24 THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 



is not so serviceable as whitewood as it is liable to warp. It is not more 

 useful for most purposes than tupelo gum, which is less costly. \Vhen 

 pure white it is most valuable, but in this condition it is exceedingly 

 difficult to obtain. 



The annual rings are recognisable though not sharply marked. The 

 pores are small and scattered. The medullary rays are just visible to 

 the naked eye in cross-section. 



Bauhinia retusa, Ham. Weight, 58 lbs. (Troup). India, Burma. 



A log of this wood was sent over to the Imperial CoUege of Science 

 and Technology, South Kensington, in 1914. The wood is of a dull, rather 

 dirty brown colour, with almost black streaks which, however, develop 

 gum cracks and other defects, giving altogether a rather unusual appear- 

 ance, on account of which it would be useful for inlay work for cabinets. 

 Gamble says : " The wood is the best of those of the Bauhinias, but is 

 not much used. . . . [The] wood [is] red, with irregular dark red or 

 black patches and streaks near the centre, hard ; having pale bands of 

 soft tissue, which alternate with dark bands of firmer texture." 



The pores are very variable in both size and position, and the 

 medullary rays are exceedingly fine and regular. 



Baywood. 



In the United Kingdom " baywood " is stiU sometimes specified in 

 contracts and demanded. What is required is a plain, straight-grained, 

 mild mahogany. The name seems to have arisen in the following 

 manner. When mahogany was first introduced to Europe it was 

 brought from islands in the West Indies that were owned by Spain : 

 it was therefore termed " Spanish mahogany." Subsequently there was 

 discovered in the Bay of Honduras a valuable wood, milder, softer, and 

 straighter in the grain, than the other mahogany : this wood was therefore 

 termed " baywood," and was identical with Honduras mahogany. 



Bedaru, Urandra [Lasianthera) sp.^ Weight, 58 lbs. 6 oz. Borneo, 

 the Malay Peninsula. 



This wood has not yet been imported into England in commercial 

 quantities. It is of a Hght yellow colour, somewhat resembUng satin- 

 wood, shows broken streaks of dark and light colour, and is mottled and 

 speckled. It is dense, heavy, and of close texture. It should serve as a 

 useful furniture wood. Foxworthy mentions its use for piUng. 



^ There appears to be some doubt as to the origin of bedaru, as it has also been 

 referred to another genus, Apodytes, belonging to the same family [Icacinaceae), 

 also to Sideroxylon malacce^ise in the Malay Peninsula ; the authority for its refer- 

 ence to the genus Urandra, as far as Borneo is concerned, is F. W. Foxworthy in 

 The Philippine Journal of Science, vol. iv. p. 542. 



