DEMERARA PURPLEHEART 



Rings. Doubtful. There are abundant fine, whitish lines 

 which may indicate the boundary of the year's growth. 



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

 enclosing a pore or group or joining up 2 or more groups : also 

 fine concentric lines (see Rings). 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Pores inconspicuous, sometimes obscured 

 by the soft-tissue : rays inconspicuous, brown flakes : rings 

 just visible when two or more lines occur close together. 



Tangential Section. As the Radial, but the rays are fine lines 

 about 0*1 mm. high, and the rings are doubtful. 



Type specimen from commercial sources. Not authenti- 

 cated but without doubt a Copaifera. I believe this to be the 

 Kooroobooilli described by McTurk. This is the kind most 

 frequently met with in England. 



No. 76. DEMERARA PURPLEHEART. Copai- 

 fera sp. 



PLATE VI. FIG. 47. 



Natural Order. Leguminoseas. 



Alternative Names. Practically the same as those applied to 

 the other species of Purple-heart with the exception of their 

 strictly local names. 



Sources of Supply. British Guiana. The Moluccas. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 50^ Ibs. per 

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

 none. Burns well with a crackling flame, embers glow in still 

 air : the heat brings out the purple colour upon the brown 

 surface of freshly cut wood. Solution with water golden yellow. 



Grain very fine, open. Surface bright to lustrous, the ground - 

 tissue the brightest part. 



Bark.? 



Uses. The same as of the other species of Purple-heart (which 

 see). Usually confused with the other woods of the same name 

 but never with anything else. 



Colour. Heart-wood brown turning to pinkish- purple (with 

 a little magenta) in a very short time upon exposure. My 

 specimen, which was quite dry, turned colour in the course of an 

 hour after being planed. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Conspicuous by reason of their numbers not of their 

 size : little variation, size 2-3 : uniformly distributed, crowded 

 throughout the whole section, very densely in some zones: 

 many 12-35 P er sq- mm - : mostly paired, a few radial groups 

 of 3-5 : accompanied but not surrounded by small irregular 



87 



