THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



cu. ft. Hardness Grade 4, compare Hornbeam. Smell none when 

 dry, like rose-water when green. Taste rather astringent. Burns 

 indifferently, flame readily dies out but the embers glow in still 

 air and consume away to the ash. Solution with water or 

 alcohol colourless. 



Grain. Close, fine and dense. Surface of the ground some- 

 what lustrous. 



Bark. Corky, velvety and pleasant to the touch : fissured 

 deeply to the bast : about $-J inch thick. 



Uses, etc. Turnery : " Difficult to dry, . . . much subject 

 to splitting, . . . combs, etc." (69). " Tough, shrinks much, 

 not very durable " (131). 



Authorities. Hartig (42), pp. 31, 41. Schwartz (106), p. 482. 

 Nordlinger (87). p. 539. Ditto (86), vol. iii. p. 75. Mathieu 

 {69), p. 208. Wiesner (131), L. 12, p. 1007. A small tree 

 seldom met with in logs of any size. Not readily confused 

 with other woods. 



Colour. Light yellowish heart-wood : sap-wood white, about 

 ten rings wide. Nordlinger regards it as a sap-wood tree. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Just visible, fine, size 5, somewhat variable in size 

 but not larger in the Spring wood than elsewhere : crowded in 

 all parts of the ring, especially in the Spring wood, where they 

 are from 71-150 per mm. : in groups of 2-7 : a lightly branched 

 or concentrically- waved arrangement in the outer part of the ring. 



Rays. Just visible, medium, size 4, uniform : tapering gently 

 at both ends : direct not avoiding the pores, much more than a 

 pore width apart : very numerous, about 7 per mm. : very little 

 denser than the ground-tissue. 



Rings. Well marked on account of the pore-ring following 

 the slightly less porous Autumn zone. 



Soft-tissue. Rare, a few groups of cells usually arranged radially. 



Pith. " Large, to 10 mm. diameter : round : white : of very 

 coarse cells" (87). 



Radial Section. Pores fine, colourless, almost imperceptible 

 lines. Rays colourless, indistinct flakes. Rings not traceable. 



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

 imperceptible with lens. 



Type specimens from trees known before felling. 



No. 124. HACKIA. Ixora ferrea. Benth. 



Plate IX. Fig. 78. 

 Natural Order. Rubiacese. 



Synonyms. Ixora triflorum. Benth. Siderodendron triflorum. 

 Vahl. Siderodendrum triflorum. W. 



142 



