BASS WOOD 



Taste astringent. " Smells of roses when rubbed " (131). 

 Burns badly with a spurting flame : some juice expelled by the 

 heat : embers glow in still air : much ash. Solution with cold 

 water the colour of the wood : with hot, a dark vinous red : 

 more afterwards extracted by alcohol. 



Grain. Fine but open for the most part. Surface bright. 



Bark. ? 



Uses, etc. " Bowls, clubs, paddles, and carved work in the 

 Carolines" (22). " Gunstocks, boats, cart and carriage making, 

 furniture in India : a moderate-sized tree" (37). 



Authorities. Watt (127). Christian (22). Gamble (37), p. 43. 

 Wiesner (131). L. 6, p. no. Barham (8). 



Colour. Heart-wood deep chocolate-brown, uniform, sharply 

 denned from the whitish or ecru sap-wood. (According to 

 Wiesner H. is dark red and S. light red (131.) 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section: 



Pores. Readily visible on account of their numbers and 

 lighter colour : not prominent, size 4, a slight regular re- 

 duction in size in the later wood of the ring : evenly scattered. 

 Few, 3-24 per sq. mm. : mostly single but many pairs and an 

 occasional radial or nested group of 3 or 4 : round when single : 

 often filled. 



Rays. Just visible, size 5, uniform: rather irregularly 

 spaced a pore-width or more apart, weak, straggling : many, 8-12 

 per mm. 



Rings. Clear with the unaided eye but no actual boundary 

 line ; probably indicated by the porous and laxer zones. 



Soft-tissue neatly encircling the Pores when isolated becoming 

 patchy when crowded : possibly also extremely fine cross-bars 

 at right angles to the rays. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Pores fine but readily visible, shining when 

 empty, but often filled with amber, ruby and black contents. 

 Rays difficult to see, just perceptible in certain lights. 



Ground-tissue with many single cells with dark contents. 



Tangential Section as the Radial, but the rays can only be 

 seen in a transparent section. 



Type specimen authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of Ceylon, from a log sent to the Indian and 

 Colonial Exhibition. 



No. ii. BASSWOOD. Tilia americana. Linn. 



PLATE II. FIG. 10. 

 Natural, Order. Tiliaceae. 



Alternative Names. Willow in the U.S.A. (109). Lime Tree : 

 Linden or Lin : Bee Tree in U.S.A. (49). 



II 



