48 THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 



pencil cedars, being the wood of several American species of Junipenis, 

 are truly junipers and likewise conifers. All these woods possess a very 

 fragrant scent. It is not surprising that the name cedar has popularly, 

 and hence corrunercially, been attached to the cigar-box cedar, a West 

 Indian wood derived from a tree (Cedrela odorata) which is in no way 

 allied to Cedrus, but is a member of the mahogany family {Meliaceae). 

 Other species of Cedrela, including the Indo-Australian C. Toona and 

 C. australis, and the Paraguayan cedar C. braziliensis, are more or less 

 fragrant and receive the name cedar. 



The wood of Cedrela in many respects resembles mahogany, and is 

 to some extent characteristic, so that the name has been extended to 

 various American, African, etc., woods which more or less resemble in 

 appearance those of Cedrela, though not necessarily possessing any 

 fragrance or strong scent. Some of the woods belong to the mahogany 

 family, some do not, while the sources of stUl others are unknown. Then 

 again there is in British and Dutch Guiana, the so-caUed cedar, the 

 product of Protiuni altissimum. The wood is not a true cedar, nor has 

 it any of the characteristics, and it is entirely without the fragrant scent 

 usually associated with that wood. 



Further confusion arises owing to the fact that between mahogany 

 and cedar woods of the Cedrela type there exist transitional forms, which 

 are termed mahoganies or cedars according to the will of the vendor. 

 Indeed in some of these mixed species from the West Coast of Africa 

 it has been found that even the produce of one tree, and indeed, one side 

 of an individual tree, has displayed cedar characteristics which were 

 absent in the remainder. (See p. 58, West African Cedar.) 



Beyond these commercial woods lie others, locally termed cedars, 

 though unfamiliar in the English market : among such arc the American 

 conifers, red cedar {Juniperus occidentalis) and white cedar [Libocedrns 

 decurrens and Cupressus thy aides), the red cedar {Cunonia capensis) of 

 Cape Colony, the red cedar (Acrocarpus fraxinif alius, Wight) of Sikkim, 

 and the New Zealand cedar pahautea {Libacedrus Bidwillii). 



Cedar, African Pencil. Juniperus procera, Hoch. Weight, 40 lbs. 

 East Africa. 



During 1910, according to tlie Kew Bulletin (No. 2193), 31,000 logs of 

 this timber were imported into Germany from East Africa. The wood is 

 of a dark-red or rose colour, harder, more brittle, and sUghtly heavier than 

 that of /. virginiana. Though it has the fragrance of the latter, perhaps 

 a little fainter, the wood has not been so favourably received in the 

 United Kingdom, but on account of the inferior quahty and scarcity of 

 supply from other sources it is probable that its use will largely increase. 

 For such work as panelling, provided that reasonable-sized pieces free 



