CRABWOOD 



ft. Hardness Grade 6, compare Beech or Chestnut. Smell or 

 taste faint or none. Burns well with a lively crackling flame : 

 embers glow in still air : much ash. Solution yellowish or 

 brownish. 



Grain. Moderately coarse and open, but even in some 

 sections. Surface bright in radial section, but dull in tangential 

 section. 



Bark. ? 



Uses, etc. " In British Guiana for mill, and mortar-beds, 

 ordnance, house-framing : resists shock " (60). Laslett con- 

 demns it on account of splitting during seasoning, but I had a log 

 about 18 in. in diameter, which worked up very well. " Cabinet- 

 making, masts and spars, bitter-cups " (78). I suspect an error 

 here, as the wood is practically tasteless. Logs can be obtained 

 " up to 40 to 60 ft. long, or occasionally 170 ft. by 14 to 16 in. sq., 

 or even at times 30 to 42 in." (68 and 78). 



Authorities. Nordlinger (86), vol. x. p. 46. Laslett (60), 

 p. 278. McTurk (68), No. 34. Morris (78). Scott-Elliott and 

 Raisin (107). (k 



Colour. Heart-wood deep reddish brown, well defined from 

 the yellowish or whitish sap-wood. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Coarse, readily visible, size 2-3, little variation : in- 

 creasing as the tree ages : evenly distributed, mostly subdivided 

 into nest-like or radial groups of from 2 to 10 pores, rarely the 

 latter : about 8 pores or groups per sq. mm., often with red or 

 yellow contents. 



Rays. Need lens, narrow, size 5, uniform : equidistant : 

 long, but tapering rather abruptly : undulating in short waves : 

 as dense as the ground-tissue : 3 to 5 per mm. : nearly the same 

 colour as the rest of the wood. 



Rings. Clear here and there on account of a narrow line of 

 dense wood adjoining a broader band of spongy tissue. 



Soft-tissue encircling the pores with some slight lateral exten- 

 sions : plainer in the solid section when moistened. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Considerably lighter in shade than the trans- 

 verse section : pores prominent, coarse, open grooves : shining 

 and often containing red or black drops : rays, prominent, dull 

 flakes of much darker red : rings not traceable. 



Tangential Section. About the same shade as the transverse 

 section : pores less prominent than in the radial section, but 

 more numerous : rays just perceptible, short, narrow brown 

 lines about i*o mm. high. 



Tybe specimens authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of British Guiana. 



39 



