THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



No. 33. AUSTRALIAN MAHOGANY. Dysoxylum 

 Fraseranum. Benth. 



PLATE III. FIG. 25. 



Natural Order. Meliaceae. 



Synonym. Dysoxylon, Blume. 



Alternative Names. Pencil Cedar in Queensland and New 

 South Wales. Also Rosewood in the latter locality (60). 



Sources of supply. Australia, Southern Queensland (86), and 

 Northern New South Wales (12). 



Physical Characters, etc. Weight about 56^ Ib. per cu. ft. 

 Hardness Grade 7, compare English Birch. Smell something like 

 cigar-box Cedar. Taste none. Burns well with a noisy, splut- 

 tering flame, slight tarry smell; embers glow in still air. Solu- 

 tion with water strong, reddish-orange ; after with alcohol, the 

 same, but thin and weak. 



Grain. Medium, open. Surface bright (but dull compared 

 with the glossy D. muelleri), the rays and soft tissue dull and 

 inconspicuous. 



Uses, etc. " Cabinet-making, shipbuilding, turnery, carving, 

 engraving " (5). Possibly Bailey refers to the backing of 

 electros by the last mentioned use, for which it would serve, but 

 it would be most unsuitable for engraving upon. This tree grows 

 to large size. 



Authorities. F. M. Bailey (5), p. 30. Kew Guide (57), p. 56. 

 Laslett (60), p. 253. 



Colour. Uniform light-red. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Just visible from their size, grade 2 : little variation 

 except within each group : apparently increasing in size year by 

 year : evenly distributed, mostly subdivided into radial groups 

 of from 2 to 6 pores : few, 8-25 pores per sq. mm. : about half 

 containing ruby or amber resin or gum : oval. 



Rays. Need lens : no contrast of colour : size 5, fine : long 

 and tapering to great tenuity : weak and avoiding the largest 

 pore-groups : uniform and equidistant : rather less than a pore- 

 width apart : same colour as, and denser than the ground, but a 

 little lighter in shade : many 6-9 per mm. 



Rings. Doubtful, but they may be indicated by the concen- 

 tric lines of soft-tissue (see below). 



Soft-tissue. Abundant in continuous concentric lines, regu- 

 larly recurring, equidistant : 4-5 per mm. : size 2-3 : cells con- 

 necting the pores very coarse, size about 7 (pore-scale) : pig- 

 mented. Also some patches of radial lines without order near 

 the pore-groups. The concentric lines sometimes touch each 



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