SEP - 7 1914 



Division of Forestry 

 University of California 

 FUSTIC WOOD: ITS SUBSTITUTES AND ADULTERANTS. 



Buyers of fustic wood are often in doubt regarding the genuineness 

 of some of the material put upon the market as true fustic. A micro- 

 scopic study of a large number of samples of so-called fustic wood 

 submitted to the Forest Service showed that several different woods 

 tire substituted for true fustic, or are used to adulterate it in a chipped 

 or ground condition. The purpose of this circular therefore is to 

 point out the distinguishing characteristics of genuine fustic wood 

 and of its substitutes, in order that consumers may readily distinguish 



e real from the spurious article. 





TRUE FUSTIC WOOD. 



True fustic wood which yields the valuable yellow, brown, and 

 green dyestuffs, comes from the fustic tree (CJilorophora tinctoria 

 Gaud. = Madura tinctoria D. Don= Morus tinctoria L), a native of 

 the West Indies and tropical America. The tree is also called old 

 fustic, fustic mulberry, Cuba wood, yellowwood, and mora. It 

 should not be confused, however, with the true mora (Dimorpliandra 

 mora B. and H. = Mora excelsa Benth.) of British Guiana, Venezuela, 

 and part of Central America, the wood of which is readily distin- 

 guished from that of freshly cut fustic by its reddish-brown color. 

 The fustic tree attains a'height of from 25 to 50 feet, and a diameter 

 of 2 feet or more. The nearly white sapwood is very thin, and the 

 greater portion of the tree therefore is heartwood, the only part put 

 to commercial use. Freshly cut heartwood is light yellow, but after 

 exposure to air and light becomes a yellowish brown. A cubic foot 

 of seasoned wood weighs approximately 50 pounds. 



Most of the fustic wood used in Europe comes from South America, 

 while the bulk of that consumed in the United States comes from 

 Mexico and the British West Indies. The amount entered at United 

 States ports for immediate .consumption during the year ending June 

 30, 1909, together with the withdrawals from warehouses for later 

 use, was 2,466 tons, valued at $34,752. The average value per ton 

 for 1909 was $14.09, an increase over the previous year of $1.99. 

 Fustic wood is usually imported in sticks from 2 to 4 feet long and 

 m 3 to 8 inches in diameter, but appears also in the form of chips, 



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