Meliaceae. 



173 



(i i>i;ki a. False Cedar. 

 (Family Meliaceae). 



Rather smooth-barked loosely 

 branched trees: deciduous. Twigs 

 coarse, terete: pith large, homoge- 

 neous, roundish, from white be- 

 coming colored. Buds solitary, 

 sessile, short-ovoid, with about 4 

 short-pointed exposed scales, the 

 end-bud much larger. Leaf-scars 

 alternate, cordately elliptical- 

 shield-shaped, slightly raised, 

 large: bundle-traces 5: stipule- 

 scars lacking. 



Wood of the West-Indian and 

 Central American cedar, C. odora- 

 ta, out of which the better cigar 

 boxes are made, resembles mahog- 

 any in many respects. The cheap 

 grade of cigar boxes is made of 

 sycamore wood, the heavy medul- 

 lary rays of which are very char- 

 acteristic. The Asiatic hardy ce- 

 drela presents much the appearance of ailanthus. The win- 

 ter-characters of C. sinensis are considered by Schneider, f. 

 99; and Shirasawa, 232, pi. 2. 

 Twigs puberulent. C. sinensis. 



