QUEENSLAND RAIN FORESTS AND TREES. 217 



Trees H'itli Woods Dcposifiiig BrUjhthj-voloured Ashes. 

 — A limited niuubev of rain-forest tree.s, when burnt, deposit 

 coloured ashes which are noticeable in newly burnt felled 

 "scrub." Among the most conspicuous examples are the 

 bonewood, pink-lieart or native orange {Medic osma Cuiining- 

 Jictniii), which deposits a bright blue ash, and the ironwood 

 [Mijrttis llillu), which deposits a bright yellow ash. The 

 bonewood, which rarely exceeds a barrel diameter of 9 

 inches, owes its connnon name to the brittleness of the wood 

 wliich is brought under the notice of axemen by the circum- 

 stance that the fii-st blow with the blade of the axe often 

 detaches a large Hake of the bark and wood. The name 

 piiik-heart originates from the bright })ink central heart- 

 woud which often traverses the barrel. 



Trees iviiJi ('()loiir< d Woods. — A very large number of 

 ti'ees have coloured woods, but only a few of the more 

 distinctive ones can be mentioned here. The deep yellow- 

 w(/Od {Rliodospheieret rhodanihema) has a bright yellow 

 iieartwood. The wood of yellow sassafras {Doryphora 

 sassafras) i.s also i)right yellow. The black bean {Castano- 

 spcrmiDH aiistrale), lignum-vitu' {]'ite.r lignurn-vita') , and 

 hauer (Dissiliaria baloyhioides) have dark-coloured heart- 

 woods which generally fade to a lighter coloui- after a few 

 weeks' exposure. The tulip wood {Harpullia pendida) has 

 dark streaks in its heartwood. Trees with red woods are 

 numerous; auK)ng the more common are red cedar (CcdreJa 

 toona var. austredis) , rosewood {Bysoxyloi Fraseranmn), 

 scentless rosewood (tSynoion ylandulosion), maiden's blush 

 {SJoa)ie(( austral is), rod ash {AlpJiitonia excelsa), onion- 

 wood {Dyso.ryloii sp.), red bean {Dysoxylon sp.) and crow's 

 apple ( Owen ia ve)tosu ) . 



The Large Medullar)) Rays of I'roteacea'. — It is well 

 known to wood technologists and others that large and 

 conspicuous uiedullary rays are very often charcteristic of 

 the woods of many species of the natural order Proteacece, 

 such as the silky oaks and beef woods {Grevillca spp., 

 Maeeidetinia spp., Oriies exeelsa, Cardwellia subliniis, Steiio- 

 carpus spp.). The ends of these large rays are visible as 

 small more or less elliptical spots on the surface of the 

 sapwood when the bark is removed. The "soft tissue" or 

 wood parenchyma of Proteaceous tind)ers is very frecpiently 

 airanged in short lines traiisverse to the medullary rays. 



