BANKSIA 



or in irregular, isolated, few-pored groups between the large rays. 

 Pore-ring not continuous : no pores in the later zones : few, 

 0-20 per sq. mm. accompanied by or strung upon a loop of soft- 

 tissue : usually filled with dark resin and also some white deposit 

 The groups and pores not readily visible in the solid apart from 

 the soft-tissue. 



Rays. Of two kinds or sizes, magnificently conspicuous. The 

 larger, size oo, exceptionally broad, compound, many-rowed : 

 the cells visible with a good hand-lens, rectangular, extended 

 radially, filled with a crimson pigment : fairly equidistant : not 

 nodose : i mm. or so apart : gently curved : lax but denser than 

 the ground : forking and tapering both ends occasionally : 

 " tongued and grooved " into the part which penetrates the bark. 

 Small rays extremely fine and few : rather thicker than a row 

 of cells of the larger : scarce, weak and difficult to find in the 

 solid : size 5-6 : about 2 per mm. 



Rings. Not very clear : discontinuous, vague, shaded bands. 



Pith. Coarse-celled, about 1 mm. diameter. 



Soft-tissue. In small rope-ladder-like, reddish loops between 

 the larger rays connecting and imbedding the pores. Obscure 

 in a transparent section but clear in the solid. 



Radial Section. Pores, easily discernible though not pro- 

 minent : follow the deviations of the mesh-like ground-tissue. 

 Rays, magnificent, broad, crimson, shining flakes of exceptional 

 beauty, like watered silk. 



Tangential Section. As the Radial, but the rays appear as 

 broad spindles interrupted and distorted by the ground-tissue : 

 about z\ or more inches high. The net-work of the rays and 

 ground- tissue suggest the fibres of a " Loofah." 



Type specimens authenticated by the Forest Officer to the 

 Government of Western Australia. 



No. 164. BANKSIA. Banksia littoralis. R. Br. 



(Not of Lindley : this latter is the B. collina of R. Brown). 



Plate XII. Fig 102. 



Alternative Name. Sea-side Banksia. 



Source of Supply. Western Australia. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 43I lbs. per cu. 

 ft. Hardness Grade 6, compare Ash. Smell faint if any. 

 Taste none. Burns fairly well with a faint sickly smell and 

 quiet flame : embers glow in still air : no resin expelled by heat : 

 ash grey. Solution pinkish. 



Grain. Very fine though open. Surface silky. The rays are 

 dull in tangential section, but have a slight lustre in other 

 sections. " Slightly sticky to the touch." 



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