THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



Physical Characters, etc. Weight 49-65 Ibs. per cu. ft. Hard- 

 ness, Grade 2, extremely hard, compare Boxwood. Smell none 

 when dry. Taste unpleasant. Solution with water or alcohol 

 very faint yellow. Burns well with a lively flame ; no smell : 

 no juice expelled by heat : embers glow in still air. 



Grain. Very fine, smooth, dense and even. Surface lustrous, 

 usually satiny with much " fire" due to the ground-tissue, the 

 pores being inconspicuous but dull. 



Uses, etc. " Turnery, brush-backs, etc., in Europe : bridges, 

 implements, furniture in India " (37). Splits with ease and 

 with a fibrous fracture. 



Authorities. Gamble (37), p. 77. Nordlinger (86), vol. xi. 

 p. 39. Smith (in). Wiesner (131). L. 12, p. 953. Easily 

 and usually confused with West Indian Satinwood and other 

 species of Zanthoxylon. 



Colour. Dark yellow to dark brown heart-wood gradually 

 merging into the whitish sap-wood. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Require lens, rather fine, size 4-5, irregularly variable : 

 evenly distributed : numerous, 25-40 pores or pore-groups per 

 sq. mm. : single of from 2-4 in not very compact groups : 

 usually radially disposed but not strikingly so : often ruby 

 resin-pores or gum-veins. 



Rays. Require lens : fine, size 5-6 : very long (rarely taper- 

 ing ?) undulating rather regularly but not avoiding the pores, 

 more than a pore-width apart : less dense than the ground tissue : 

 numerous, 5-8 per mm. : equidistant and uniform in width : 

 brownish. 



Rings. Very clear though narrow. Boundary (?) a fine, 

 clear line, the same width as the rays : contour well-rounded 

 (see below). 



Soft-tissue. Probably the boundary lines mentioned above 

 are merely concentric zones of soft-tissue and do not indicate 

 the year's growth. Also in neat, narrow circles round the pores. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. The pores are readily visible though very fine 

 colourless lines, some with ruby resin or gum : the rays are 

 readily visible but very small flakes : they show by play of 

 light only (being dull) not by contrast of colour : the rings are 

 very fine but not very prominent, parallel lines without contrast 

 of colour or shade. 



Tangential Section. The grain seems to run obliquely : the 

 Rays are scarcely visible without lens as minute almost colour- 

 less lines about -25 mm. high : the rings are rather more 

 prominent in the lines and loops but still no contrast of colour 

 or shade. 



30 



