( 34 ) 



690 mm. had a heart-wood 440 mm. diameter. The heart- 

 wood of such trees is invariably irregular in outline and 

 presents a beautiful alternation of black and bro\vn layers, 

 which from an ornamental point of view greatly enhances 

 the value of the timber ; such specimens are almost equal to 

 calamander for ornamental purposes. The sapwood of 

 large trees may possess irregular dark lines, which in 

 longitudinal section give good patterns to the coloured 

 timber. The coloured materials occur in all elements of 

 the sapwood except the fibres. The contents of the paren- 

 chyma cells is at first granular, but when these granules have 

 disappeared the coloured contents take on the appearance of 

 a gum-resin. In the heartwood all the elements, fibres 

 included, become filled with brown or black contents, with 

 or without a change in the colour of the walls of the 

 elements. The only clear lines in a transverse section of 

 the black heartwood are those of the medullary rays, the 

 comparative clearness of this tissue being due to the thin- 

 ness of their walls and the partial exhaustion of contents. 



Anatomically the timber is characterized by abundance of 

 closely set fibres, and large tracheal elements, and a low per- 

 centage number of medullary ray cells. The differentiation 

 is very irregular. Rings of growth are very inconspicuous. 



The timber of this tree is rarely met with, and may in 

 some cases furnish the bastard ebony of commerce. (See 

 pi. IV., fig. 15.) 



Distribution rare in the dry and intermediate zones ; 

 Haragama, Uma-oya, Kurunegala, between Nalanda and 

 Dambulla, Maturata, Kalngalla, Mihintale. 



Also in Konkan and Babaloodun hills, Mysore. 



/(, Dlospyros quaesita, Thw. Enum. Ceyl. PI., p. 179., n. 7 

 (1860). 



Kalumediriya, S., Calamander. 



Thw. Enum. 179. C.P. 3,010. Fl. a Ind. III., 560. Bedd. 

 Ic. PI. Ind. Or. Pt^VIl., p. 26, 1. 128 (1871). Hiern, Mon- 

 Eben. 174. 



