8 BULLETIN" 1050, U. S. DEPAETMEISTT OF AGRICULTURE. 



WHERE GROWN. 



The true Spanish cedar {Cedrela odorata L.) is not definitely 

 known outside of the West Indies and French Guiana. 



Brazilian cedar grows in Brazil and northern Argentina. A num- 

 ber of minor species of Cedrela are also found in Mexico, Central 

 America, and South America. 



Toon is a native of India, Java, and Australia, and is shipped to 

 the United States in comparatively small quantities. A similar 

 species, calantas {Toona calantas Merr. and Rolfe), is of com- 

 mercial importance in the Philippine Islands. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. 



The color of these woods is very much like that of true mahogany. 

 In weight they are lighter than the average mahogany. They have 

 a distinct, pleasant odor, most pronounced in Spanish cedar. The 

 grain of the wood is not interlocked so much as in mahogany. 



STRTJCTTJRE. 



The pores of the Cedrelas are plainly visible with the unaided eye. 

 (See fig. 3.) Some of the pores are partly filled with a dark reddish- 

 brown gum, a characteristic of the mahogany family. As a rule, but 

 not always, the pores are slightly larger at the beginning of each 

 growth ring, making the wood " ring-porous." The growth rings are 

 also defined by a light-colored line of soft tissue, as in true mahogany. 

 This line is not so conspicuous in toon as in the two species from the 

 American Tropics. 



The rays are very fine, being barely visible with the unaided eye 

 on a smoothly cut end surface. On radial surfaces they are very 

 lustrous and appear lighter or darker than the surrounding fibers, 

 depending on how they reflect the light. These rays are never 

 storied, as in some pieces of mahogany. 



SAPELI.i" 



Entandrophragma candoUei Harms. 

 Mahogany Family (SIeliace.^). 



OTHER NAirE. 



"African mahogany." 



Other species of Entandrophragma, with similar characteristics, 

 may also be included with sapeli. Entandrophragma candollei is 

 known as " unscented mahogany," and E. utilis as " scented 

 mahogany." ^^ 



^' Also spelled " sapele ;" in either case pronounced sap'-el-e. 



" Fnwin, A. Harold, " West African Forests and Forestry." T. Fisher Unwin, pub- 

 lisher, London, 1920. 



