TIMBER AND OTHER WOODS. 187 



Quercus virens, Aiton, the AMERICAN LIVE OAK, 

 an evergreen, growing near the coast, especially in 

 Florida, yields small and crooked timbers, dark- 

 coloured, hard, tough, heavy, with a twisted grain, 

 and stronger than any other oak. It is largely used 

 in American dockyards, and for mallets and cogs. 



Swietenia senegalensis, Desv., AFRICAN OAK, TEAK 

 or MAHOGANY, a dark-red, very hard, strong, fine- 

 grained wood, is imported from Sierra Leone, and 

 used for keels, beams, etc. 



Tectona grandis, L. fil., the TEAK, a native of 

 Southern India, Burmah, and Siam, thriving best 

 with an annual rainfall of from 50 to 120 inches, is a 

 lofty tree, frequently 100 feet high, and six to ten feet 

 in circumference. The wood is moderately hard and 

 strong, almost indestructible under ordinary circum- 

 stances, and contains a resinous oil which resists 

 insects, water, and rust, for which reason it is the best 

 wood known for backing armour-plates in ironclads. 

 The Teak forests of Burmah extend from near the 

 exporting ports of Rangoon and Moulmein to the 

 Shan States and the Chinese frontier. The wood is 

 largely used in India, and about 42,000 loads annually 

 imported into Great Britain.* 



Shorea robusta, Gaertn., the SAL, is the most- 

 used timber of Northern India brown, hard, and 

 durable. 



Nectandra Rodicei, Schomb. the GREEN HEART, 

 dark green or black, remarkably strong and durable, 

 resisting the white ant and the boring Limnoria 



* See W. T. Oldrieve and John C. Kemp in * Forestry and 

 Forest Products,' pp. 321-406. 



