THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



Grain. Very fine, even and close. Surface of the ground 

 scarcely bright : that of the rays very dull. 



Bark. £-f inch thick, hard, smooth, not fissured, covered 

 with pimples : separating in small thin papery scales. The rays 

 are continued into the bark. 



Uses, etc. " Marquetrie, cabinet-making, flooring, panelling " 

 (91). " Not used in carpentry and joinery but frequently in 

 fencing, as it splits easily : size of logs 4 ft. long by 18 inches in 

 diameter " (24). Works easily. 



Authorities. Perceval (91), p. 35. Laslett (60), pp. 249-411. 

 Collins (24). 



Colour. Light brown, brownish-white or reddish with dark 

 lines. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse sections : — 



Pores. Readily visible, size 3, medium, uniform : regularly 

 distributed in concave loops between the rays (dentate) : pore- 

 ring of one or at most two rows, no pores in the later wood : mostly 

 in contact laterally : in compact, concentric or clustered groups 

 of as many as 12 pores : few, 30-50 per sq. mm. : empty. 



Rays. Very prominent, size 2, broad, apparently com- 

 pound and of two sizes. The larger fairly equidistant, rarely 

 less than 1 mm. apart : straight and direct : nodose : very lax 

 yet denser than the ground-tissue : marked transversely with 

 fine bars : sometimes separating outwardly into more than one 

 smaller ray, i.e. forked. Smaller rays very weak : follow the 

 contour of the nodes of the larger when close to them : bright : 

 light red or brown. 



Rings. Clear, distinctly visible. Boundary the pore-ring 

 and its line of soft-tissue : contour finely dentate. 



Soft-tissue. Abundant in concentric lines following the contour 

 of the pore-ring : size about 5 : cells extended in a tangential 

 direction, rectangular : brown. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Lighter in shade than the Transverse section, 

 pores very fine but readily visible being shown up by their borders 

 of brown soft- tissue. Rays, bold, brown flakes resembling those 

 of the Plane tree. Rings very clear. Soft-tissue in very fine 

 light brown fines, close and parallel but often undulating. 



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

 spindle-shaped lines forming a reticulation with the ground- 

 tissue : to about f inch high by 0-5 mm. broad. The soft-tissue 

 appears as small, light brown flakes resembling the silver 

 grain of very fine-rayed wood. 



Type specimen authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of New Zealand and also from commercial sources. 



184 



