''Cojoba arborea'' (common names include algarrobo, ardillo, lorito, barba de jolote, iguano, quebracho, sang sang, tamarindo, tambrán, tuburús, and bahamas sibicú) is a leguminous tree of the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

found in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, southward to Ecuador in South America at elevations of . The tree is not common in naturalized forests, but it can be found in open sites and transition zones.

Description

It can grow tall with a trunk diameter to . The curved pod of the mature fruit is reddish-purple and long, carrying 4-6 black and/or white ellipsoidal seeds per pod. Leaves are alternate, bipinnate with 8-16 pairs of leaflets, non-serrated, elliptical, long. leaflets are on average wide by long.

Flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s are white, hermaphroditic, long, with peduncles long. The flowering period is from April to June.

Wood

The

cambium A cambium (plural cambia or cambiums), in plants, is a tissue layer that provides partially undifferentiated cells for plant growth. It is found in the area between xylem and phloem. A cambium can also be defined as a cellular plant tissue from w ...

is clear and the cortex is a clear-brown color. The wood is heavy but easy to work. The grains are regular but tend to crack when the wood is dry. The lumber is dimensionally stable when dry. It is resistant to attack by insects and very durable. The lumber is used for heavy construction, stakes and posts, fine carpentry, flooring, stairways,

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

sheets,

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

manufacture, cabinetry and other applications. The price of the wood is stable and has a tendency to increase in value. The wood is exported to the United States under the name of bahamas sibucú.

Silviculture

The seeds are not viable long after pod maturity, with 80% viability after 10 days of storage and 0% viability after 25 days of storage. If the seeds are fresh, 90% of them

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

in soil containing 30% organic matter. Viable seeds germinate 22 days after planting. They tend to tolerate a wide range of pH conditions, from 4.8 to 8.0. Trees can be planted at 5–8 months after seed germination when the roots have extended to the bottom of the growing bags. Plantations need to be started during the rainy season.

References

*Quesada, J.F., Jiménez, Q., Zamora, N., Aguila, R., Gonzalez, J. 1997. Arboles de la Península de Osa. INBio, Heredia, Costa Rica. *PROECEN. snt. Barba de Jolote ''Cojoba arborea'' (L.) Brithand Rose. Colección de Maderas Tropicales de Honduras, Ficha Técnica No. 5, 4 pp. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5141681 Mimosoids Trees of Mexico Trees of South America