THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



or taste none. Burns well and quietly : embers glow in still air 

 and consume very slowly. Solution colourless. 



Grain. Smooth, fine, dense, even and cold to the touch. 

 Surface indifferently bright. 



Bark. About £ inch thick, very hard. Two layers, the inner 

 a dark ring, the outer brown, chalky, with vertical fissures. In 

 Transverse section there are alternate brown and black layers : 

 lenticels rare. 



Uses, etc. Splits extremely easily and cleanly, may be cleft 

 into thin plates. Usually met with in the form of small straight 

 logs or sticks a few inches in diam., with bark still attached. 



Colour and Anatomical Characters. Nearly identical with 

 Buxus sempervirens, the European Boxwood, No. 168. Flecks 

 may be occasionally met with as dusky, narrow lines or spots, 

 apparently of two kinds. When present they are a dis- 

 tinctive mark. 



Type specimens from commercial sources. Not authen- 

 ticated but reputed to be this species. 



No. 170. CHINESE BOXWOOD. Buxus sp. 



Plate XII. Fig. 105. 



Natural Order. Euphorbiacese. 



Physical Characters. As those of the European Boxwood 

 except as regards the weight per cu. ft., for which I have no 

 reliable data. A good, freely-working wood. 



Grain. Extremely fine and dense. Surface lustrous. 



Colour. Deep yellow approaching orange. No heart-wood. 



Anatomical Characters, etc. As those of B. sempervirens with 

 1he following slight variations. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Distinctly larger than in the Common Boxwood, No. 

 168, diminishing considerably in size towards the outer side of the 

 ring and apparently in number also : numerous, about 90 per 

 sq. mm. : a broad conspicuous zone of dark, pore-less wood : few 

 if any subdivided. 



Rays. Need lens, size 5-6 : straight : long : denser than the 

 ground : visible with ease with the lens in transparent section : 

 very many, 9-13 per mm. 



Rings. Conspicuous on account of the dark zone, which is 

 rather broad for a Boxwood and free from pores. My specimen 

 has 10 rings per inch of radius. 



Radial Section. Lighter in shade but more uniform in colour. 

 Rings, very clear, though not prominent, lines of Autumn 

 wood. 



Type specimen from commercial sources. Not authen- 

 ticated. 



194 



