244 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, 



Fam. Buxace.^. 



6 1. Buxus japonica, J. Miill. {Bnxus virens, Thunb.), Jap. Tsuge. 

 There appears to be no material difference between this plant and 

 Bitxus sernpervirens, L. The yellow wood is finer grained, denser 

 and more uniform in structure, as well as heavier than all the 

 other woods of Japan. Under the microscope it shows fine year- 

 rings and pith rays, but not to the naked eye. The pores seem 

 evenly distributed and remarkably fine. There is no marked 

 separation of grained and sap-w^ood. Out of a collection of fifty 

 different kinds of Japanese woods, each piece 150x75 X 3 mm. in 

 size, the tsuga warped the most. The box tree is confined to the 

 warm South, and appears oftenest on the Riu-kiu islands. Its 

 much prized wood is used chiefly in the manufacture of combs, 

 as mentioned already by Kaempfer and Thunberg.i 



62. ElcBococca cordata, Bl. {Aleurites cordata, Miill), Jap. Dokuye, 

 Abura-no-ki, Abura-giri, and Yama-giri (see pp. 156, 157). This 

 plant shows great similarity to Kiri {Paulownia iinperialis) in 

 habitat, figure and size of leaves, also in quality, colour and use 

 of its wood. 



6^. Excoecaria japonica^ J. Miill. {Croton siraki, S. and Z.), Jap. 

 Shira-ki and Haratoku. 



64. Sapium sebiferiim, Roxb. {Stillingia sebifera, S. and N.), Jap. 

 T6-haze and Nanking-haze. 



Fam. Laurace^. 



The evergreen members of this interesting family are generally 

 superb trees and belong to the warm south of Japan. The 

 deciduous varieties (of the Lindera species) are found as bushes 

 and low trees scattered everywhere in foliaceous forests. Plowever 

 different the colour and value of the woods belonging to this class 

 may be, they are all more or less alike in aromatic odour, dull 

 or high silky lustre, indistinct pith-rays, and even distribution of 

 pores. The woods of the cinnamon species belong to the most 

 valuable of Japanese woods. Their weight is less than that of the 

 oak. 



65. Cinnamomiim camphora, Nees. {Laurus camphora, L.), Jap. 

 Kusu, Kusu-no-ki. The most noteworthy qualities of this in- 

 teresting and valuable tree have already been mentioned in the 

 article " Camphor," pp. 143-1 50, and also on p. 225. When cut cross- 

 wise, camphor wood shows numerous, evenly distributed, moderately 

 large pores, whose size and figure differs according to the age and 

 situation of the tree. The colour of the wood also varies between 

 greyish white and dark reddish brown, but is most generally a 

 light brownish red. The various sorts of camphor wood are dis- 



1 " Ligni pro pectinibus conficiendis, quos portaiit feminas crinibus infixes, 

 rubro plerumque vernice obductos." — Flor. Jap. p. yj. 



