''Cojoba arborea'', the wild tamarind, royal mahogany, everfresh tree, or lorito, is a leguminous tree of the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

found in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, southward to Ecuador in South America at elevations to . 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 Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

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

Wood

The

cambium A cambium (: cambiums or cambia), 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 whic ...

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 composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

sheets, paper 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 flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

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 Northern America Trees of South America Plants described in 1753