CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 41 



wood. When planed it has a bright, metallic, lustrous surface, and shows 

 fine, snake-like ripple marks. 



A fairly satisfactory substitute has been found in tapang, a Borneo 

 wood {q.v.). Although much lighter in colour, it resembles brazil-wood 

 in many respects, even possessing the same ripple marks. 



Briar-root. Erica arborea, Linn. Southern Europe. 



This fine hard wood, which is imported from France, is common to 

 Southern Europe and Algeria. It is not, as is often supposed, the root 

 of the rose briar, but of a verj' large heath. The name is a corruption of 



EPHANTS, AND.IMAN ISLANDS. 



the French hrnvere (heath). It supplies what is probably the only really 

 suitable wood for making tobacco-pipes, in which connection its dark- 

 brown, mottled appearance is famiUar. 



Buckeye, Ohio. Aesaihis octandra, Marsh. Ac. glabra, Willd. Weight, 

 28 lbs. (Hough). Eastern United States. 



The timber of this tree, which is very similar to the English horse- 

 chestnut, is probably the mixed product of Aesculus octandra, Ae. glabra, 

 and perhaps also of Ae. octandra hybrida. It is not known commercially 

 in the United Kingdom, but it is in considerable use in America for the 

 same purposes for which horse-chestnut is in demand in this country. 

 Gibson says : " Many an Ohio statesman of fonner times boasted that as 



