PURIRI 



Bark. " " Grey, inch thick, fibrous with shallow, longi- 

 tudinal wrinkles, peeling off in long thin flakes " (37). 



Uses, etc. Shipbuilding, railway-carriage building, etc. " Does 

 not split, crack, warp or alter its shape when once seasoned, does 

 not suffer in contact with iron, and is rarely if ever attacked by 

 white ants " (37). Almost imperishable in some climates, as that 

 of Japan. A very variable wood. The several varieties which 

 are commonly met with in England suggest something more than 

 a difference in the vigour of their growth. " Siam Teak is generally 

 lighter in colour, and Malabar open in the grain and tough. 

 Annamalay Teak is the narrow-ringed, brown (not golden or 

 grey) stinking Teak " (109). 



Authorities. Gamble (37), p. 283. Nordlinger (86), vol. iv. 

 p. 44. Sinclair (109). Wiesner (131), L. 12, p. 1003. 



Colour. Uniform dark golden-yellow : brown : greyish- 

 brown. Sap-wood white or dirty-white. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : 



Pores. Very prominent, size 2, " large in the pore-ring, 

 moderate-sized and small elsewhere " (37). Rather crowded in the 

 pore-ring, 8-20 per sq. mm. in one or two rows : somewhat rarer 

 in the later wood, 8-12 per sq. mm. : usually single, some pairs 

 and groups of three or four : white deposit frequent. (Apatite, 

 Calcium-phosphate. Ca. HP0 4 ) (131). 



Rays. Just visible, medium, size 4, uniform : equidistant, 

 weak but scarcely avoiding the pores : 4-6 per mm. : colour, 

 a lighter brown than the ground. 



Rings. Very clear on account of the dense pore-ring and 

 looser Spring-wood following the denser tissue of Autumn. 



Soft-tissue. "In patches between the Spring Pores" (86). 

 Neatly encircling the pores, brown. 



Pith. Large, quadrangular. 



Radial Section. Pores well-marked, cellular grooves with finer 

 ones between, often in pairs, bright when empty. Rays, well- 

 marked dark flakes. Rings indicated by the bands of pores only. 



Tangential Section. As the Radial, but the pores are as a rule 

 much finer : rays fine lines on the limit of vision, being almost 

 too narrow to taper : rings prominent as fringed loops. 



Type specimens from commercial sources checked by 

 Nordlinger's section and by the specimens in Museum No. i, Kew. 



No. 150. PURIRI. Vitex littoralis. A. Cunn. (not 



Decaisne). 

 PLATE XI. FIG. 95. 



Natural Order. Verbenaceae. 



Alternative Name. New Zealand Teak (91). 



