PURPLEHEART 



per cu. ft. Hardness Grade 2, compare Boxwood. Smell or 

 taste none. Burns well, embers glow in still air, and consume 

 exceptionally slowly : the heat brings the purple colour out. 

 Solution with water dark brown. 



Grain rather coarse and open. Surface comparatively dull : 

 rapidly becomes purple upon exposure. A log received in a 

 very wet (green) condition turned colour before my eyes after 

 being sawn in half. 



Bark. Resembles that of Beech but is of a brick-red tinge ; 

 about J inch thick. 



Uses, etc. " Mill-beds, mortar-beds, house- framing, and all pur- 

 poses where shock has to be resisted durable " (78). " Ramrods, 

 buhl- work, marquetry, and turnery" (48). "Less durable than 

 Kooroobooilli ; capable of resisting great strain ; may be met 

 with in logs from 100-120 ft. long by 30 inches in diam., free of 

 sap-wood" (72). Almost invariably confused with the other 

 species of purpleheart, but never with anything else. 



Authorities. McTurk (78). Ditto (72). Cat. Kew Museum 

 No. i. Holtzapffel (48), p. 103. Martin (68), p. 226. Saldanha da 

 Gama (99). Wiesner (131), L. 12, p. 927. 



Colour. Brown heart-wood turning purplish on exposure ; 

 well but not sharply defined from the dirty-white sap-wood. The 

 phenomenon of the change of colour is evidently due to oxida- 

 tion. It is quite superficial as when freshly planed the surface 

 is brown and the purple colour disappears when the wood is 

 polished with a spirit varnish. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Conspicuous and large, size 1-2 (or rather larger), 

 varying in no particular order in the individual ring, but the 

 average size increasing as the tree ages : uniformly scattered : 

 few 1-6 per sq. mm. : single, or in pairs or threes ; often filled, 

 beautifully round when not subdivided. 



Rays. Clearly visible, size 5-6 : uniform : more or less 

 equidistant, about the width of a large pore apart (sometimes 

 less) weak but otherwise straight, scarcely avoiding the pores : 

 numerous 5-7 per mm. : very short, frequently tapering both 

 ends : whitish : much denser than the ground-tissue. 



Rings. Doubtful : the fine, whitish lines may indicate the 

 boundary. 



Soft-tissue. Abundant, chiefly in large, spindle-shaped patches 

 enclosing the pores or joining two or more groups. The most 

 prominent feature : perhaps the fine, whitish, concentric lines 

 may also be soft-tissue. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Considerably lighter in shade than the 

 transverse section, the pores are inconspicuous though large, and 



85 



