GIANT REDWOOD 



Sources of Supply. New Zealand and Tasmania. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 28 Ibs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 7, compare Spruce. Smell or taste 

 none. Burns well with a long, smoky flame : no aroma : no juice 

 expelled by heat : embers glow in still air. Solution colourless : 

 gives a copious, brownish ppt. upon the addition of potash. 



Grain. Exceedingly fine, close and even. Surface bright, but 

 much duller than that of Totara. 



Bark. Deep lurid red: fibrous: separates in long, bast-like 

 strips : thickness about \ inch : uniform in structure, but of a 

 dull brown colour near the wood. A silvery gleam is seen between 

 the layers when separated. 



Uses, etc. Works like Deal, but though it planes easily the sur- 

 face " picks up " in little scales. " A tree 60-100 ft. high by 3-5 

 ft. in diameter . . . carving, planks and spars " (in). 



Authorities. Smith (in), p. 234. Boulger (12), p. 418. 



Colour. Rose-red: brownish-red heart-wood, not sharply 

 defined from the lighter sap-wood, which is about i inch wide. 



Anatomical Characters. As those of Podocarpus dacrydioides, 

 No. 219, but there are a large number of single cells filled with 

 dark gum or resin, resembling the pores of Dicotyledonous wood, 

 when examined with a lens, in both transverse and vertical sec- 

 tions. They need the microscope to determine their true nature. 

 This feature serves to distinguish this wood from Totara, Rimu, 

 and many other Conifers. 



Pith. Three-sided, about \ inch diameter. 



Type specimen authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of New Zealand. 



No. 232. GIANT REDWOOD. Sequoia semper- 



virens. Endl. 

 PLATE XVI. FIG. 140. 



Natural Order. Coniferae. 



Synonyms. S. taxifolia, Kir. S. gigantea, Endl. Gigantabies 

 taxifolia, Wels. 



Alternative Names. Americanische Rothholz (131). Sequoia 

 a feuilles d'if : Redwood of the coast (49). 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 24^-29 Ibs. per 

 cu. ft. (With remarkable unanimity the specific gravity is stated 

 by Sargent, Hough, Mouillefert and Wiesner to be 0*4208, '4208, 

 0.420 and 0.42). Hardness Grade 8, the softest timber-wood of 

 commerce : splinters can be torn away with the finger-nail. 

 Smell none. Taste slightly astringent. Burns well with little, if 

 any, particular aroma : embers glow in still air and consume away 



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