THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



lines, difficult to see : the colour bands prominent, black and 

 brown, sharply defined : soft-tissue visible as tails to the pores. 



Tangential Section. As the Radial, but the rays are minute 

 lines, needing considerable magnification, and the rings or bands 

 from their crenate contour exhibit a very pretty zigzag, toothed 

 arrangement of loops and fringes. 



Type specimen from commercial sources, not authenticated. 



No. 59. LOGWOOD. Hsematoxylon campechia- 

 num. Linn. 



Plate V. Fig. 38 [see below). 



Natural Order. Leguminosese. 



Sources of Supply. Brazil. West Indies and Central 

 America. 



Alternative Names. Palo de, or Pao Campeche: Campeachy- 

 wood : Bois de Nicarague : Bois de Sang (105). Blauholz : 

 Blutholz (131). Mahogany (99). 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 50 J to 67 lbs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 1, compare Ebony. Smell little if any : 

 " like violets " (131). Taste faint and peculiar, but neither " bit- 

 ter" (76) nor " sweet" (131). Burns well and quietly : no aroma : 

 embers glow in still air. Solution in water (not distilled) port- 

 wine colour, much intensified by potash : in alcohol, a beautiful 

 greenish-yellow, which turns an intense crimson upon the addition 

 of potash. Wiesner says, " Solution in distilled water yellow, 

 and in water containing lime, violet, then carmine-red " (131). 



Grain. Rather coarse. Surface dull except in radial section. 



Bark. " Dark brown, exfoliating in small plates " (37). 



Uses, etc. A dye-wood and occasionally for fancy-ware. 

 Usually comes to market in small billets about 3 to 4 ft. long 

 (109), " 10 to 20 ft. long" (Miers). 



Authorities. Gamble (37), new ed., p. 270. Miers (76). 

 Wiesner (131), p. 930. Kew Guide (57), p. 40. Sinclair (109). 

 Saldanha da Gama (99). 



Colour. Heart-wood red or mahogany-red, sharply defined 

 from the narrow (37) white sap-wood. " Warm reddish-brown, 

 much like Partridge-wood " (76) (not the Partridge-wood of the 

 English market). Darkens upon exposure. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Conspicuous from their arrangement in concentric 

 festoons : size 3, little variation : imbedded and connected by 

 soft-tissue : usually single, rarely more than pairs : widely separ- 

 ated : few, 7 to 26 per sq. mm. : many contain a white deposit. 



Rays. Need lens, size 5 to 6, uniform : long, too fine to taper 

 appreciably : numerous, 5 to 9 per mm. : lighter in colour than 



68 



