CRABWOOD 



ft. Hardness Grade 6, compare Beech or Chestnut. Smell or 

 taste faint or none. Burns well with a lively crackling flame : 

 embers glow in still air : much ash. Solution yellowish or 

 brownish. 



Grain. Moderately coarse and open, but even in some 

 sections. Surface bright in radial section, but dull in tangential 

 section. 



Bark. ? 



Uses, etc. " In British Guiana for mill, and mortar-beds, 

 ordnance, house-framing : resists shock " (60). Laslett con- 

 demns it on account of splitting during seasoning, but I had a log 

 about 18 in. in diameter, which worked up very well. " Cabinet- 

 making, masts and spars, bitter-cups " (78). I suspect an error 

 here, as the wood is practically tasteless. Logs can be obtained 

 " up to 40 to 60 ft. long, or occasionally 170 ft. by 14 to 16 in. sq. r 

 or even at times 30 to 42 in." (68 and 78). 



Autlwrities. Nordlinger (86), vol. x. p. 46. Laslett (60), 

 p. 278. McTurk (68), No. 34. Morris (78). Scott-Elliott and 

 Raisin (107). 



Colour. Heart-wood deep reddish brown, well denned from 

 the yellowish or whitish sap-wood. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Coarse, readily visible, size 2-3, little variation : in- 

 creasing as the tree ages : evenly distributed, mostly subdivided 

 into nest-like or radial groups of from 2 to 10 pores, rarely the 

 latter : about 8 pores or groups per sq. mm., often with red or 

 yellow contents. 



Rays. Need lens, narrow, size 5, uniform : equidistant : 

 long, but tapering rather abruptly : undulating in short waves : 

 as dense as the ground- tissue : 3 to 5 per mm. : nearly the same 

 colour as the rest of the wood. 



Rings. Clear here and there on account of a narrow line of 

 dense wood adjoining a broader band of spongy tissue. 



Soft-tissue encircling the pores with some slight lateral exten- 

 sions : plainer in the solid section when moistened. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Considerably lighter in shade than the trans- 

 verse section : pores prominent, coarse, open grooves : shining 

 and often containing red or black drops : rays, prominent, dull 

 flakes of much darker red : rings not traceable. 



Tangential Section. About the same shade as the transverse 

 section : pores less prominent than in the radial section, but 

 more numerous : rays just perceptible, short, narrow brown 

 lines about 1*0 mm. high. 



Tyfre specimens authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of British Guiana. 



39 



