698 XLVI. VERBENACEAE 



moderate size, and gave a general average of about 0-25 in. Measurements in 

 the Xilambur plantations gave the following average bark thicknesses : 



Girth of tree, 1-2 ft. ; bark thickness, 0-5 in. 

 2-3 ft. ; Ooo in. 



3-4 ft. ; 0-65 in. 



4-6 ft. ; 0-7 in. 



Wood moderately hard. Sapwood small, whitish. Heartwood dark 

 golden yellow, sometimes with dark streaks, turning brown with age, oily, 

 with a characteristic odour, extremely durable, seasons well, and does not 

 warp or split. 



The teak is the most important timber tree of India. For ship-building, 

 its timber stands in a class by itself, and has a world-wide reputation. It is 

 also extensively used for house-building, bridge and wharf construction, piles, 

 furniture and cabinet-work, railway carriages and wagons, carving, ordnance 

 work, wheel spokes and felloes, general carpentry, and numerous other pur- 

 poses. Teak timber is largely exported from Burma to Europe. 



Under favourable conditions the teak reaches large dimensions, Bour- 

 clillon^ records a tree in the Achencoil valley, Travancore, 26 ft. in circumference, 

 Imt it had a short bole ; he mentions that at the beginning of last century, 

 when the British Naval Department were collecting teak in Travancore, a tree 

 was felled in the Idiyera valley M-hich measured 7 ft. in diameter at its butt 

 and 26 in. at a length of 70 ft., and therefore contained 900 cubic ft. of timber. 

 In the Anamalais Beddome records trees above 22 ft. in girth, with boles 

 80 or 90 ft. to the first branch. Mr. K. R. Venkatramana Iyer ^ records an 

 exceptionally tall tree standing in evergreen forest near the Karumpoya river 

 in the Edakutti forest, South Malabar ; it had a height of 192 ft., a clean 

 straight trunk to the first branch of 114 ft., and a girth at base of 16 ft. 8 in., 

 and at 4| ft. from ground-level of 15 ft. 10 in. Mr. H. Tireman ^ records a tree 

 felled in the forests of southern Coorg which had a girth at breast-height of 

 25 ft. 2 in., and yielded three logs with the following measurements : 



(1) Length 11 ft. 7 in. ; mean girth 18 ft. 6 in. ; out-turn 248 cubic ft. 



(2) lift. 4 in. ; 16 ft. 1 in. ; 182 



(3) 10 ft. 3 in, ; 14 ft. 4 in. ; 132 



Total 562 



Muhammcd Habibullah Sahib * records a tree felled in the Tekkadi leased 

 forests. South Coimbatore, The girth at breast-height was 18 ft. 7 in., and the 

 tree yielded eleven logs totalling 711 cub. ft. Mr. A. Wimbush^ records 

 a tree recently felled at Palacadava in South Coimbatore which yielded five 

 logs totalling 1,099 cub. ft. 



Among large trees recorded from Burma may be mentioned one measured 

 by Dr. Brandis in the Gwethe forest, Toungoo, with a girth of 16 ft. at 6 ft. 

 from ground-level, and a clear bole to the first branch of 114 ft. A tree 19 ft. 

 in girth at 6 ft. from ground-level is recorded in the working plan of the Kadin- 

 bilin forest, Tharrawaddy, 1885. In the Myittha-Panlaung forest, Mr. H. 



^ Forest Trees of Travancore, p. 285. - Ind. Forester, xxxix (1913), p. 174. 



^ Ibi'l., xliv (1918), p. 86. > Ibid., p. 468. 



^ Ibid., xlvi (1920), p. 247. 



