MARGOSE 



Type specimens authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of Ceylon. 



The microphotograph is placed after Citrus and Zanthoxylum 

 for the purpose of comparison. 



No. 27. MARGOSE. Melia indica. Brandis. 



Natural Order. Meliaceae. 



Synonyms. M. Azadirachta. Linn. Azadirachta indica. A. 

 Juss. 



Alternative Names. Maha Neem, Nym or Nim in India. For 

 names in the various dialects of India see Gamble and Watts. 

 The former gives 19 (22 in his last edition) and the latter 58 

 names. Hoop-tree in Jamaica (64). 



Sources of Supply. Throughout India, Burmah, Ceylon and 

 the Malay Archipelago. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 35-49 Ibs. per 

 cu. ft. (37). Hardness Grade 2, compare Boxwood. Smell 

 aromatic ; offensive when worked. Taste astringent. Burns 

 with a lively flame and a smell recalling Chinese Joss-sticks : 

 embers glow in still air. Solution yellowish or faint brown. 



Bark. Grey or brownish-grey : fissured : of two layers, the 

 inner brown with many hard, white (sclerenchyma) strands : 

 the outer darker, distinctly showing the " marking off " of the 

 separate scales. 



Uses, etc. " Furniture, equally good green or seasoned; warps 

 and splits " (37) : easily riven. 



Authorities. Gamble (37), p. 69. Watt (127). Nordlinger 

 (86), vol. vi. p. 53. 



Colour. Heart- wood uniform light red not very sharply 

 defined from the yellowish- white or ecru sap-wood which is about 

 3^ in wide. The heart -wood darkens upon exposure. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. On the limit of vision, size 2 : regularly diminishing 

 in size and numbers towards the outer side of the ring but 

 increasing in average size as the tree ages : mostly sub-divided 

 in radial or nested groups of 2-4 pores : few about 9 per sq. mm. : 

 usually with coloured contents. 



Rays. Just visible, size 4-5, uniform : equidistant, less than 

 the width of a large pore -apart : rather long, tapering to great 

 tenuity : undulating and avoiding the pores : many, about 7 

 per mm. : lighter in colour than the ground- tissue. 



Rings. Clear if the fine lines of soft-tissue (rather broader 

 than the rays) form the boundaries : contour regular. 



Soft-tissue. Encircling the pores but not joining them except 

 in the outer part of wide rings. As the concentric lines already 



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