78 



MELIACE^E. 



[ Cedrela. 



Vern. Tutt, tuni. Urn, maha nim, Hind. ; Tuni, tun y lud, Beng-. ; Maha limbu, 

 Uriya; Mahlun, Satpuras; Drawi, Pb. ; Tuni, bobich, labshi, Nep. ; Simal, 

 Lepcha ; Poma, hendurl poma, Ass.; Suli, mdli, Salem ; Kal kiting I t Nil- 

 giris ; Sandani vembu, Tiuneveliy ; Tundu, Ttempu gandagkeri, Kan. ; Noge, 

 belandi, Coorg; Deodari, ktiruk, Mar,; Chikado, tseetkado, Magh ; 

 Shumzbed, Chakma; Thitkado, Burra. 



A large tree. Bark thin, dark grey or reddish brown, exfoliating when 

 old in irregular woody scales. Wood brick-red, soft, shining, even but 

 open-grained, fragrant, seasons readily, does not split nor warp. Annual 

 rings distinctly marked by a belt of large and numerous pores. Pores fre- 

 quently double or subdivided, unequally distributed, scanty in the autumn 

 wood, somewhat unequal in size, prominent on a vertical section ; those 

 in the spring wood larger. Medullary rays red, fine and moderately 

 broad, uniform ; the distance between the rays generally equal to the 

 transverse diameter of the pores. 



Sub-Hiuialayan forests, Bengal, Burma, South India ; ascending in the North-West 

 Himalaya to 3,000 feet, in Sikkim to 7,000 feet. 



Growth rapid : Brandis says that in 1863 he measured the following trees on the 

 Eastern Jumna Canal near Saharanpur : 



Age 30 years, girth 58 inches, mean of 6 trees. 

 35 86 5 . 



This would give a growth of 2 to 3 rings per inch of radius, which is very fast. 

 Our specimens shew a growth varying from 3 to 9 rings per inch of radius, shewing 

 that some have come from fast-grown trees, while others have had only a moderate 

 growth. 



The weight and transverse strength have been determined by the following 

 experiments : 



The wocd is durable and is not eaten by white ants ; it is highly valued and univer- 

 sally used for furniture of all kinds, and is also einploj'ed for door panels and carving. 

 From Burma it is exported under the name of * Moulinein Cedar,' and as such is 

 known in the English market. It there fetches about Rs. 65 per ton, the cost of 

 cutting and delivery being Rs. 44, according to Major Seaton. In North-West India, 

 it is used for furniture, carvings and other purposes. In Bengal and Assam it is the 

 chief wood for making tea-boxes, but is getting scarce on account of the heavy demand. 

 The Bhutias use it for shingles and lor wood carving, they also hollow it out for rice 

 pounders. It is, or rather used to be, for very large trees are now rather scarce, hol- 

 lowed out for dug-out canoes in Bengal and Assam. In Bengal, Assam and 15m ma 

 it grows to a very large size, trees 20 feet girth with a heignt of 80 to 1(X) feet of 

 clear stem being not uncommon in forest* \\-liieh have been only little worked like 

 in Dumsong and in some parts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. At pa^e !_>] of 



