PRINCE-WOOD 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 60 Ibs. per 

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

 none. Burns well and quietly without aroma : a brown juice 

 expelled by heat : embers glow in still air and consume very 

 slowly. Solution [light red commencing to appear immediately in 

 cold water : much intensified by potash : a copious dark red ppt. 



Grain. Very close, fine and compact. Surface bright and 

 slightly cold to the touch. 



Bark. Corky, resembling that of Boxwood but softer : 

 fissured, brown with a leathery lining ^ inch thick. 



Uses, etc. A very good turners' wood : takes a good finish 

 with ease. Saws freely, planes well and works generally much 

 like Boxwood. 



Colour. Uniform, deep, rich brownish red : purplish red. 

 Sap-wood. ? 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Need strong lens, size 7, much variation, diminishing 

 to vanishing point : widely scattered : few, 20-50 per mm. : the 

 small pores cannot be seen without a microscope. 



Rays. Just visible, size 5, uniform but tapering both ends to 

 fine points : direct not avoiding the pores : red. In a transparent 

 section they glow as though filled with ruby-coloured gum : 

 irregularly spaced, " middles and ends " together 7-13 per mm. 



Rings. Doubtful, See further. 



Soft-tissue. Abundant and prominent in wavy, concentric 

 ines resembling ring-boundaries,but which stop short of complete 

 circles at times. Filled with ruby gum. As the largest pores 

 are confined to these zones there is a possibility that they 

 indicate the limit of the years' growth. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Pores, need lens : extremely fine scratches. 

 Rays just visible on a cleft surface. Soft-tissue, important 

 though scarcely prominent : it gives the reddish tone to the wood 

 and the vertical lines are seen with the lens to be very clearly 

 marked off. 



Type specimen authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of Cape Colony from a log sent to the Colonial 

 and Indian Exhibition. 



No. 147. PRINCE- WOOD. Cordia gerascanthus. 



Linn. 



(Not of H. B. and K. or of Sw. The former is C. tinifolia 

 and the latter C. gerascanthoides. H. B. and K. not Rich). 



PLATE XL FIG. 93. 

 Natural Order. Boragineae. 



167 



