49 o AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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Indians along the Amazon River as darker, close-grained layers are com- 

 Cereja dc Sicopira, which means Sico- posed of very strongly thickened, 

 pira beer. The beer is said to foam elongated wood fibers without pits, 

 very copiously, and to be exceedingly while the lighter and softer ones con- 

 bitter. The wood to be identified is sist of vessels and thick-walled wood- 

 slightly bitter, which is a character in parenchyma fibers with pits. The wood 

 favor of Bo^'didiia. Kalsch 3 deter- fibers are very closely cemented to- 

 mined the specific gravity of Sebupira gether. The wood-parenchyma fibers 

 wood to be 1.348. The sample to be are compactly arranged, while the ves- 

 identified has a specific gravity of i.o. sels are found scattered singly or some- 

 which is considerably lighter than the times in groups of two to seven in 

 wood Kalsch investigated. The dif- radial direction within the bands of 

 ference in weight, however, does not wood parenchyma. The vessels con- 

 prove that these are different woods. sist of numerous segments placed end 

 The transverse section shows struc- to end, directly communicating with 

 tures that appear, on first glance, to be one another through extended pit 

 successive rings of growth having parts canals, but in the older wood the<e 

 corresponding to early and late wood, canals are closed up and communica- 

 There is, however, a very marked dif- tion ceases. The vessels which can be 

 ference between these two structures. seen with the unaided eye in a smooth 

 The part corresponding to late wood is cross-section are about sixteen one- 

 very dense and has a wavy outline. A hundredths of a millimeter in diameter, 

 tangential section may therefore show The groups of vessels within the bands 

 both the more dense and the less dense of wood parenchyma become greatly 

 portions. Since the latter is composed extended, thus rendering the tangential 

 of wood-parenchyma fibers, one might structures very irregular, 

 infer that the wood is light in weight The pith rays in a transverse section 

 and rather soft : yet. on account of the are scarcely visible to the unaided eye. 

 unusually thick walls of wood paren- They are more strongly thickened and 

 chyma, it is decidedly hard and very contain more pits than the wood- 

 brittle. The width of these tangential parenchyma elements. The rays are 

 bands varies from one-half millimeter from two or three rows of cells wide, 

 to one and one-half millimeters, with having one row of rather wide mar- 

 an average of about one millimeter, ginal cells above and below. In trans- 

 Careful observations show that these verse sections they often seem to be 



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contrasting structures frequently meet, only a single cell wide. Within the 



which proves that they are not con- tangential bands of wood fibers the pith 



centric zones (annual rings). These rays cells have a consideraj>lv smaller 



bands have such different characters horizontal diameter than within the 



that the radial section shows alternat- bands of wood parenchyma, which can 



ing dark brown and lighter streaks be seen to best advantage in transverse 



which consist, respectively, of the denser sections. 



and softer layers of tissue. This struc- For a complete studv of this wood, it 



ture is so well definied in the radial is necessary to have, in addition to the 



section that it often resembles the wood transverse and radial sections, two tan- 



of palms. gential sections ; one through the dense 



So far. the anatomical study pre- layer of wood fibers and the other 



sents a great many difficulties. The through that of wood parenchyma, 



wood is hard and exceedingly brittle. One is first struck by the presence of 



making it almost impossible to obtain two kinds of pits: the bordered pits in 



good microscopic sections. The radial t i ie ves sel walls, and the simple pits in 



surface shows that the wood is com- the walls of the pith _ ray ce ll s and wood- 



P s , e ^ of 1 f tls * ue - , whlch - , as parenchyma fibers. In longitudinal sec- 

 tions, the vessel walls show long, slit- 



"Botanischc Zcitung. Januar. 1863. like pit openings which are almost as 



