THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



to the ash. Solution faint brown : with alcohol faint pinkish, 

 turning darker and browner and yielding a ppt. with potash. 



Grain. Fine, surface lustrous, i.e. frosted. 



Bark. " Cinnamon-coloured with large prominent ridges, 

 often 12 or more inches in thickness " (49). 



Uses, etc. "Very durable . . . the most valuable of the woods 

 of the Pacific region of United States of America . . . con- 

 struction furniture and pencils " (131). " Not strong, brittle 

 . . . very durable in contact with the soil . . . splits with 

 facility : railway-ties, fencing, shingles, water-tanks " (49). 

 Linings for drawers in England. 



Authorities. Wiesner (131), p. 160. Sargent (100), p. 142. 

 Smith (in), p. 348. Mouillefert (79), p. 527. Hoagh (49), 

 pt. vii. p. 46. 



Colour. Heart-wood, uniform rich red : sharply defined from 

 the nearly white sap-wood. " Heart vinous red " (m). " Light 

 red "(49). 



Anatomical Characters. As Callitris, No. 228, but very 

 coarse-celled, and the isolated resin-cells are clearly visible in a 

 transparent section, with slight magnification, as ruby beads. 

 The wood is usually slowly grown. In a section by Hough in my 

 possession there are 172 annual rings in the radial distance of 3^ 

 inches. The cells of the wood are clearly visible with a pocket 

 lens : the widest ring of the section just mentioned has 25 rows of 

 cells only and the narrowest only two rows. 



This wood is indistinguishable from that of Sequoia gigantea 

 (the Big Tree), but the latter, I believe, is not met with in com- 

 merce. The Giant red-wood may be confused with the wood of 

 Thuya gigantea, but it has no smell and does not separate as a 

 rule tangentially at the Autumn layers when bent, as does the 

 latter wood. 



Type specimens authenticated by Hough and also from com- 

 mercial sources. 



No. 233. KAURI PINE. Agathis australis. Steud. 

 PLATE XVI. FIG. 140. 



Natural Order. Coniferae. 



Synonyms. Dammara australis, Lamb. 



Alternative Names. Cowrie, Cowdie, or New Zealand Pine. 

 Southern Dammar, New Zealand Pitch Tree (113). Kawri (in). 

 Not the Kauri of Queensland, which is A. robusta, the Dundathi 

 Pine. 



Source of Supply. New Zealand only. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 30-39 Ibs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 7, compare Alder. Smell very slight : 



262 



