CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 257 



She-oak. Casuarina Fraseriana, Miq. Weight, 52 lbs. Western 

 Australia. 



The colour of this wood is a light reddish-yellow ; it has a smooth, 

 hard texture which is somewhat comparable with live oak. The 

 medullary rays show very strongly in a series of large-sized flecks or 

 splashes. It is a handsome wood for decorative cabinet work, and was 

 so used rather extensively in this country during the latter part of the 

 nineteenth century. For many years, however, there has been no import 

 on a commercial basis. Lane-Poole says that " it sphts weU and was used 

 almost exclusively in the early days of the colony [sic] for roofing 

 shingles. A shingle taken from one of the first erected houses in Perth 

 (after eighty-three years' use) was found to be in a splendid state of 

 preservation." 



Shira-Gashi. Quercus Vibrayeana, Fr. and Sav. Japan, Formosa. 



According to Goto " the several varieties of kashi (oak) are the most 

 widely distributed of the broad-leaved evergreens." Ubame-gashi 

 {Quercus phyllireoides, A. Gr.) " is white with a shade of yellow, and the 

 hardest and heaviest of all timbers produced in Japan. Is used in 

 house-building where hardness and strength are required, but the chief 

 use is in charcoal-making." The same author classes Ichii-gashi {Quercus 

 gilva, Bl.), Shira-gashi {Q. Vibrayeana, Fr. and Sav.), Aka-gashi {Q. acuta, 

 Thunb.), in the same category with Ubame-gashi. The European supply 

 of Japanese oak is produced almost exclusively from Q. grosseserrata 

 and Q. crispula (see page 192), with a very small supplement of Q. 

 glandulifera, Bl. 



Shira-gashi is a hard, very dense, close-grained timber. The colour 

 is a warm brick-red with dark streaks, not unHke the rich red colour of 

 some British brown oak. It is somewhat hke American red oak {Q. rubra), 

 though browner and of a more pleasing tone. The texture of grain 

 and appearance of the medullary rays are exactly similar to the European 

 evergreen oak, as also is the characteristic liability to diagonal spHts. 

 The wood resembles that of Q. gilva, except that it is even harder and 

 heavier. None of the above species named — that is, of evergreen oaks — 

 has ever been imported on a commercial basis. 



The pores are small and very scarce, nearly always following an 

 irregular single fine. The medullary rays are very numerous, and stand 

 out thick and conspicuous to the naked eye. They are crossed at right 

 angles by exceedingly fine parallel lines (? of parenchyma). 



SicuPiRA Amarella. Bowdichia nitida Brazil. 



This is described in Brazilian Woods as " a wood of the first quahty 

 for framework and building." 



