THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



wood : Cape Laurel : Bean Trefoil : Laurel-wood : Hard Black 

 Stinkwood (60). Soft-grey Stinkwood ? (61). 



Physical Characters, etc. Dry-weight 5if lb. per cu. ft. Hard- 

 ness Grade 2, compare Boxwood. Smell none when dry, even 

 when worked : " strong and unpleasant when fresh felled." (60). 

 Laslett says that it smells when worked but my specimens did 

 not. Taste none. Burns badly : flame readily dies out : very 

 little ash : unusually noisy : embers glow in still air. Solution 

 brown like brandy. 



Grain. Extremely fine, close, dense and smooth. Surface 

 lustrous and cold to the touch ; exhibits much " fire " or phos- 

 phorescent lustre. 



Bark. Leathery, brown, not fissured, about £ inch thick : 

 covered with a cuticle on which are small, oval, clearly-visible 

 lenticels. 



Uses, etc. " Building purposes in South Africa " (60). It is 

 the most beautiful dark-coloured wood that I have yet met with. 

 It is to be hoped that it will be preserved from extinction as it 

 is much better worth attention than many of the exotic trees 

 which seem to be the favourites of Colonial foresters. "A substi- 

 tute for Teak and equally durable, . . . wagons, cabinet-making, 

 gun-stocks . . . extremely tough " (57). " Beams and planks, 

 farm instruments, . . . 3-4 feet wide " (51). 



Authorities. Nordlinger (86), vol. vii., p. 33. Wiesner (46), 

 L. 6, p. 75. Boulger (12). Hutchins (51). Laslett (60), pp. 303, 

 305. Ditto (61), p. 440. Kew Guide (57), p. 32. 



Colour. Dark walnut or reddish-brown to black : uniform. 

 Sap-wood yellow, fairly well defined. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Just visible in certain lights, rather coarse, size 1-2, 

 little variation ; uniformly distributed, occupying the whole of 

 the ring sometimes in loose lines : few 9-35 per sq. mm. rarely 

 the latter : often sub-divided in groups of 2-4 or even 6, radial 

 or concentric : some with dark contents. 



Rays. Just visible, fine, size 5, uniform : long, tapering very 

 gradually : many, 5-9 per mm. : more or less equidistant : less 

 dense than the ground- tissue : weak, slightly avoiding the larger 

 pores. 



Rings. Rather obscure : discernible sometimes in a transparent 

 section : boundary a line of contrast between the lax tissue of 

 the inner part of each ring and the dense wood of the ring within : 

 contour well-rounded. 



Soft-tissue. Encircling the pores : also minute patches here 

 and there. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Slightly lighter in shade than the Transverse 



174 



