1888-89,] Wood of certain Resin-Producing Trees. 381 



Observations on the Wood of certain Resin- Producing Trees. 

 Part II. By A. Galletly. 



(Read 13th December 1888 and 10th January 1889.) 



I begin this second note on the resinons and other 

 characters of some woods with that of the Dalbergia cidtrata, 

 since it hnks on with the other woods belonging to that 

 genus referred to in my former communication on this 

 subject.* 



Mr Gamble, in his book on Indian Timbers, points out 

 that, contrary to the general rule, the genus Dalbergia is one 

 of which the component species yield woods of a dissimilar 

 type. Among Indian species the D. latifolia, D. Sissoo, and 

 D. cidtrata have hard, heavy, dark-coloured highly resinous 

 heart-woods. On the other hand, D. lanceolaria and D. 

 paniculata have no heart-wood, differing in its appearance 

 from the secondary wood, and the timber oljtained from 

 them is light coloured and of low specific gravity. It very 

 probably contains only a small quantity of resinous matter, 

 but this point has yet to be determined. 



As the timber of the Dcdbcrgia cidtrata resembles, in its 

 physical properties, that of the other two Indian species of 

 Dalbergia with dark heart-woods, so it nearly resembles 

 them in its resinous character. It is the heaviest of the 

 three, and appears to vary less in its specific gravity than the 

 wood of D. latifolia, which is known in this country as Indian 

 rosewood. The dark heart-wood of these three species is 

 strong, close-grained, very durable, and much liked in 

 India for constructive and ornamental purposes. It has 

 been ascertained that the Sissoo wood is one of the best ever 

 tried for the construction of gun carriages. Experiments 

 prove that the wood of D. cidtrata is even stronger than 

 that of D. Sissoo, as well as harder and heavier. The 

 annexed figures show that the amount of resinous matter 

 obtained from a specimen of this wood, when treated with the 

 solvents used in former experiments, is not far short of what 

 was extracted from D. latifolia and D. Sissoo. 



Wood of Dalbergia cidtrata (specific gravity, 1'064) gave 

 resinous extract — 



* Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin., vol. xvi. p. 371. 



