INDO-MALAYAN WOODS. 



453 



parenchyma cells. Woody tissue very dark and giving a strongly glisten- 

 ing surface in fresh transverse cut. 



Uses. Piling, heavy construction, bridges, telegraph and telephone 



poles. Much used for shingles in Borneo. Said not to shrink on ex- 

 posure to weather. Proof against termites. Perhaps the best wood in 

 the world for piling. Resists termites and ship worm — perhaps because 

 of the action of the substance filling the vessels and wood parenchyma 



celib. 



Kinds of biUian.—M most places where billion is worked, it is claimed 

 that there are two or more kinds of this wood; e. g. billion simpor, billion 

 buhi, billion tcntbago, etc. It is certainly true that some billion is much 

 lighter and less durable than the standard sort. Some billion is so light 

 that it will float when dry. There is a difference between sap and heart- 

 wood and between rapidly grown and normal trees which will, I think, 

 account for this. I have made efforts to examine the lighter grades of 

 bill ion wherever they occurred ami I have uniformly found those trees 

 producing the lighter grades of billion to be very rapidly grown; in fact, 

 they were second growth trees, having started as sprouts from old stumps. 

 The young stump sprouts, being supplied with great quantities of nourish- 

 ment by the established root system of the old stum]), were able to make 

 exceedingly rapid growth. In making this growth, there was not time for 

 the deposit in the vessels and tissues of those substances which make for 

 weight and durability in as great quantities as is the case where the 

 tree grows at its normal and slower rate; consequently, the rapidly grown 

 young wood is not so heavy nor so durable and, probably, not so strong as 

 that of the normally grown tree. 



Billian is one of the very few woods of Borneo which is known outside 

 this region. It is exported to Europe in some quantity and has been used 

 for piling at several places in Holland and France. It is deserving of 

 wider use, but a few years vigorous exploiting will exhaust the available 

 supply of it. It is one of the trees which is deserving of planting and 

 careful handling. 



Ridl. 247; Newt. 4; Bargagli-Petrucci 18; Becc. 581; Blits 27. 



CAMPHORWOOD. 



Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Nees & Eberm. Plate XXI 1 1, tig. 17. 



China, Formosa, Japan, and cultivated in many other regions. 



Wood moderately hard and light to moderately heavy. Grayish to 

 dark-red, often prettily marked. Grain rather coarse. Pith-rays fine, 

 vessels moderately large to small. Distinct seasonal rings present, the 

 larger vessels being arranged in the young wood and the smaller ones en 

 echelon in the older wood. A rapidly growing wood. Durable, because 

 of the very large amount of camphor it contains and which renders it 

 distasteful to insects. It is used very extensively in the making of chests. 



