CAPE BOXWOOD 



Authorities. Nordlinger (86), p. 514. Ditto (86), vol. iii. p. 42- 

 Mathieu (69), p. 306. Laslett (60), p. 162. Gamble (37), p. 369. 

 Hartig (42), p. 33. Boulger (12), Stevenson (113), p. 131. Wies- 

 ner (131), L. 12, p. 962. 



Commonly confused with West Indian Box, from which it is 

 not readily distinguishable when once worked up. 



Colour. Light to dark yellow or brownish, in zones of lighter 

 and darker shade. A sap-wood tree, no heart. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Need lens, very fine, size 6, almost uniform : evenly 

 scattered : numerous, 200-400 per sq. mm. : a narrow zone of 

 Autumn wood without them : no groups, practically all single : 

 round. 



Rays. Need lens, very fine, size 6, uniform : straight, long : 

 very slightly denser than the ground-tissue, difficult to see with 

 lens in a transparent section : rather numerous, 5-11 per mm. : 

 white : much more than a pore -width apart. 



Rings. Clear. Boundary a narrow, pore-less zone of Autumn 

 wood, little contrast except by depth of colour : always narrow, 

 i.e. of slow growth. 



Soft-tissue. Scattered cells perhaps in finely marked undulat- 

 ing lines (micro.). " In nests in the neighbourhood of the pores ' ' 

 (86). 



Pith. Very small, about ^-i/o mm. diam., of a diamond, 

 lozenge or winged shape : nearly always perfect. Plate XXII. 

 Fig. 178 



Radial Section. A trifle lighter in shade than the Transverse. 

 Pores need lens, practically imperceptible. Rays just visible 

 with lens in certain lights. Rings indicated by variation in light 

 and shade with a faint, fine line at the boundary. 



Tangential Section. As the Radial, but the rays are imper- 

 ceptible except with the microscope in any light. 



Type specimens from commercial sources as regards the 

 foreign woods, but from trees known before felling in the case 

 of the English Boxwood. 



No. 169. CAPE BOXWOOD. Buxus Macowani. 



Oliv. 



Plate XII. Fig. 105. 



Natural Order. Euphorbiaceas. 



Alternative Name. East London Boxwood. Gonioma Kam- 

 assi also goes by this name (see No. 143)- 



Source of Supply. South Africa. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 74 lbs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 2, compare English Boxwood. Smell 



193 



