X INTRODUCTION. 



4. Description of wood (sapwood and heartwood) * 



a. Colour. 



b. Hardness. 



c. Grain. 



5. Annual rings. 



6. Pores. 



7. Medullary rays. 



8. Other characters, such as the presence or absence of concentric markings. 

 and these characters require a short explanation. 



1. Size. The plants are usually described as " shrubs "," large shrubs", 

 " small trees ", " trees", " large trees", and " very large trees", according 

 to general size; or as " climbing" or "straggling plants". 



2. Evergreen or Deciduous. These characters are given as far as our 

 knowledge of the trees extends, and are easily understood. 



3. Bark. Is described according to its colour, which usually presents 

 some shade of grey or brown, varying into white, or red, or black ; its thick- 

 ness represented by the fractions of the inch ; its roughness or smoothness, 

 and the fissures and cbf ts into which it is cut externally ; its texture whe- 

 ther hard or soft, papery or corky ; and the way in which it exfoliates. 



4. Woo d.- The wood is described whenever possible according to 

 both sapwood and heartwood. The colour is given as nearly as possible 

 according to the shades, usually of white or brown, but varying into red, 

 grey, yellow, purple ? nd black. The hardness is given according to the 

 different categories as 'extremely soft", "very soft", " soft", ' l moderately 

 hard", " hard", "very hard", and " extremely hard", and in order to give 

 an idea of thes& different categories we may instance the following among 

 well-known trees : 



Extremely soft . . Cochlospermum Gossypium. 



Very soft . . . Sterculia villosa ; Bombnx malabaricum. 



Soft . . . Cedrela Toona ; Albizzia stipulata. 



Moderately hard . . Ficus bengalensis ; Tectona grandis. 



Hard . . . Shorea robusta ; Terminalia tomentosa. 



Very hard . . . Dalbergia Sissoo ; Quercus semecar pi folia. 



Extremely hard . . Pterocarpus santalimis ; Hardivickia binata. 



The grain is usually recorded as being " close ", " even ", (( open ", 

 " rough ", " cross", &c., &c., and the relative roughness or smoothness is 

 generally given. 



5. Annual rings. In the description of the wood these are only 

 referred to as regards their presence or absence, their being more or less 

 well marked, and the marks which so distinguish them. 



6. Pores. As in the case of the hardness, so, too, the pores air de- 

 scribed according to a scale of size which varies in those trees which 

 possess them, as " extremely small ", " very small ", " small ", " moderate 



