178 WOODS. 



(89) Red Sanders Wood. 



The wood of Pterocarpus santalinus, Linn.f. (N.O. Legu- 

 minosse). 



The wood exhibits the following structure: The medul- 

 lary rays are mostly one, sometimes two cells wide ; the cells 

 have moderately thick \\alls, and are strongly radially elon- 

 gated ; they often contain droplets of red resin. 



The wood-fibres are polygonal in section, and have very thick 

 reddish yellow walls, with few pits ; they are more or less regu- 

 larly distributed in tangential bands. 



The wood parenchyma cells have thin pitted walls, and are 

 filled with droplets of red resin ; they are grouped in tangen- 

 tially extended bands, about four or five cells wide. The 

 vessels are very large, and have very thick walls ; they are 

 mostly isolated, or in small radial groups of two or three ; like 

 the wood parenchyma cells they contain red resin. In surface 

 view the walls are seen to bear numerous, large, areolated pits. 

 Prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate are found in superposed 

 cells of the wood parenchyma, usually abutting on wood- 

 fibres. 



The diagnostic characters of powdered red sanders wood 

 .are : 



(a) The red resin in the vessels and parenchymatous 



cells, and the reddish colour of the wood-fib) es. 



(b) The numerous, large, areolated pits on the walls 



of the vessels. 



(c) The very thick walls of the wood-fibres which bear 



only scattered pits. 



