EXOGENOUS SERIES BROADLEAF WOODS. 123 



Greenheart. Nectandra rodioei. 



Nomenclature. 



Greenheart (local and common name). 



Locality. 



British Guiana and adjacent portions of South America and the 

 West Indies. 



Features of Tree. 



Twenty-five to sometimes seventy feet in height, two to four 

 feet in diameter. A straight tree. 



Color, Appearance, or Grain of Wood. 



Heartwood dark green to chestnut or nearly black, sapwood 

 similar. Clean, straight, compact structure, free from knots. 

 Numerous pores, annual layers hardly distinguishable. Cabinet 

 work. 



Structural Qualities- of Wood. 



Exceptionally heavy, strong, and durable, tough, hard, elastic, 

 receives high polish, breaks suddenly. 



Representative Uses of Wood. 



Ship-keels, frames, rollers, turnery, also beams, planks, and 

 piles (Europe). In America tops of fishing-rods and very 

 occasionally veneers. 



Weight of Seasoned Wood in Pounds per Cubic Foot. 

 72 (Lazlett). 



Modulus of Elasticity. 1,090,000 (Lazlett). 

 Modulus of Rupture. 10,000 (Thurston). 



Remarks. 



Excessive weight unfits it for many purposes. Greenheart lasts 

 longer than steel in the sewage polluted waters of the Liverpool 

 docks and it is more easily mended. Wood erected in 1856 

 was recently removed and found to be so sound that it could be 

 re-used. Metal fastenings showed serious decay. (Also see 

 Kenyon, Trans. Am. Soc. C. K, Vol. LII. 



The Sandalwood of commerce is derived from many botanical sources. The. 

 genus Santalum alone includes twenty species. Until the eighteenth century, 

 wood was obtained from China. The discovery of sources on the Pacific Islands 

 led to lawless traffic and much bloodshed. The adventures associated with the 

 collection of this wood equalled those encountered in whaling and in the search 

 for ivory. The history of the wood dates before the Christian era. Sandalwood 

 (Santalum album) is of a yellowish-brown color, close-grained, very fragrant, and 

 weighing about fifty-eight pounds per cubic foot. Sandalwood was prized by the 

 French nobility for medallions mounted on otherwise decorated surfaces and for 

 rich furniture. It is now occasionally employed in fine carvings for small objects, 

 as jewel-boxes and fan-handles. A fragrant oil is separated by distillation. 

 Powdered wood is burned as incense. Sandalwood is associated with Buddhism 

 in India and China. Red sandalwood or Saunder's wood (Pterocarpus santalinus) 

 yields a red dye called santalin and is said to have been the almug tree of 

 Solomon. 



