201 



Timber. — A fissile, pale yellow timber, witli no figure to speak of. It 

 has certainly no dyeing properties. 



It was first collected in 1828 by Charles Eraser, Superintendent of tie 

 Botanic Gardens at Sydney, and Allan Cunningham, King's Botanist, on 

 the Brisbane Eiver. Hooker, in describing it, says : '' Its timber is found 

 ,to be very useful in various kinds .of carpentry, and in the building of 

 boats, &c." • {Botanical Miscellany, Vol. i, p. 247). So that it had acquired 

 & good repu.tation at an early date. 



Mr. District Forester Pope, Casino, says of it: — 



It is not much used either loonlly or for expdi't, but I am coinUnced it is u 

 most valuable timber. It is very tough, and <if a light yellow colour. 



Mr. W. Dunn, Forest Guard, Acacia Creek, Macpherson Eange, says : — 



The wood cuts soft lilve ("iidserie (/■'. KrhotUnin). The timber is long in the 

 grain and strong, and inclines to be yellow in colour towards the centre of the 

 tree; of course, \ve have other vni'ieties of tinilier here much yellower in colour 

 than this timber referred to. It is a really valuable timber. 



The official catalogue of the Queensland Forestry Museum, 1904, says : — 



A large free, with light-coloured, rough bark. Wood of a pale yellow colour, 

 iind a distinctive odour. Chief uses for coach-building, railway-carriage frame- 

 work, boring-rods, and purposes for which strength, combined with lightness, 

 are required: also cabiuet-makiiig. joinery, turnery, and picture-frames. It is 

 very elastic?, bends well, and is cmisequently very suitable for casks. 



The timlber is stated to be .very durable and is tough; it is used for 

 making shafts, swingle-trees, and yokes. It is often mistaken for Beech, 

 and is sometimes s^ipplied for that timber. It is an excellent carving 

 "wood, a^ a beautiful specimen of carving in the Technological Museum, 

 Sydney, by the late Mr. W. Qckelford, testifies. 



A full account of this timber, chiefly from the point of view of the 

 railway carriage-builder, will be found in MacMahon's '' Queensland Mer- 

 chantable Timbers," p. 53. Here it is stated that: — 



" It is largely used in the framing of carriages and waggons. It holds paint 

 ■well, and nails may be driven into it without splitting, close up to the end of 

 the scantling. In the works of the Brisbane Tramways Company this timber is 

 a prime favourite; it is used for body-framiug, pillars, and finishing; it is" 

 found to answer remarkably well for portions of the structure of a tvamcar, 

 which it is necessary to bend 1).^- steam, and has, in fact, supplanted entirely 

 the more expensive blackwood for this purpose. For an entirely all-round 

 timber it cannot be spoken of too highly, and quite fills the place of English and 

 American ash. A departmental board of the Commonwealth Jlilitary Force.-) 

 has recently decided that this is the most suitable wood in Austrnlia for ammu- 

 nition boxes." 



,c,'/,cc._Height 80 to 100 feet, with a barrel of 4 to 8 feet in diameter in Jlac- 

 pherson Eange. (J. L. Boorman.) 



Habitat. — This tree is confined to the rich brush forests of northern 

 New South Wales and Queensland. What its precise southern and northern 

 limits are I do not know, and inquiries such as these are the legitimata 

 and even necessary duty of a Botanical or Forest Survey. 



I have specimens in the National Herbarium from the Bichmond and 

 Tweed Kivers, New South Wales, and also one labelled " Stroud district " 

 from the late Mr. Augustus Eudder, but I probably misunderstood him as 

 -regards the locality. As regards Queensland, its range appears to be tardly 

 better known than at the time, of its discovery ninety-six years ago. 



