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| Commercial timbers |
Nomenclature etc. MORACEAE. Including Brosimum costaricanum. Trade and local names: guaímaro (CO); congoña, machinga (PE); tillo (EC); inharé, mururé, muiratinga (BR); masica (HN); breadnut (JM); capomo, ojoche, ramón blanco, ramón colorado (MX); breadnut (US, GB); noyer à pain (FR); Brotnussbaum (DE). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Description based on 5 specimens. Tree. Geographic distribution: Mexico and Central America, Caribbean, tropical South America.
General. Heartwood basically brown, red (colored false heartwood), yellow, white or grey; with streaks (colored false heartwood) or without streaks. Sapwood colour similar to heartwood colour (except colored false heartwood). Density 0.63–0.7–0.88 g/cm³. As a function of age and site the proportion of the colored false heartwood can vary from 0% to 80% of stem volume.
Vessels. Vessels present. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels arranged in no specific pattern, in multiples, commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows. Average tangential vessel diameter 40- 83–112 µm (-145). Average number of vessels/mm² 12- 20–37 (-46). Average vessel element length 220–640 µm. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 5–7 µm. Vessel-ray pits with distinct borders or with reduced borders or apparently simple, horizontal to vertical, of two distinct sizes or types in the same ray cell. Tyloses present, thinwalled and sclerotic. Other deposits present (abundant only in colored heartwood, amber).
Tracheids and fibres. Fibres of medium wall thickness to very thick-walled. Average fibre length 940–1710 µm. Fibre pits mainly restricted to radial walls, simple to minutely bordered. Fibres non-septate.
Axial parenchyma. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates. Paratracheal axial parenchyma aliform to confluent, or unilateral. Aliform parenchyma of the winged type. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 3–4.
Rays. Rays 6–12 per tangential mm, multiseriate, 3–5 cells wide. Height of large rays commonly 500 to 1000 µm. Rays composed of two or more cell types (heterocellular). Heterocellular rays with square and upright cells restricted to marginal rows, mostly 2–4 marginal rows of upright or square cells or with more than 4 marginal rows of upright or square cells (from 2 to 10 rows).
Secretory structures. Laticifers or tanniniferous tubes present (latex tubes in rays).
Mineral inclusions. Crystals present, prismatic, located in ray cells or axial parenchyma cells (few) or tyloses. Crystal-containing ray cells upright and/or square (predominantely) or procumbent (rarely). Crystal-containing axial parenchyma cells not chambered. Number of crystals per cell or chamber one, or more than one (rarely). Crystals in one cell or chamber of the same size, or of two distinct sizes. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract fluorescent (light blue); colour of water extract colourless to brown, or yellow. Ethanol extract fluorescent (blue with violet hue). Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown. The information on fluorescence refers to the colored heartwood (ramón colorado); the light colored wood only shows a weak bluish fluorescence of the ethanol extract. Froth test positive. Splinter burns to full ash. Ash white to grey.
Illustrations. • Macroscopic images. transverse (ca. 10x). radial (natural size). • Transverse section. • Transverse section: enlarged. • Tangential section. • Radial section. • Crystals. prismatic crystals in axial parenchyma (P), marginal rows of rays (R) and tyloses (T). P. T. R. • Latex tubes. latex tube in ray (Lt). Lt.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2000 onwards. Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
