similar to that of the Florida Everglades. The Pine is the same
species as that which dominates the landscape of southern Florida,
and the smaller plants are largely the same or closely related species.
It is necessary to mention only such characteristic genera as Poly-
gala, Utricularia, Panicum, Paspalum, Drosera, and Crotalaria.
HIGH RAIN FOREST
The high rain forest may be divided into four types according
to the conditions under which it grows and its stage of development
in the scale of plant succession. Much of the forest was previously
thought to be primeval but it is now known that large areas were
definitely cultivated in the time of the Maya Empires.
Such areas are, however, classed in the primary forests as they
have now reattained or are in advanced process of reattaining an
apparent climax in development. The quick return to the climax
type is often due to the Maya practice of leaving the Palms, par-
ticularly Cohune (Orbignya), standing in their plantations. Land
abandoned after shifting cultivation is quickly occupied by quick-
growing short-lived trees, coarse herbs and rank shrubs, then more
slowly by forest trees, and the prevalence of the Palms left standing
soon gives the resultant forest the appearance of the original growth.
Swamp Forest. The swamp forest has originated in the brackish
and fresh water savannas and on the river levees in the tidal limits.
It varies in constitution according to the sites which it has
colonized.
The delta and flats above high tide and the river levees in the
coastal plain are colonized by an association containing, first,
Laguncularia racemosa (White Mangrove) and Avicennia nitida
(Black Mangrove) as well as large trees of Rhizophora Mangle (Red
Mangrove), the relics of the previous Mangrove consociation, with
the later addition of Conocarpus erecta (Button wood), Chrysobalanus
Icaco (Cocoplum), Pachira aquatica (Provision Tree), and Ptero-
carpus officinalis (Kaway) to form the tidal levee forest.
22 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
A palmaceous swamp forest is found in the Toledo region in a
fan-shaped area around the estuary of the Temash River. Here
Manicaria saccifera (Comfray Palm) is the predominating species,
its chief associates being Calophyllum brasiliense var. Rekoi (Santa
Maria) and Symphonia globulifera (Waika Chewstick).
The brackish savanna is colonized by Acoelorraphe and Chry-
sobalanus, with the later addition of Bucida Buceras (Bulletwood)
and Achras Zapota (Sapodilla) in the northern region and Symphonia
in the central and Toledo regions. Calophyllum is a commonly
occurring species in this swamp forest in all three regions.
Fresh water savannas are colonized in silting lagoon areas by
Acoelorraphe and Chrysobalanus, associated in the north with Cam-
eraria belizensis (White Poisonwood) and Crescentia, and in the
Toledo region with a swamp Ficus sp. and Schizocardia belizensis.
Riverain savannas subject to periodical inundation support only
Prickly Bamboo and Mimosa scrub or Gob-apple (Anona sp.)
swamp.
In the northern region in riverain and pond savannas, subject
to prolonged waterlogging, Haematoxylon campechianum (Logwood)
is found in gregarious stands.
Intermediate Forest. The intermediate forest represents the
transition stages between the swamp or Pine forest and the ad-
vanced rain forest. The associations derived from swamp forest
pass through a stage containing swamp species such as Pachira and
Pterocarpus, together with Bucida in the north, and Podocarpus
guatemalensis (Cypress) and Achras Chicle (Chicle Macho) in the
central and Toledo regions. Dalbergia Stevensonii (Rosewood) is
confined to the Toledo region. Species common to these associations
in all regions are Swietenia macrophylla (Mahogany), Calophyllum,
Sweetia panamensis (Billy Webb), Gliricidia sepium (Madre Cacao),
Lucuma belizensis (Silly Young), Simaruba glauca (Negrito), Bursera
Simaruba (Gombolimbo), Vochysia hondurensis (Yemeri), Pseud-
olmedia spp. (Cherry), and Xylopia frutescens (Polewood).
The intermediate forest may be divided into three main asso-
ciations, all known locally as "Broken Ridge," a term better rendered
as "Broken Reach" as it has no reference to altitude:
(1) Sabal-Give and Take Association. In the northern region
the swamp and Pine forests give place to an association characterized
by the frequent occurrence of Sabal sp. (Botan) and Give and Take
Palms, together with Achras Zapota (Sapodilla), Metopium Brownei
(Chechem), and Lucuma belizensis (Silly Young).
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 23
(2) Terminalia-Calophyllum-Symphonia-Vochysia Association.
In the central and Toledo regions, swamp and savanna forests,
with the exception of the dry Pine forest, give place to an asso-
ciation whose dominants are characteristically the species which
give it its name: Terminated excelsa (Nargusta), Calophyllum
brasiliense var. Rekoi (Santa Maria), Symphonia globulifera (Waika
Chewstick), and Vochysia hondurensis (Yemen).
(3) Aspidosperma-Licania-Tetragastris Association. The dry
Pine forest of the central region is colonized by an association con-
taining Aspidosperma megalocarpon (My Lady), Licania hypoleuca
(Pigeon Plum), and Tetragastris Stevensonii (Carbon) as its dominant
species. The occurrence of Mountain Cabbage Palm and Alsophila
myosuroides (Tree Fern) is characteristic of this association.
Mountain Forest. The mountain forest on the ridges of com-
paratively high elevation in the central region succeeds or appears
as an intermediate stage between the grass-Pine forest of the
mountains and the advanced forest of the lower slopes.
The geology of the central region shows that the present moun-
tains are the remains of a mass of metamorphic rocks intruded into
the older limestones which, over the main tableland, are now com-
pletely eroded.
The mountain ridges have no apparent relation to the coastal
swamps and it is therefore remarkable that the constituent genera,
and in all probability the species, of the association of this inter-
mediate type are the same as those of the fresh water savannas:
Mountain Cabbage, Schizocardia, Ficus, Calophyllum, Symphonia,
and Podocarpus, with Quercus spp. appearing as relics of the previous
serai unit.
The upper limit of Cohune growth has not been determined with
any certainty but has been provisionally fixed at 2,000 feet. Moun-
tain forest occurring below this altitude must therefore be regarded
as an intermediate stage in the succession to advanced forest, while
above 2,000 feet it constitutes what must be considered an edaphic
climax.
Advanced Forest. This type might be called a climax as far as
this term is applicable to tropical forests, in that they rarely, if
ever, attain a state of equilibrium in respect of all their constituent
species. The advanced forest is characterized by the prevalence of
Orbigyna Cohune (Cohune Palm) which often forms a dense sub-
canopy and undergrowth and tends to oust the dicotyledonous
species.
24 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
Characteristic of the advanced forest is a dense stand of lofty
trees always occurring in heterogeneous associations. The nature
of the foliage is often difficult to determine from the ground, and
the experienced woodsman relies for his identifications on a close
inspection of the trunk, wood, and general crown characteristics, and
occasionally on flowers and fruits lying below the tree. In this
type the growth often shows distinct stratification of foliage. Shrubs
are abundant, their place being taken in the denser forest by a
thick Palm growth or by a thick carpet of small ferns. Epiphytic
plants such as aroids, ferns, bromeliads, mosses, and orchids abound,
the aroids and coarser woody vines of higher families being partic-
ularly plentiful. Many of the trees are buttressed.
They are apparently the climatic preclimax and climax stages
of the vegetation and include in their constituent species survivors
from the intermediate forest as well as climax species.
Common to all regions are Ceiba pentandra (Cotton Tree), Cctio-
phyllum, Terminated, Vochysia, Calocarpum mammosum (Mammee
Apple), Zanthoxylum spp. (Prickly Yellow), Spondias Mombin (Hog-
plum), Castillo, elastica (Wild Rubber), and Ficus species.
Confined to the limestones of the northern and Toledo regions
are Cedrela mexicana (Cedar), and Brosimum spp. (Breadnut).
Virola merendonis (Banak) and Dialium guianense (Ironwood) are
typically trees of the central metamorphic region but are found in
Toledo where the soil factor is apparently masked by that of the
heavy rainfall. They are not found in the northern limestone region.
SECONDARY RAIN FOREST
The secondary advanced rain forest is the preclimax or climax
unit of the cultivation subsere set up during the ancient Maya
civilization.
The full extent of the Maya cultivation has not yet been de-
termined but there is reason to believe that it has been more wide-
spread than was formerly thought. It is, indeed, probable that all
the present advanced high rain forests of the Colony are the
climax units of this cultivation subsere. The process of reintro-
duction of Mahogany and its associates into the second-growth
forest is somewhat obscure. It is surmised that the reconstitution of
the forest crops took place, as far as the cultivation in the valleys
of the hill limestone is concerned, by seeding from trees on the
inaccessible ridges; the seeding up on the plains was no doubt from
areas of swamp forest which were not suitable for cultivation.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 25
Typical species of the early stages of second growth, as evidenced
by the modern shifting cultivation of Maya Indians on the same
localities, include Ochroma bicolor (Polak), Belotia Campbellii (Nar-
rowleaf Moho), Heliocarpus Donnell-Smithii (Broadleaf Moho),
Schizolobium parahybum (Quamwood), Cecropia mexicana (Trumpet),
Cordia alliodora (Salmwood), Guazuma ulmifolia, (Bay Cedar),
Miconia spp. (Maya), Inga spp. (Bribri and Tama-tama), Ceiba
pentandra (Cotton), and Trema sp. (Capulin). These are in the
nature of transition species and do not persist long, only isolated
stems being met in the later stages of the secondary rain forest.
These later stages approximate to the advanced high rain forest
type and the majority of species are similar in both types. Cedrela
mexicana (Cedar) occurs scattered in supposedly primary forest
but attains greater distribution in the more recent second growth.
Brosimum Alicastrum (Breadnut) is a typical tree of the secondary
forest but grows only on calcareous soils.
FORESTRY
Although British Honduras has been a timber-producing country
for 250 years, systematic forestry was started only in 1922 with
the formation of the Forest Department.
The administration of the Department is vested in a Forest
Trust consisting of the Governor as Chairman, the Colonial Secre-
tary, the Conservator of Forests, one other official and two non-
official members appointed by the Governor. The Conservator acts
as manager to the Trust.
Its policy, as laid down by Hummel, is:
(1) To improve the present condition of the forests and
logging methods so that the cost of exploiting the forests will grad-
ually become smaller to make competition in the world's market
easier.
(2) To concentrate gradually the growth of Mahogany in
favorably situated areas, to increase its stock and also the output.
(3) To find a market for some of the useful secondary woods.
(4) To improve communications through more systematic ex-
ploitation instead of the present hand-to-mouth system, which
leaves no permanent mark of progress in the country.
The Trust also acts in the capacity of Forestry Adviser to the
Government and the Forest Office as a clearing house for the dis-
semination of information on all aspects of forestry.
26 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
The Trust has control over its expenditure subject to the ap-
proval by the Secretary of State of its annual estimates and supple-
mentary allocations. This financial arrangement aims at main-
taining a continuous policy free from political expedients.
While its main functions are concerned with expenditure, the
Forest Trust advises the Executive in matters of forest policy and
collects certain classes of forest revenue.
The Forest Ordinance (No. 32 of 1926) consists of two parts,
the first dealing with forest protection and control and the second
constituting and defining the functions of the Forest Trust. The
protective section follows the general lines of forest legislation else-
where in the empire and permits the application of suitable pro-
visions and rules to privately owned forest land as well as to Crown
forests.
Although the object of the Trust is to procure for the Depart-
ment a continuous working under a definite policy, the activities
of the Department have not been isolated from economic con-
ditions in the Colony. Thus from seven in 1927, the peak year of
Mahogany production, the trained staff had been reduced by transfer
and non-filling of vacancies to two in 1930, the beginning of a number
of lean years in the logging industry. A third officer has recently
been appointed.
The activities of the Department have followed logical lines in
attempting the development of the forests.
At the outset, there was found a great lack of topographical
maps and any systematic knowledge of the constitution of the
forests. Records were confined to vague estimates of the volume
of Mahogany and Cedar in such terms as "inexhaustible" or "plenti-
ful." The first efforts, therefore, were directed towards topograph-
ical exploration, together with preliminary estimates of the growing
stock of Mahogany, Cedar, and Sapodilla and sometimes several
of the promising secondary timbers. Large areas were rapidly
covered by compass traverses combined with countings of timber
species.
An early recognition was made of broad vegetational types and
type-mapping was included on these traverses.
This preliminary exploration is still in progress but sufficient
data have now been collected to form the basis for a preliminary
vegetation-type map on broad lines, and for estimating with reason-
able accuracy the forest resources and agricultural possibilities of
the Colony.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 27
Intensive investigation into the forest resources was started in
1932 with the inauguration of a survey of detailed resources, the
primary object being the early utilization of the so-called secondary
timbers. This survey is being supplemented by tests of various
timbers by the Forest Products Research Laboratory at Princes
Risborough, England.
That accessible Mahogany supplies were being rapidly diminished
with the advent of mechanical haulage was early realized and a
long-range program of replacing Mahogany and Cedar stocks on
accessible cutover areas was commenced.
Silviculture has been mainly confined to the treatment of Ma-
hogany, Cedar, and Sapodilla, and has followed two lines. The
first aims at improving the rate of growth of the younger age classes
by freeing them from lianas and suppressing inferior species. The
undergrowth is also opened out around "improved" trees to favor
their regeneration. The object of the second is the favoring of
Mahogany regeneration in its competition with inferior species.
Regeneration "improvement" methods have followed three lines:
(1) Underbrushing and opening of the canopy through selected
areas to favor existing regeneration and to form a "seeding felling."
This method has been used successfully on compact, heavily cut-
over areas.
(2) Underbrushing and opening of the canopy in favor of regenera-
tion found around stumps of recently logged areas. It was found
that, while regeneration is usually abundant around stumps during
the first two years after the felling of the trees, it then rapidly dis-
appears in the competition with inferior species in the untreated
forest. This regeneration is saved, and old trees are replaced by
groups of regeneration.
(3) "Taungya" work, where shifting cultivation areas are planted
with Mahogany. The Toledo Indians have taken up this work,
doing all the seed collection, nursery work, and transplanting of
seedlings in return for the use of the land rent free.
It has been found that Mahogany regeneration can hold its own
after the initial Underbrushing has given it a start over secondary
growth of "improved" areas.
Some 600,000 seedlings had been "improved" by methods (1)
and (2) up to 1930 when retrenchment in the Department necessitated
the cessation of further silvicultural work.
Silviculture in the Pine forests has been confined to fire protec-
tion, which has been found sufficient to promote abundant regenera-
28 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
tion of Pine. Small areas protected from fire since 1923 are showing
encouraging results and demonstrate that the reconstitution of
heavily burned and poorly stocked Pine lands is practicable.
Logging, which is confined to the extraction of Mahogany and
Cedar with small quantities of Logwood and Rosewood, is all in
the hands of private enterprise and is generally carried on in a
haphazard manner. Loggers usually work under a license system
on private and Crown lands. The Forest Department issues licenses
for Crown lands and endeavors to control logging by fixing a mini-
mum felling girth, by excluding heavily cut-over lands from logging
to conserve seed-bearers, and by laying down rough felling plans
for operation in the Forest Reserves.
A notable exception to the general haphazard methods of exploita-
tion is seen on the estates of a large land-holding concern which
cuts Mahogany on its own estates and is managed by a former
Forest Officer. On these estates systematic felling on conservative
lines is carried out.
The installation of a modern saw-mill in Belize gives the future
of the forest industry a more optimistic outlook. With scientific
and organized agriculture still in its infancy, the Colony must for
a long time depend on its forest resources and any measures to
improve their utilization must be beneficial. The growing interest
in tropical hardwoods in the world's markets will lead, it is hoped,
to an early exploitation of secondary timbers, which will tide the
Colony over the approaching shortage of Mahogany supplies.
With agriculture organizing itself to supply the requirements
in staple foodstuffs and with the early increased utilization of the
forest wealth to provide the bulk of the export trade, the future
prosperity of the Colony should be assured.
TIMBERS OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
LOGWOOD (Haematoxylon campechianum*)
Although Logwood has been reduced to minor commercial
importance because of the competition of synthetic dyes, the early
history of British Honduras is largely concerned with the "cutting,
loading, and carrying away" of that timber. Gibbs (1883) says:
"If, as by the adoption of her 'totem' and appropriate motto [sub
umbra floreo], the Colony of British Honduras would appear to
consider herself indebted (at all events for past prosperity) mostly
to another tree [Mahogany], it is to Logwood she certainly owes
in the first instance her existence.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 29
"It was at one time the practice of the class of privateers (almost
identical with buccaneers) cruising against Spanish traders to set
fire to all vessels they captured which might be laden with Logwood,
having first stripped them of everything valuable.
"But it so happened that a Captain James, the master of a letter
of marque, having captured a Spanish vessel the cargo of which
consisted of this wood, brought the ship and cargo into the Port
of London. On endeavoring to dispose of the latter he was gratified
as well as surprised to find for it a ready sale at an enormous price
per ton. The crew, who had used up a portion of the precious
freight to burn in the galley fire, had little idea that they were
using fuel at a hundred pounds per ton during the voyage!
"The fame of this dyewood soon spread, and privateers were
fitted out and dispatched to cruise off the Main, for the especial
capture of Logwood-laden vessels, on their passage home to Spain
from his Catholic Majesty's possessions in the 'Indies.'
"In course of time, as prizes became scarcer, protecting cruisers
of the Spanish navy more abundant, the crews of the privateers
found it more profitable to search for the wood on shore, cut it, and
load their vessels with it.
"The yield of it is almost inexhaustible from Campeche, Hon-
duras, and the West India Islands, as it seeds freely, and can be
recut in ten to fifteen years. Its original value was 100 per ton,
then 40; in 1825, 16; and it is now, 1883, quoted at 5 to 7.
Its export from the Colony has been pretty uniform: 1713 to 1716,
5,740 tons; in 1824, over 4,000 tons; in 1874, 9,210 tons, and since
as much as 13,000 tons in one year. Its shipment, except as the
broken stowage with Mahogany logs, hardly leaves any margin
for profit, but it is a favorable mode of remittance for merchants
desirous of saving the exchange. It grows in soft, spongy soils.
Its production for shipment requires less capital than Mahogany,
and is frequently undertaken by small capitalists employing small
gangs, who pay a royalty for cutting on the estates. It is generally
cut the length of cordwood, three feet. It is brought down the rivers
and along the coast in dories, and down the rivers in 'bark logs,'
or floating cradles made of the Cabbage-palm."
The Logwood industry enjoyed a brief revival during the World
War, but during the four years from 1924 to 1927 the average annual
production was 563 tons, valued at 2773, eight-tenths of one per
cent of the value of all forest produce. The present exports are about
125 tons about one-third of one per cent of the total forest exports.
30 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
MAHOGANY (Swietenia macrophylla)
The Honduras variety of Spanish Mahogany has long been the
principal article of trade, representing in statistics of recent years
nearly three-quarters of the total value of produce exported from
the Colony. Just when the shipping of Mahogany logs began is
unknown, but "it seems unlikely that much Mahogany was cut
in British Honduras before the second quarter of the 18th century."
(Oliphant.) The first reference to the subject in a treaty between
Great Britain and Spain appears to have been in 1786 when additional
articles were added by the Convention of London to the treaty of
1783. One of these articles extended the British settlers rights to
cut wood "not excepting even Mahogany."
Of the development of the industry, Gibbs (1883) writes: "Re-
liable returns are not procurable farther back than 1802, when
2,250,000 feet are mentioned as the quantity exported; 1803,
4,500,000 feet; 1804, 6,481,000 feet. In 1824 it had kept the same
figure; in 1840 it was reduced to 4,500,000 feet, but there had been
over-exportation in the few years preceding, and stocks had accumu-
lated in the home markets in 1837, for example, there were shipped
from Belize 8,500,000 feet. The same mistake was made in 1845-46.
In the first of these years the returns show 9,919,507 feet, and in
1846 the enormous increase of 13,719,075 feet. A portion of these
annual quantities was wood cut outside of the limits. The depression
in the years 1848, 1849, 1850, is not difficult to account for. In
1874 the quantity had come down to the old figure of about 6,000,000
feet, and in 1878 lower still, 3,146,582 feet."
In 1928, Conservator of Forests Oliphant reported on Mahogany
as follows: "Originally exported to the United Kingdom in the form
of squared logs, the tendency of late years has been towards ship-
ment to the United States in the round, where the wood is converted
to lumber and veneers. A substantial part of the lumber finds its
way to European markets and the demand for logs in the United
Kingdom is being more and more restricted to wood of the better
grades and dimensions. There is a small but steadily increasing
local industry producing Mahogany lumber, mainly from inferior
material unsuitable for export, but inefficiency of plant and limited
shipping facilities have hitherto precluded it from competing to any
material extent with the highly organized lumber manufacturing
industry in the United States. There are local variations in the
technical characteristics of Mahogany grown on different types of
soil which affect the market value of the timber within relatively
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 31
narrow limits. The wood from the poorer types of forest is much
redder and harder than that found in the climax types which tends
to be free-grained and Cedar-like in color and properties. The
percentage of 'figured' wood varies in different localities, but figure
is rarer than is commonly supposed.
"The probable duration of virgin merchantable supplies of
Mahogany and Cedar is not possible to estimate with any approach
to accuracy owing to lack of knowledge as to what proportion of the
stock is so located as to be capable of economic working. There
is a definite limit, variable according to the location of the wood and
the market price level, to the distance over which Mahogany can
be hauled profitably by means of tractors running on petrol. Possible
developments in mechanical traction, for example, the use as a fuel
of producer gas from charcoal, might materially extend this marginal
limit.
"A very rough estimate of the standing stock of 'virgin' Mahogany
and Cedar of merchantable size is thirty million cubic feet, which
if it were all exploitable would be equivalent, at the average rate
of output for the past four years, to twenty years' supply.
"Large reserves of virgin Mahogany, conservatively estimated
at 160 million cubic feet, remain in the Guatemalan province of
Pete"n, bordering the western frontier of the Colony, but the only
practical means of large-scale exploitation would be by a considerable
mileage of railway carried through the Colony to the coast, or to
deep water on one of the larger rivers. The engineering difficulties
would not be formidable, and there is little doubt that the steady
suction of the market demand will draw in these supplies in time.
"Certain quantities, by no means negligible, of Mahogany and
Cedar are still available from cut-over lands within the Colony,
particularly from the estates on the northern plains, where the forest
is of a type in which unassisted natural regeneration is fairly effective
in replacing stock removed by cuttings of moderate intensity.
Practically the whole of these northern forests is, however, in private
ownership, and with the exception of one important group of prop-
erties, has been generally subjected to serious over-cutting, the
seed-bearers left being insufficient to maintain the stock without
artificial aid. The recent strong market demand led to wholesale
slaughter of immature timber. Notwithstanding the depletion which
has taken place, a large part of these lands could even now be
restored to continuous production at relatively low cost if their
owners could be induced to spend a little money on organization
32 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
and refrain from further inroads on the capital stock. Unfortu-
nately, the circumstance that the majority of the large estates are
in the hands of absentee landlords, whose interest in their properties
has been limited by long tradition to the income derived from the
sale of natural produce, is not conducive to progress in this direction.
"An estimate of the quantity of Mahogany and Cedar which
could be produced from the cut-over lands if they were placed under
regular forest management would be of questionable value without
a more detailed examination of the private forest estates than it
has hitherto been possible to undertake. All that can be said is
that the output from the cut-over lands, together with that derived
from the accessible virgin stumpage, should, with proper organiza-
tion, suffice to maintain the present out-turn for some thirty or forty
years, by which time the re-afforestation work now being undertaken
may be expected to result in material augmentation of the supply.
Much will depend on the policy followed with regard to private
forest ownership. Successful tapping of the large supplies in Pete"n
would ease the situation considerably, as the important entrepot
trade thereby developed would tide the Colony over the difficult
but necessary period of transition from a state of dependence on
the consumption of natural resources to a self-supporting existence
based on scientific production."
CEDAR (Cedrela mexicana)
Cedar, or Spanish Cedar, occurs and is worked in conjunction
with Mahogany, to which it is closely related botanically. Its
fragrantly scented, durable, easily worked timber is used locally
for dugout canoes and furniture and is exported principally for
boat-building and cigar boxes. It is known that the trade extends
back more than a century for there is a record of 2,196 tons being
shipped in 1825. During the four years from 1924 to 1927 the average
exports were 46,293 cubic feet of logs, valued at 8172, or 2.6 per
cent of the value of all forest produce. The export of Cedar has
fallen considerably during the depression and exports of logs and
lumber averaged for the three years from 1932 to 1934 only 2,234
cubic feet.
ROSEWOOD (Dalbergia Stevensonii)
Honduras Rosewood is one of the best-known timbers of the
Colony, although the amount exported has never been very large
and for the past forty years the use of the material has been confined
chiefly to the making of bars for xylophones manufactured in the
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 33
United States. It has been an article of export for about a century
and there is a record of 118 pieces having been shipped in 1841.
Mr. Neil S. Stevenson, in whose honor the species was named,
describes the wood as follows (Trop. Woods 12: 1):
"It is very hard and heavy, weighing from 58 to 68 Ibs. per cu. ft.
when thoroughly air-dry. The heartwood is of a pinkish-brown or
purplish color, with alternating light and dark zones which are
independent of the true growth rings; the sapwood, which is 1 to 2
inches thick, is white with yellow vessel lines when first cut, but
quickly turns yellow. The heartwood is highly durable, but the
sapwood soon decays when in contact with the ground. The heart
portion of a house post in use in Punta Gorda for 37 years was
found to be as sound as when it was put in, but the sapwood, of
course, had entirely disappeared.
"Honduras rosewood is often well figured and, though used to a
limited extent for cabinet work, is chiefly employed for the bars of
marimbas and xylophones manufactured in the United States. The
requirements for the musical instrument trade are light-colored,
straight-grained wood, in logs as nearly round as possible, hewn
free of sap, mostly 4 to 6 feet in length and not less than 10 or 12
inches in diameter, although in times of shortage diameters as low
as 5 inches may be taken. The exports of the timber, all to the
United States, were 248 tons (valued at $5,362) in 1925, and 76
tons (valued at $2,315) in 1926." Exports for 1933 and 1934
averaged 37 tons, chiefly sent to the United Kingdom and France.
PINE (Pinus caribaea)
The Pine of British Honduras is the same species as the Slash
Pine of southern Florida and the stands are a continuation of an
irregular belt extending from Mexico through Guatemala and
Honduras into Nicaragua. The local forests containing Pine
trees of sufficient size and accessibility to be considered merchantable
comprise a third of the mainland. The best stands are privately
held and have never been exploited, except for a small area near
the village of All Pines. Oliphant (1928) says: "Pine is milled on
a limited scale for local consumption and has been exported success-
fully to adjacent republics. Inefficient plant and speculative holding
of stumpage have hitherto been the chief obstacles to successful
competition with the imported American Pine, which has been
preferred for its better finish and availability in all convenient sizes.
It is believed that P. caribaea would yield good rosin and turpentine,
34 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
but tapping has not yet been done on a commercial scale." A
recent commercial trial shipment made to the Forest Products
Research Laboratory, Princes Risborough, England, for testing has
given promising results and it is possible that local milling on a
larger scale than hitherto may shortly be expected.
BANAK (Virola merendonis)
The several species of Virola are widely distributed in the main-
land forests of tropical America and produce uniform, easily worked
timber of good quality for many purposes where resistance to decay
and insect injury is not an essential. There appears to be no reason
why the markets of the world should not readily absorb more of
this timber than could be produced.
The following accounts of Banak, Santa Maria, and Yemeri, the
three principal "secondary" timbers of British Honduras, are taken
from an article by Duncan and Neil S. Stevenson (Trop. Woods
4: 12-16. 1925):
"Banak, the most important secondary timber now being exploited
in British Honduras, grows fairly abundantly on granite and rich
porous alluvial soils in that part of the Colony lying southward
from the Sibun River. It is tolerant of shade, and makes fairly
rapid growth, especially in the immediate riverain tracts. It responds
quickly to girdling and rots and falls.
"Measurements of a typical, though not fully matured tree in
the Sibun-Stann Creek Forest Reserve were as follows: total height,
115 feet; distance to first branch, 70 feet; girth above buttresses,
8% feet; height of buttresses, 7 feet.
"The buttresses are usually not very marked, and there is
generally one large spur, which, on sloping ground, is on the higher
side. The trunk is straight and cylindrical and free of branches for
50 feet or more. The limbs are given off horizontally in irregular
whorls and when viewed from below look like the spokes of a rimless
wheel. The bark is smooth, about three-fourths of an inch thick,
and, particularly in the case of trees growing on the riverain
alluvium of the Sibun valley, has a decidedly red color. When the
bark is wounded a dark red sap exudes, hence the Spanish name of
'sangre palo' or 'palo de sangre.'
"The wood is light-colored when freshly cut, but the surface
darkens later to a red brown. The sapwood is not distinguishable
from the heart. The wood resembles Spanish Cedar when manu-
factured and is sometimes passed off as such. It is easily worked
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 35
and, inasmuch as it splits very easily, it might make good rived
shingles. It is occasionally used locally for dories, and has been
employed for furniture and indoor work. Its principal commercial
use is understood to be for veneers. It is not very durable for out-
door work and if so used would probably require preservative
treatment.
"The freshly cut timber is very susceptible to damage by an
insect, locally known as pinworm, which attacks both through the
bark and exposed wood surfaces and bores deeply into the wood.
The damage is materially lessened by leaving the crowns on the
felled trees for some time after felling, but the only effective method
of prevention so far discovered is prompt immersion of the logs
in water.
SANTA MARf A (Calophyllum brasiliense var. Rekoi)
"Santa Maria is a well-known timber tree throughout a large
portion of the tropical American forests from Mexico and the
West Indies to Brazil. Though not unknown to the export trade,
it has yet to establish itself in the market.
"Santa Maria is probably the commonest large tree in the mixed
rain forests throughout the Colony and is found on all types of soil.
It attains a height of 120 feet and, except in some of the Broken
Ridge country, has a clean, straight bole. A girth of 10 feet is
common and individual trees measuring over 20 feet in circumference
are occasionally found. Boles 50 feet in length and squaring 24
inches are common.
"Three classes of timber are recognized locally, namely, the
'white' and the 'red,' which are of a very light to pink color and
floatable, and the 'dark,' which is of a reddish color and non-floatable.
No way of distinguishing these classes before cutting has as yet
been found.
"The wood is sometimes mistaken for Mahogany, being some-
what similar in color and often showing good figure, but it is heavier,
stronger, and more lasting. On account of its durability it is used
for the construction of logging trucks for hauling Mahogany and
Logwood. It is also utilized for shingles, bridge stringers, trestle
work and planking, beams, masts, heavy machine work, building
construction, and indoor trim. It is one of the best timbers for dug-
outs, or dories, and gives long service. On the island of Ruatan,
in the Bay Islands, it forms the principal wood for boat timbers;
crooked trees are used, affording a natural bend.
36 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
"The timber ordinarily has a tendency to warp and split, unless
mature and well seasoned. At a small mill on the Temash River,
where fair quantities of Santa Maria have been cut, the sawn timber,
when properly stacked in the shade, has been found to behave fairly
well. Rotary veneers have been obtained which give very handsome
figure, but there is a tendency to flake which has not yet been over-
come. The lumber would probably make excellent flooring, particu-
larly if a successful system of seasoning were evolved.
YEMERI (Vochysia hondurensis)
"The Yemeri, which is also known as Emery, Emeri, White
Mahogany, and in Honduras as San Juan, grows all over the
Colony, though it is rare in the New River-Northern River Tract
and commonest in the south. It is typical of the transition stage
from Pine Ridge to Broken Ridge and occurs extensively in the
'huamil/ or second growth on abandoned cultivation, on soils of
the poorer type. It grows in almost pure stock on the sandy
clay mud soils of the coast, as at Riversdale and Regalia, and in
profusion on the Toledo beds, but will not grow on very swampy
land. It attains large size in the Cohune Ridge, but is not as thickly
stocked as the Santa Maria.
"A young tree measured on the Sibun-Stann Creek Forest
Reserve had the following dimensions: total height, 110 feet; height
to first branch, 72 feet; girth at 4^ feet from ground, 7J4 feet;
height of spurs, \y^ feet.
"The habit of the tree is characteristic. Branches are given off
in a manner suggesting a hand bunched up with the fingers fully
extended. This is repeated throughout the crown. In the majority
of cases the bark is smooth, though it may be slightly fissured when
young or scaly when old. It is about half an inch thick, and upon
scraping away the whitish gray membranous outer surface a charac-
teristic yellow with white edges is exhibited.
"Two classes of timber are distinguished after felling, namely,
'white' and 'red.' The former is not lasting, dries more quickly
than the other, and is difficult to work when dry on account of
grittiness. It is not so hard on tools when wet and is good for inside
house construction work. Red Yemeri is considered slightly less
durable than Santa Maria, is easy to work, and is suitable for the
same purposes as Poplar. It is used extensively in the south for
boards and for the construction of dories."
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 37
BLACK POISON WOOD (Metopium Brownei)
Black Poison Wood, also known as Honduras Walnut, is a member
of the family Anacardiaceae, which is the source of some beautiful
furniture woods. The name Poison Wood is attributable to the
presence of a caustic sap in the bark. The wood is harmless.
The species is often associated with the Sapodilla in swamp and
intermediate forests on calcareous soils in the northern portions of
the Colony. The heartwood is variegated, brown and reddish brown
with a greenish tinge and a golden subluster so characteristic of
cabinet woods. It is hard and heavy, of rather fine texture, often
wavy-grained, finishes very smoothly, and takes a lustrous polish.
It is more attractive in small sizes than in large panels and is suitable
for articles of turnery and handles of cutlery. It is practically un-
known to the trade. While the supply of the timber is not very
large, it is said to exceed that of Rosewood, which is regularly ex-
ported from the Toledo District. (For further description of the
wood see Trop. Woods 18: 28-29.)
WOODS FOR PAPER PULP
Since the mixed forests of British Honduras contain many trees
with light-colored, soft to only moderately hard woods believed
suitable for the manufacture of paper pulp, the Forestry Depart-
ment is investigating the possibilities in that field of utilization.
REQUIREMENTS FOR WOOD PULP MILL
According to Mr. W. Raith, of the Forest Research Institute
at Dehra Dun, India (Trop. Woods 6: 16), "before seriously consider-
ing the pulp-making properties of any woods it is advisable to in-
vestigate the manufacturing facilities available in or near the areas
of growth. Unless these are suitable and economical the raw material
would be of no value for this purpose. The following are essential:
"(1) Mill site with a permanent fresh water supply of not less
than 40,000 gals, per hour.
"(2) Unless such site is in the immediate neighborhood of the raw
material, say a radius of seven miles, water transport of the logs
must be available to such site.
"(3) If coal is not available, wood fuel must be present under
similar transport conditions to (2).
"(4) Lime or limestone of good quality must be present some-
where in the district, but as the amount required is small in com-
parison with raw material and fuel, it need not necessarily be near-by.
38 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
"(5) The mill site should either be close to a shipping port or,
if distant, water transport should be available from mill to port.
"(6) The quantities required for a pulp output of 10,000 tons
per annum (it is not worth while considering a smaller unit) would
be approximately:
25,000 tons per annum of dry raw material.
45,000 " " " of wood fuel or
15,000 " " " of coal.
3,000 ' of lime or
6,000 ' of limestone.
"If these conditions are possible it may be worth while inquiring
into the suitability of the raw material."
PAPER-MAKING TESTS
The Imperial Institute has reported (Bulletin 23: 1: 4-8) the
results of tests on three British Honduras timbers; namely, Quam-
wood (Schizolobium parahyburn), White Moho (Belotia Campbellii),
and Polak (Ochroma limonensis). A summary of the results is
given in the following table:
RESULTS OF PAPER-MAKING TESTS
(Imperial Institute)
NAME
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
AVERAGE
LENGTH
OF FIBERS
MOISTURE
ASH
CELLULOSE CONTENT
As received
Dry wood
Moho, White
mm.
1.6
1.8
1.6
1.2
8.5
9.3
8.6
10.8
Per
0.5
0.8
1.0
1.0
cent
52.2
48.9
47.4
52.4
57.0
53.9
51.9
58.7
Polak (a)
Polak (b)
Quamwood
NAME
PAPER-MAKING TRIALS
CAUSTIC SODA
USED
CONDITION OF
DIGESTION
SODA
CONSUMED
PER 100
PARTS OF
WOOD
YIELD OF DRY PULP
IN PER CENT OF
WOOD AS RECEIVED
Parts per
100 of
wood
Parts per
100 of
solution
Time
Tem-
perature
Un-
bleached
Bleached
Moho, White
20
20
30
20
4
4
4
4
Hours
6
6
7
6
C
160
160
160
160
12.7
13.2
17.0
11.0
46
45
43
47
41
42
39
42
Polak (a)
Polak (b)
Quamwood
Note: Polak wood was divided into two portions: (a) hard, (b) soft.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 39
"The results of the investigations of these three timbers indicate
that when treated under suitable conditions, Quamwood and White
Moho give satisfactory yields of pulp of good strength and quality.
The former can be reduced with a rather smaller consumption of
soda than the latter, but, on the other hand, White Moho pulp is
composed of somewhat longer fiber than the Quamwood pulp, is
of rather better quality, and is more easily bleached. Both pulps
would furnish paper of satisfactory quality.
"The Polak wood presents a difficulty owing to the variation in
density in different parts of the trunk. The hard portion is very
suitable for paper-making, giving a fairly high yield of bleached
pulp which furnished white paper of good strength and quality.
The soft portion of the wood, however, is not so satisfactory, as it
requires a larger quantity of soda for its conversion into pulp, and
the parchment-like character of the bleached pulp is a disadvantage
for the production of ordinary types of paper. It would, however,
be impracticable to separate the two portions for pulping on a com-
mercial scale."
THE COHUNE PALM
The Cohune Palm (Orbignya Cohune) occurs extensively through-
out the Colony from sea level to 1,800 feet, being at its best perhaps
in the Toledo District. Mr. Neil S. Stevenson writes of it as follows
(Trop. Woods 30: 4): "The Cohune plays an important role in the
life of the forest laborer in the south of the Colony. He uses the leaves
(fronds) for thatch, and the leaf stems for the sides of his house, the
top of his table, and his bed. He obtains oil from the nuts and food
from the heart of the 'cabbage.'
"There have been many unsuccessful attempts to utilize the
nuts and kernels commercially. Some concerns failed to crack
the nuts satisfactorily, while others were unable to keep their mills
running with erratic collections of nuts of wild palms.
"Attention has again been focused on the commercial exploita-
tion of this product since the Tropical Oil Products Company, Ltd.,
of California, commenced operations in the south of the Colony in
November, 1928. After years of testing in the Republic of Honduras
they evolved a machine said to be capable of giving excellent results,
but, realizing that a mill can only be run economically if large supplies
of nuts are readily available and accessible, their first work in British
Honduras has been silvicultural in nature. They began by choosing
areas of dense stocking from the lands made available to them, and
proceeded to clear off all growth but Cohune.
40 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
"The Cohune Palm growing in its natural habitat, tied up with
creepers and lianas and suppressed by the surrounding hardwood
forest, does not generally bear fruit until its crown is free in the
canopy, so that although it may be said that Cohune is plentiful
in the forests it does not thereby imply that the nuts are lying on the
ground in heaps several feet in depth. On the other hand, in the
riverain pastures, where Cohune Palms have been left for shade
purposes and freed from all other vegetative competition, each plant
bears prolifically.
"A short cruise in Crown lands adjacent to the Company's prop-
erty indicates that the stock of palms in raw forest is as follows:
Per acre
Tall palms (bearing) 6.0
Medium-sized palms (bearing) 9.2
Small palms (capable of bearing) 17.8
Small palms (not immediately capable of bearing) ... 86.0
Total 119.0
"From the foregoing figures it is obvious then that the silvicultural
treatment in freeing palms from competition should result immedi-
ately in 33 palms per acre bearing fruit, while the remaining 86
palms per acre will, in the increased light, come rapidly into bearing.
There is therefore ample scope for the formation of fully stocked
'plantations' of some 40 palms per acre from the materials provided
by nature. The problem now to be solved concerns the disposal
of the slash produced by the fellings and in the cleaning of the second
growth, which in that area of high rainfall encroaches rapidly and
luxuriantly. Fire cannot be used as it hinders development where
it does not kill, and it appears that intensive machete work is the
only solution until the 'plantations' are reduced to what are locally
termed 'Cohune pastures.'
"This silvicultural work on the Cohune has been suspended,
owing to the general financial depression in the U. S. A., but it is
sincerely to be hoped that better times will see the continuance of
this valuable experiment. There appears to be no reason why, with
such treatment, the Cohune forests of the Colony should not be
made into a real commercial asset."
CHICLE GUM INDUSTRY
Sapodilla tree (Achras Zapota) is the source of a latex which,
in coagulated form, is known as chicle, the most important source
of the chewing gum of commerce. During the four years from
1924 to 1927 the average annual exports of chicle from British Hon-
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 41
duras were 152 tons, valued at 31,371, or 9.5 per cent of the value
of all forest produce. Most of this gum originated in the Pete"n
District of Guatemala, as the supplies from the forests in the Colony
are nearing exhaustion as the result of unregulated tapping. The
Chicle Development Company maintains an experiment station
at Honey Camp (east of Orange Walk, New River) for the conserva-
tion and improvement of this important forest industry.
The present methods of tapping Sapodilla trees are described by
Major H. M. Heyden (Empire Forestry Journal 9: 1: 107-113) as
follows: "The tapping season is during the set months of the year,
roughly from October to March, and it begins after the period of
heaviest rain, which usually comes about mid-September. Tapping
depends greatly upon climatic conditions and a dry year implies a
very scanty yield of chicle.
"The natives who carry out the tapping are Spanish Indians;
that is, Maya Indians with a varying admixture of Spanish blood.
. . . The equipment of the chicle tapper, or 'chiclero,' as he is called,
consists only of his 'machete/ which is a keen-edged cutlass with a
28-inch blade, a long coil of stout rope, a dozen small canvas bags
proofed with rubber obtained locally from rubber trees (Castillo,
elastica) which grow wild in certain parts of the forest, and a few
empty kerosene tins of about 3 gallons' capacity. The chicleros
generally work together in parties of four or five, and they form camps
in the forest, temporary shelters of sticks and palm leaves. They bring
with them flour and beans sufficient to last several weeks and supple-
ment this ration by shooting peccaries, curassow, and other small
game. As their work progresses they move camp every week or
ten days and thus cover large areas allotted to the contractor for
whom they are working.
"The method of tapping Sapodilla differs considerably from
methods used in rubber tapping, and is more analogous to the tapping
of gutta-percha. There is no continuous flow as in the case of rubber,
and the healing of tapping cuts and replacement of latex is extremely
slow. After one day's tapping the tree is usually allowed to rest
for a period of three years or more, according to the area of bark
which has been cut. The method which is used generally in Central
America is to make zigzag cuts in the bark, about eighteen inches
apart, all the way up the tree, from about two feet above the ground
to the first branch. The zigzag pattern of the cuts originates from
the fact that it can easily be made with the 'machete,' which every
native carries in the forest in Central America. . Where the
42 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
zigzag cuts have been made for more than two-thirds of the way
around the stem, or where the cuts have been made too deeply,
as frequently happens, the cambium is killed, the bark loosens, and
the tree slowly dies. A large percentage of the mature and middle-
aged Sapodilla now standing in the forests is in a moribund condition
due to these causes.
"Tapping is generally done during the early part of the morning
between 6 A.M. and 11 A.M. as the air is then still and humid in the
forest. The latex coagulates very rapidly on exposure to sun or
drying wind, and even without these adverse factors it generally
ceases to flow within four to six hours from the time of cutting, so
that the chicleros are usually back in their camp soon after midday
with the result of their morning's work. Rain does not interfere
with tapping as the extra water can easily be evaporated from the
latex.
"During one morning a chiclero taps perhaps six to eight trees,
hunting for these more or less in a big circle around the camp. By
the time he has cut his last tree, he is able to return to the first one
and remove the bag containing the latex, which will then have
ceased to flow. The canvas bags containing the latex are emptied
into large tins in the chicleros' camp, and when a sufficient quantity
for the purpose has been collected, about 30 gallons or more, the
chicle is 'cooked,' i.e., it is boiled to extract as much of the water
content as possible. ... In cooking chicle, a large open cauldron
holding about 40 gallons is used, and a small wood fire is placed below
it. The chicle bubbles up, giving off a cloud of steam. All through
the cooking process, a man stirs the chicle with a paddle, to prevent
it from scorching against the sides of the cauldron. When the
moisture has been much reduced, and the chicle has become a
viscous mass which can hardly be moved with the paddle, it is
dumped out of the cauldron on a piece of canvas, previously
rubbed with soap to prevent sticking, and there moulded into an
oblong or oval block of about 20 pounds' weight. The blocks are
set aside to harden for a few days, and then packed into sacks,
loaded on mules, and taken to the nearest river bank, whence they
are despatched by boat to the export depot in Belize, the capital
town of British Honduras.
"By the method of tapping which has been described above, when
the cuts have been made on one-half or less than two-thirds of the
circumference of the tree, it is generally possible after an interval
of about three years to make a second tapping on the remaining
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS
43
area of stem, provided that the original cuts have healed well and
the tree has regained vigor. After a much longer interval, another
five years at least, it may be possible to do a re-tapping between the
original cuts of the first tapping, but, owing to the occlusion of vessels
in the bark around these old wounds, the yield of latex will be much
less than from the first two tappings. Under the most favorable
conditions the first tapping of a tree at about the middle point of
its life may possibly yield 4-5 pounds of latex, a second tapping
two pounds, and a re-tapping probably less than two pounds. Such
yields are, however, things of the past in British Honduras. Prac-
tically speaking, every Sapodilla in the forests, above one foot
in diameter, and a great number of smaller trees, have been tapped
at least once, most of them twice, and a fair percentage have received
re-tappings. This state of things is gradually becoming general in
all the more accessible Sapodilla forests of Central America. In
some tracts of Guatemala and Mexico there are areas which still
yield well, but exhaustion can be visualized at no very distant date."
LIST OF ECONOMIC TREES AND THEIR USES
Name
Local uses
Foreign or suggested
further uses
Acacia glomerosa
(White Tamarind) Furniture.
Achras Zapota
(Sapodilla) Yields chicle gum. Tim- Timber for turnery,
her for house beams, heavy flooring, rail-
lintels, piling, tool way ties,
handles.
Anacardium occidentale
(Cashew) Seeds edible; wine from Cashew nut of corn-
fruits, merce.
Anona glabra
(Bobwood) Wood for bottle stoppers.
Andira inermis
(Cabbage Bark) Logging trucks, wheels,
rolling stock parts.
Aspidosperma megalocarpon
(My Lady) Railway ties, house
frames, rafting poles,
scaffolding.
Astronium graveolens
(Palo Mulato) Cabinet work. Furniture, turnery,
cutlery handles.
Belotia Campbellii
(Moho) Bast for cordage. Wood for box shocks,
drawer sides and
bottoms, etc.
Bixa Orellana
(Atta) Fruits for coloring stews, Vegetable dye for
etc. coloring foodstuffs.
44 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
Name Loca! uses
Brosimum Alicastrum
(Breadnut) ................ Leaves for fodder.
Byrsonima crassifolia
(Craboo) .................. Fruit for pickles.
Bucida Buceras
(Bulletwood) ............... Charcoal, fuel, railway
ties.
Calocarpum mammosum ....... Fruits edible. Timber
for house frames.
Calophyllum brasiliense
(Santa Maria) .............. Furniture, joinery, rail- General construction
way ties, ship masts and framing.
and spars, house beams,
bridge beams, dugout
canoes, boat timbers.
Cassipourea podantha
(Water Wood) ............. Railway ties, house
frames.
Castillo, elastica
(Rubber Tree) ............. Yields rubber.
Cedrela mexicana
(Cedar) ................... Dugout canoes, boat- Cabinet work, racing
planking, shingles, fur- boats.
niture (especially chests
as it is distasteful to
insects).
Ceiba pentandra
(Cotton Tree) .............. Dugout canoes. Wardrobes, backing for
veneer, box snooks.
Chlorophora tinctoria
(Fustic) .................. Cabinet work (inlay), Dyewood.
dyewood.
Coccoloba barbadensis
(Sea Grape) ................ Fruits edible.
Cordia alliodora
(Salmwood) ................ Logging truck parts, pil- Furniture.
ing and railway ties;
lining of furniture and
chests (as protection
against insects).
Cordia dodecandra
(Siricote) .................. Turnery, cabinet work. Furniture.
Conocarpus erecta
(Buttonwood) .............. Favorite fuel wood.
Crescentia Cujete
(Wild calabash) ............ Drinking vessels and
dishes from the cala-
bash.
Curatella americana
(Yaha) .................... Leaves as fine sandpaper. Turnery and small
articles of furniture.
Dalbergia Stevensonii
(Rosewood) ................ Turnery, cabinet-work, Xylophone bars, cabi-
marimba bars, house net work, cutlery
posts, and lintels. handles.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS
45
VT Foreign or suggested
Name Local uses further uses
Dialium guianense
(Ironwood) House posts, fence posts,
railway ties, logging
truck parts.
Drypetes Brovmii
(Bullhoof) Railway ties, house Flooring, interior trim.
frames.
Enterolobium cyclocarpum
(Tubroos) Dugout canoes. Paneling, veneers, and
cheap furniture.
Erythrina rubrinervia
(Pito) Live fence posts.
Erythroxylon spp.
(Redwood) Railway ties, house and
fence posts.
Gliricidia sepium
(Madre Cacao) House posts, live fence
posts.
Haematoxylon campechianum
(Logwood) . Dyewood.
Hirtella americana
(Pigeon Plum) Fruit edible.
Lonchocarpus Castilloi
(Black Cabbage Bark) Logging trucks, wheels, Automobile spokes,
heavy constructional coach building,
work, machinery bed-
ding, rolling stock.
Lucuma belizensis
(Silly Young) Gum mixed with chicle.
Wood for house tim-
bers, and all tool
handles.
Matayba oppositifolia
(Boy Job) House beams and frames.
Metopium Brownei
(Black Poison Wood) Gum used for blistering. Parquet, counter-tops,
Timber for house posts, heavy furniture,
railway ties.
Nectandra spp.
(Laurel) House frames. Furniture.
Ochroma limonensis
(Polak) Kapok for stuffing pil- Refrigerators, life-boat
lows, etc. Wood for construction, air-
razor strops and in- plane parts, boxes,
sulation.
Orbignya Cohune
(Cohune) Nuts for cooking oil,
leaves for thatching.
Pimenta officinalis
(Pimento) Fruits for spice, leaves Allspice of commerce.
for tea.
Pinus caribaea
(Pine) Carpentry and piling, Pitch pine substitute.
railway ties.
46 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
, , Foreign or suggested
Name Local wes further uses
Pithecolobium arboreum
(Black Tamarind) .......... Furniture.
Podocarpus guatemalensis
(Cypress) .................. House posts and sills, Carpentry, interior
boat building, railway work and cheaplfur-
ties. niture.
Protium Copal
(Copal) ................... Gum used for incense.
Pseudolmedia spp.
(Cherry) .................. Cherry-like edible fruit. Carpentry, interior
Railway ties. work.
Qitararibea Fieldii
(Batidos) .................. Swizzle sticks.
Quercus spp.
(Oak) ..................... Charcoal, truck parts,
bark for tanning.
Rhizophora Mangle
(Red Mangrove) ........... Fuel and charcoal. Bark for tannin.
Sabal mauritiiformis
(Botan Palm) .............. Leaves for thatching, bole
for house posts and
piling, withstands ter-
edo.
Schizolobium parahybum
pa
d)
(Quamwood) ............... Paper pulp.
Sweetia panamensis
(Billy Webb) ............... Truck parts, wheels, cart Coach building.
shafts.
Swietenia macrophylla
(Mahogany) ............... Furniture, boat-building Honduras Mahogany
and dugout canoes, in- of commerce. Air-
terior trim. plane propellers,
speed boat hulls,
cabinet work and
furniture.
Symphonia globulifera
(Waika Chewstick) ......... Boat keels, railway ties. Vat timbers. Furni-
ture and light fit-
tings.
Tabebuia pentaphylla
(Mayflower) ............... Cattle yokes. Cabinet work.
Tabebuia sp.
(Cortez) ................... Truck parts.
Terminalia Hayesii
(Nargusta) ................ Bridge timbers, rolling Veneer, furniture.
stock, railway ties,
paneling.
Theobroma Cacao
(Cacao) ................... Yields a utilizable grade
of cacao.
Thrinax argentea
(Silver Thatch Palm) ....... Leaves for thatching.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 47
Foreign or suggested
Name Local uses further uses
Trophis racemosa
(White Ram6n) Leaves for fodder.
Virola merendonis
(Banak) Interior trim. Cedar substitute for
cigar boxes, furni-
ture, battery sep-
arators, general con-
struction.
Vitex Gaumeri
(Fiddle Wood) Cattle yokes.
Vochysia hondurensis
(Yemeri) Dugout canoes, furniture, General joinery and
interior and exterior furniture,
trim.
Xylopia frutescens
(Polewood) Canoe and raft poles, fish
spears, house frames.
Zanthoxylum Kellermanii
(Prickly Yellow) General carpentry and
furniture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The works listed below are those that have been consulted in
the preparation of the present publication. There are included also
several which, although not primarily concerned with British Hon-
duras, are useful in the study of the woods and plants of the Colony.
The bibliography is not complete, but it is believed that publications
omitted are of minor importance.
Anonymous. Balsa wood from British Honduras. Bull. Imp. Inst. 23 : 4-8. 1925.
Some British Honduras woods as paper-making materials. Bull. Imp.
Inst. 23: 4-8. 1925.
British Honduras royalty rate for forest produce, 1927. Brit. Hond. Gaz.
Dec. 11, 1926. (Reviewed in Trop. Woods 10: 55-57. 1927.)
Aspinwall, Algernon. British Honduras. General description with map and
illustrations. 16 pp., map, ill. London, 1923 (?).
Bartlett, H. H. Certain Desmonci (Palmae) of Central America and Mexico.
Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 25: 81-88. 1935.
Desmoncus quasillariiis described from British Honduras.
A method of procedure for field work in tropical American phytogeogra-
phy based upon a botanical reconnaissance in parts of British Honduras and
the Peten forest of Guatemala. Carnegie Inst. Wash. Publ. 461: 1-25. 1935.
Various Palmae Corypheae of Central America and Mexico. Carnegie
Inst. Wash. Publ. 461: 27-41. 1935.
Scheelea Lundellii, a new "Corozo" palm from the Department of Peten,
Guatemala. Carnegie Inst. Wash. Publ. 461: 43-47. 1935.
Bartram, Edwin B. Mosses of northern Guatemala and British Honduras.
Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 22: 476-482. 1932.
Twenty-six species are reported from British Honduras, and one new species,
Campylopus Bartlettii, is described.
48 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
Bellamy, J. Expedition to the Cockscomb Mountains, British Honduras. Proc.
Roy. Geog. Soc. 11: 542-552. ill. 1889.
Blake, S. F. Descriptions of new spermatophytes chiefly from the collections
of Prof. M. E. Peck in British Honduras. Contr. Gray Herb. 52 : 59-106. 1917.
New Central American Asteraceae collected by H. H. Bartlett. Journ.
Wash. Acad. Sci. 22: 379-388. 1932.
A new genus and two new species are described from British Honduras.
Britton, N. L., and J. N. Rose. A new Albizzia of British Honduras. Trop.
Woods 8: 7. 1926.
Burden, John. Brief sketch of British Honduras past, present, and future.
53 pp., map, bibliography. London, 1927 (?).
Archives of British Honduras I. 1931.
Forests of British Honduras. Timber Trades Journ. 122: 350. 1932.
Burret, M. Die Palmengattungen Reinhardtia Liebm. und Malortiea H. Wendl.
Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 11: 551-556. 1932.
Reinhardtia gracilior described from British Honduras.
Schippia, eine neue Palmengattung aus Brit. Honduras. Notizbl. Bot.
Gart. Berlin 11: 867-869. 1933.
Palmae neogeae III. Repert. Sp. Nov. 32: 102-115. 1933.
Bactris trichophylla described from British Honduras.
Die Palmengattung Desmoncus. Mart. Repert. Sp. Nov. 36: 197-221.
1934.
Two new species described from British Honduras.
Palmae neogeae V. Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 11: 1037-1050. 1934.
Brahea psilocalyx and Chamaedorea Schippii described from British
Honduras.
Clark-Powell, H. Review of grapefruit production in British Honduras. Gov.
Printing Office, Belize.
Dunlop, W. R. Report on the economic and natural features of British Hon-
duras in relation to agriculture, with proposals for development. Pub. by
Crown Agents for the Colonies, London.
Economic products from British Honduras. The resources of British
Honduras. Bulletin Imperial Institute, London 32: 3: 356-410. November,
1934.
Francis, G. W. E. Native woods used for railway crossties in British Honduras.
Trop. Woods 7: 30-32. 1926.
Gibbs, Archibald Robertson. British Honduras: an historical and descriptive
account of the Colony from its settlement, 1670. 198 pp. London, 1883.
Gill, Tom. Tropical forests of the Caribbean, xix and 318 pp., ill., maps. Wash-
ington, 1931.
Greene, Edward C., Jr. Santa Maria: a neotropical timber of the genus Calo-
phyllum. Trop. Woods 30: 9-16. 1932.
Heyder, H. M. Sapodilla tapping in British Honduras. Empire For. Journ.
9: 107-113. ill. 1930.
Hitchcock, A. S. The grasses of Central America. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 24:
557-762. 1930.
Hubbard, F. T. On the Gramineae collected by Prof. Morton E. Peck in British
Honduras, 1905-07 Proc. Amer. Acad. 49: 493-502. 1913.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 49
Hummel, C. Report on the forests of British Honduras, with suggestions for a
far reaching forest policy. 96 pp., map. London, 1921. Reprinted 1925.
Kinloch, J. B. Report on the Stann Creek Valley of British Honduras, 1933.
MS (unpublished).
Lundell, C. L. Chicle exploitation in the sapodilla forest of the Yucatan Penin-
sula. Field & Lab. 2: 15-21. figs. 1,2. Dallas, Texas, 1933.
Preliminary sketch of the phytogeography of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Carnegie Inst. Contr. Amer. Archaeol. 12: 257-321. fig. 1. 1934.
May, E. S. Central American mahogany. Timber Trades Journ. 99: 2482: 551-
554. 1926.
Metzgen, M. S., and H. E. C. Gain. The Handbook of British Honduras,
ill. London, 1925.
Morris, Daniel. The Colony of British Honduras, its resources and prospects.
152 pp., ill., map. London, 1883.
This book contains much information regarding plants, little of which has
been used in the present publication because many of the Latin names em-
ployed in the former are obviously erroneous, and the others frequently
questionable.
Oliphant, J. N. Development of forestry in British Honduras. Empire For.
Journ. 4: 39-44. 1925.
Annual report of the Forest Trust for the year ended 31st March, 1925.
25 pp. Belize, 1925.
Annual report of the Forest Trust for the year ended 31st March, 1926.
24 pp. Belize, 1926.
Forestry in British Honduras. A statement prepared for the British
Empire Forestry Conference, Australia and New Zealand, 1928. Belize, 1928.
Forest trusts. Papers Third Brit. Emp. For. Conf. 1928, 9-11. 1929 (?).
The cultivation of mahogany in British Honduras. Papers Third Brit.
Emp. For. Conf. 1928, 517-524. 1929 (?).
Annual report of the Forest Trust for the year ended 31st March, 1928.
17 pp. Belize, 1929.
, and Duncan Stevenson. An expedition to the Cockscomb Mountains,
British Honduras, in March, 1928. Geogr. Journ. 73: 123-137. ill. 1929.
Ower, Lester H. The geology of British Honduras. 24 pp., map. Belize, 1929.
Record, Samuel J. Preliminary check list of British Honduras woods. Trop.
Woods 1 : 14-16. 1925.
Schizolobium: a promising source of pulpwood. Trop. Woods 2: 2-5. 1925.
Banak New British Honduras wood. Veneers, Indianapolis, Ind.,
Oct., 1925.
Describing Santa Maria wood. Veneers. Nov., 1925.
The editor visits Central America. Trop. Woods 7: 1-3. 1926.
Calderonia salvadorensis found in British Honduras. Trop. Woods 9:
12. 1927.
The butterfly tree of British Honduras. Trop. Woods 11: 4. 1927.
Walnut woods true and false. Trop. Woods 18: 4-29. 1929.
Includes Metopium of British Honduras.
- Note on the wood of Inga Stevensonii. Trop. Woods 23: 7. 1930.
50 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
Record, Samuel J. Forestry in British Honduras. Trop. Woods 24: 6-15. 1930.
Local names of the woody plants of British Honduras. Trop. Woods
24: 15-28. 1930.
Local names of the woody plants of British Honduras corrections and
additions. Trop. Woods 25: 23-24. 1931.
Wood of the Ericales, with particular reference to Schizocardia. Trop.
Woods 32: 11-14. 1932.
, and Clayton D. Mell. Timbers of tropical America, xviii and 610 pp.,
50 pis. New Haven, 1924.
Robinson, B. L. Diagnoses and transfers of tropical American phanerogams.
Proc. Amer. Acad. 44: 613-626. 1909.
Spermatophytes, new or reclassified, chiefly Rubiaceae and Gentianaceae.
Proc. Amer. Acad. 45: 394-412. 1910.
On the classification of certain Eupatorieae. Proc. Amer. Acad. 47:
191-202. 1911.
Records preliminary to a general treatment of the Eupatorieae VIII.
Contr. Gray Herb. 90: 3-36. 1930.
Roys, Ralph. The ethnobotany of the Maya. Middle-Amer. Res. Ser. Tulane
Univ. New Orleans, La., 2, xxiv and 359 pp., 1931.
Sampson, H. C. Report on the development of agriculture in British Honduras.
Pub. 16, Empire Marketing Board, London.
Smith, Albert C., and Paul C. Standley. Schizocardia, a new genus of trees
of the family Clethraceae. Trop. Woods 32: 8-11. 1932.
Sprague, T. A., and L. A. M. Riley. Materials for a flora of British Honduras:
I. Kew Bull. Misc. Inf. 1924: 1-20. 1924.
Includes a bibliography of publications relating to British Honduras.
Standley, Paul C. Trees and shrubs of Mexico. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 23:
v. 1721. 1920-26.
Contains mention of many of the species occurring in British Honduras,
often with economic notes.
An enumeration of the Sapotaceae of Central America. Trop. Woods
4: 1-11. 1925.
New species of trees collected in Guatemala and British Honduras by
Samuel J. Record. Trop. Woods 7: 4-9. 1926.
Three new species of Central American trees. Trop. Woods 8 : 4-6. 1926.
Poisonous trees of Central America. Trop. Woods 9: 3-7. 1927.
Six new trees from British Honduras and Guatemala. Trop. Woods 11:
18-22. 1927.
Two new species of Dalbergia from British Honduras. Trop. Woods 12:
4-5. 1927.
New trees from British Honduras. Trop. Woods 16: 38-42. 1928.
Four new trees from British Honduras. Trop. Woods 18: 30-32. 1929.
The tango tree of Central America. Trop. Woods 19: 6-7. 1929.
Two new trees from Honduras and British Honduras. Trop. Woods
20: 20-21. 1929.
Studies of American plants I. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 4: 197-299.
1929.
Studies of American plants II. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 4: 301-345.
1929.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 51
Stand ley, Paul C. A new Inga from British Honduras. Trop. Woods 23: 7. 1930.
Flora of Yucatan. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 3: 157-492. 1930.
Contains numerous references to British Honduras records.
Studies of American plants III. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 8: 1-73.
1930.
Studies of American plants IV. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 8: 133-236.
1930.
Flora of the Lancetilla Valley, Honduras. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot.
10: 418 pp., 53 pis. 1931.
Contains descriptions of many of the plants found in British Honduras,
with illustrations of a few of them.
Cyperaceae of Central America. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 8: 239-292.
1931.
Studies of American plants V. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 8 : 295-298.
1931.
The Mexican and Central American species of Pterocarpus. Trop. Woods
28: 10-14. 1931.
Revision of some species of Calophyllum. Trop. Woods 30: 6-9. 1932.
Additions to the Sapotaceae of Central America. Trop. Woods 31 : 38-46.
1932.
Six additions to the forest flora of Central America and Mexico. Trop.
Woods 32: 14-18. 1932.
New plants from British Honduras. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. 11:
129-142. 1932.
New plants from the Yucatan Peninsula. Carnegie Inst. Wash. Publ.
461: 51-91. 1935.
Steere, William Campbell. Mosses of British Honduras and the Department
of Peten, Guatemala. Rev. Bryol. Lichen. 7: 28-41. 1934.
The mosses of Yucatan. Amer. Journ. Bot. 22: 395-408. 1935.
Stevenson, Duncan. Report on the Freshwater Creek crown lands, Lowry's
Bight. 8 pp., tables, map. Belize, 1926.
Forest research in British Honduras. Bull. Imp. Inst. 25: 313-320. 1927.
Annual report of the Forest Trust for the year ended 31st March, 1927.
22 pp. Belize, 1927.
Types of forest growth in British Honduras. Trop. Woods 14: 20-25.
1928.
Forest types of British Honduras. (British Honduras statement for
the 1928 British Empire Forestry Conference.)
-, and Neil S. Stevenson. Some secondary timbers of British Honduras.
Trop. Woods 4: 12-16. 1925.
Stevenson, Neil S. The Honduras rosewood. Trop. Woods 12: 1-3. 1927.
Silvicultural treatment of mahogany forests in British Honduras. Em-
pire For. Journ. 6: 219-227. ill. 1927.
The cohune palm in British Honduras. Trop. Woods 30: 3-5. 1932.
Swallen, J. R. Peniculus, a new grass genus from British Honduras. Amer.
Journ. Bot. 19: 581-583. ill. 1932.
New grasses from the United States, Mexico, and Central America.
Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 23: 456-460. 1933.
Axonopus ciliatifolius and A. rhizomatosus described from British Honduras.
52 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
Swallen, J. R. The grasses of the Yucatan Peninsula. Carnegie Inst. Contr.
Amer. Archaeol. 12: 325-355. figs. 1-8. 1934.
Thompson, J. Eric. Ethnology of the Mayas of southern and central British
Honduras. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Anthrop. Ser. 17: 27-213. map. 24 pis.
1930.
Includes "Notes on the plants cultivated by the San Antonio Mayas,"
pp. 184-195, and bibliography.
PART II. THE FLORA
RELATIONSHIPS OF THE FLORA
The flora of the northern plains of British Honduras is typically
that of the Yucatan Peninsula, the species being for the most part
those that abound in Yucatan and Campeche. The flora of the
southern mountains and the Toledo beds is evidently similar to that
of adjacent Guatemala, a large number of species being known at
present only from southern British Honduras and the Coban region
of Guatemala. The vast majority of the plants growing in British
Honduras have a wide distribution along the Atlantic slope of Central
America, many of them extending into southern Mexico and some
into the north of South America. This, of course, is to be expected,
since the country is separated by no natural barriers from the ad-
joining regions.
The extent of endemism in the British Honduras flora cannot
be estimated at the present time, but the percentage of endemic
species is probably exceedingly small. Adjacent portions of Guate-
mala and Yucatan are almost unexplored, and it is to be expected
that most of the species now known only from British Honduras
will be found later there or in more remote places, such as Honduras,
or even Tabasco and Veracruz. In considering endemism it would
be more logical to consider the Yucatan Peninsula as a whole, and
for that area there is probably a high percentage of endemic plant
species. In the Flora of Yucatan (Field Mus. Bot. 3: 1930) it was
found that the percentage of endemic species was 17, and that ratio
will doubtless hold good if the Yucatan Peninsula as a whole is con-
sidered. A large number of the species previously known only from
the northern part of the Peninsula have been discovered recently in
British Honduras and Pete"n.
Of the species of plants recorded at present from British Honduras
at least 138 are known only from that country, but no doubt even-
tually many of them will be found outside the boundaries of the
Colony. Among the more important or notable of such local species
may be mentioned the following: Heisteria Chippiana, four species
of Inga, four of Pithecolobium, Dalbergia Stevensonii and D. laevigata,
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 53
Drypetes Brownii, Calyptranthes Bartlettii, three species of Psidium
inhabiting the Pine lands, Mouriria cyphocarpa, Hypericum terrae-
novae, Buxus Bartlettii, Quiina Schippii, Licania sparsipila,
Cameraria belizensis, eleven species of Acanthaceae, Angelonia ciliaris,
Linociera oblanceolata, Strychnos Peckii, seven Bignoniaceae, Ipomoea
aphylla, four Utricularias, and seven trees of the Sapodilla family.
Most remarkable of all, however, is the new genus, Schizocardia,
of the family Clethraceae. Although evidently related to Clethra,
the only other genus of the family, with species ranging from the
northern United States to the southern Andes, it is strikingly dis-
tinct, and its occurrence here is of unknown significance. While
first found on the mountain ridges, the species has been recently
noted on the alluvial plain of Stann Creek Valley in the transitional
stage between Pine and primary intermediate forests.
The close relationship of the British Honduras flora with that
of adjacent Yucatan is indicated by a great number of trees and
shrubs that are known only from these two political units. This is
the more significant, since in Yucatan most of the collecting has
been done in the northern half of the state, and the flora of the
southern part can be only surmised by assigning the species col-
lected in southern Mexico to associations indicated by the collec-
tions of the same species in the north of British Honduras. Of
species confined to Yucatan and British Honduras, or sometimes
ranging slightly outside these limits, there are numerous striking
examples, a few of which are the following: Acacia dolichostachya,
Mimosa hemiendyta, Caesalpinia Gaumeri, Platymiscium yucatanum,
Jatropha Gaumeri, Sebastiania adenophora, Byrsonima bucidifolia,
Forchammeria trifoliata (also elsewhere in Central America, but a
common Yucatan species), Serjania adiantoides, Talisia diphylla,
Hampea trilobata, Vitex Gaumeri, Thevetia Gaumeri, Alseis yucatana,
Asemnanthe pubescens (an endemic genus, of one species).
Particularly important is the Logwood tree (Haematoxylori),
which on the mainland is confined to this region, although it grows
also in the West Indies. The archives of British Honduras indicate
that the source of Logwood was Campeche and British Honduras.
There is no reference to a Logwood-cutting industry in Jamaica
until about 1672. Fawcett states that Logwood was introduced into
Jamaica from British Honduras in 1715. It is probable, therefore,
that Logwood is an introduced species in the West Indian islands.
The most significant element in the British Honduras flora is
the West Indian. There is a large number of plants that are native
54 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY BOTANY, VOL. XII
in Cuba, Jamaica, and other parts of the West Indies, but on the
continent are known only from British Honduras or from the Yuca-
tan Peninsula. Some of these species occur in southern Florida.
Such a distribution, of course, is a natural one, considering the
geographic proximity of Cuba, and the fact that the northern plain
of British Honduras, part of Cuba, and southern Florida have similar
physiographic and geologic conditions. Among species of such dis-
tribution are the following plants: Trema floridana, Brosimum
Alicastrum, Ficus laevigata, Lysiloma bahamense, Pithecolobium
keyense, Caesalpinia violacea, Ateleia cubensis, Euphorbia trichotoma,
Eugenia triflora, E. Fadyenii, Malpighia punicifolia, Stigmaphyllon
ciliatum, Cyrilla racemiflora (elsewhere in Mexico, also), Suriana
maritima, Drosera capillaris, Krugiodendron ferreum, Metopium
Brownei, Gerardia albida, Symplocos martinicensis, Forestiera rham-
nifolia, Rapanea guianensis, and Genlisea luteoviridis (genus un-
known elsewhere on the North American mainland). Of special
interest is the local Cameraria, the only species outside the West
Indies. Pinus caribaea, although ranging southward to Nicaragua,
affords an outstanding example of a tree that abounds in the West
Indies and Florida, but not in Mexico, except perhaps in southern
Yucatan and Campeche.
Because of the lack of intensive exploration along the Atlantic
coast of Central America, it is unsafe to make generalizations re-
garding the distribution of trees and other plants there. At the
present time there are known from British Honduras many plants
that grow in Panama, sometimes also in Costa Rica, but have not
been found in intervening portions of the coast. Among them are
Aristolochia Chapmaniana, Pithecolobium macradenium, Cassia Kil-
lipii, Mania macrophylla, Unonopsis Pittieri, Amaioua corymbosa,
Coccocypselum glabrum, Leiphaimos simplex, Parathesis aeruginosa,
and Callichlamys latifolia. None of these, probably, have any
special significance, and all are to be expected in Honduras and
Nicaragua.
More important are several definitely South American types,
chiefly species of the Guianas and northern Brazil, that have been
discovered in British Honduras and nowhere else in Central America.
Zollernia includes several Brazilian species, but Z. Tango inhabits
the forests of Honduras and British Honduras. Amanoa grandiflora
is one of the Euphorbiaceae without close relatives in Central Amer-
ica. Oocarpon torulosum is a herbaceous plant of the Onagraceae
that grows in the Guianas and also in some of the West Indies.
FLORA OF BRITISH HONDURAS 55
Quiina Schippii is the only North American representative of its
family, except for a species collected recently in Panama. Brede-
meyera lucida is a conspicuous vine of the Polygalaceae, apparently
common in British Honduras, but unknown elsewhere north of the
Guianas. Psychotria axillaris has an apparently erratic distribu-
tion along the whole course of the Andes. Christiania africana, col-
lected once in British Honduras, is a showy tree known also from the
Guianas, Brazil, and western Africa.
It is clear that in general the flora is what might be expected
from its geographic position predominantly Central American and
Mexican. There is, however, an unexpectedly large proportion of
West Indian elements, that is, West Indian plants unknown else-
where on the mainland; many of the commoner Central American
trees extend, of course, to the West Indies. There are, in addition,
a number of South American species that apparently exhibit a dis-
continuous distribution, being found only in British Honduras and
the Guiana region. The flora of British Honduras, with that of the
rest of the Yucatan Peninsula, besides its more widely distributed
species, contains so large a number of endemic plants that it must
be considered as forming a distinct floral area, the Yucatan region,
marked conspicuously by its great number of endemic Sapotaceae,
as well as by restricted species of many other families.
COLLECTIONS STUDIED
The present systematic list of British Honduras plants is based
primarily upon the collections in the herbarium of Field Museum
of Natural History, which is believed to contain the largest series of
plants of the Colony available anywhere for study. That botanical
exploration of the region is incomplete is indicated by the small
number of species that it is possible to report. There is no doubt
that the flora of British Honduras must number at least twice as
many species as are now known, but it is not believed that it ever
will reach the total of 5,000 species predicted by Sprague. That
figure was obtained by comparison with the flora of Jamaica. Since
the area of British Honduras is twice that of Jamaica, and since
continental floras are generally richer than insular ones, Sprague
assumed that British Honduras must have twice as many species
as Jamaica. That assumption is questionable, for although the
flora of British Honduras is diversified and has unique elements,
there is no reason for believing that it is particularly rich. The
limestone flora is probably a meager one, to judge from neig
