152 FAMILIAR TREES 



the Rectory garden on the island of Foulness, which 

 is said ^to be the parent of all those in that part 

 of Essex, and to have been planted by one of the 

 Dutchmen vho embanked the island. 



The wood of the Tamarisk is greenish- white when 

 young, becoming rose-coloured or reddish. As will 

 be seen in our photomicrograph, the annual rings are 

 well defined by the presence of a zone of large pores 

 in the spring-wood, whilst in the later-formed wood 

 we have tangentially-arranged groups of much smaller 

 pores. The pith-rays are distinctly visible to the 

 naked eye, and of very unequal thickness. The 

 wood warps and cracks in drying, and is neither 

 durable nor of much value as fuel, though used for 

 that purpose in Egypt, Porto Santo, and other places 

 where wood is scarce. The tree is, however, distinctly 

 useful for bmding together and covering sand-dunes, 

 growing in situations too saline for most other 

 species, and attaining a height of ten feet or more 

 in four or five years. 



