THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



No. 30. CEDAR. Cedrela odorata. Linn. (?) 



Natural Order. Meliacese. Not the Cedrela odorata of 

 Blanco, Cham, Schlecht, Griseb. Ruiz, Pav, or Veil. 



Alternative Names. Havannah Cedar (48). Barbadoe3 

 Bastard Cedar : Bois d' Acajou a planches, Cedre Acajou (Barba- 

 does) : Cedro in Spanish South America (115). Cuba, Honduras 

 or Mexican Cedar (460). Zuckerkistenholz {131). Jamaica or 

 West Indian Cedar (111). Pfefferholz (81). Cedro aromatico : 

 Acajou amer : Acajou femell^: Cedre in Brazil (99). 



Sources of Supply. Trop. America : West Indies. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 27^-39^ lbs. 

 per cu. ft. Boulger (15) gives the specific gravity as 272-664 

 and the weight per cu. ft. as 31-47 lbs., which are mutually 

 contradictory. Hardness Grade 7, compare English Birch. 

 Smell very faint. Taste astringent rather than bitter, develops 

 slowly upon the tongue. Burns moderately well with much 

 crackling : embers glow in still air and consume rapidly to the 

 white ash : no aroma. Solution pinkish, deeping upon addition 

 of potash : copious red ppt. 



Grain. Rather coarse and open. Surface slightly lustrous 

 in radial section, but rather dull in others. 



Bark. ? 



Uses, etc. " Cigar boxes and similar articles, timber 12-24 

 inches on the side by 18-40 feet in length " (60). Laslett also 

 gives useful mechanical tests. " Recommended for wainscoting 

 rooms and for chests, the inside work of clothes-presses and 

 drawers from the circumstance that vermin are not known to 

 breed in it, shingles will last 15 years" (57). A brittle wood. 



Authorities. Holzapffel (48), p. 79. Saldanha da Gama (99). 

 Martin (68), p. 230. Smith (111), p. 101. Kew Guide (57), 

 p. 62. Laslett (60), p. 269. Wiesner (131), L. 6, p. 94. Schom- 

 burgk (105). Boulger (15!, 186. 



Colour. Brownish-red : light brick-red. " Sap-wood narrow 

 reddish-white " (15). 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Clear on account of their size, Grade 2-3 : appear 

 scarcely lighter in clean-out section : a pore-ring of a scanty row 

 of large pores, smaller pores widely scattered with an approach 

 to a concentric arrangement amongst them : 1-6 per mm. : 

 contents seldom visible in this section in the solid. 



Rays. Size 5-6 : 4-7 per mm. : brick-red in colour. 



Ring-boundaries very prominent. 



Soft-tissue. In prominent, widely-separated, continuous, con- 

 centric lines very much broader than the Rays, often \ inch 

 apart : also vague arcs or wings to the outer pores of the ring 



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