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GLUCOSIDE OCCURRING IN THE TIMBER OF THE RED ASH. 
THH GLUCOSIDE OCCURRING IN THE TIMBER OF 
THE “RED ASH,” ALPHITONIA EXCELSA, RHISS. 
By HENRY GEORGE SMITH and JOHN READ. 
[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, December 6, 1922. | 
THE “Red Ash,’’ Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss, belonging to 
the N.O. Rhamnee, is widely distributed throughout the 
eastern and northern parts of Australia, and in Queensland 
it is one of the characteristic trees of the “‘Brigalow scrubs.”’ 
It produces a timber of excellent quality, and as a hardwood 
is Suitable for coach-building, heavy doors, and similar uses. 
The heart-wood of this timber, when freshly cut, is of a 
light pinkish tint, but on exposure to light and air it darkens 
considerably, eventually assuming a deep red _ colour, 
whence the common name of “Red Ash.”’ This distinguish- 
ing colour, however, exists only on the surface, as on 
removing a thin shaving the wood beneath is shown to be 
ofa much lighter tint. The red colour is caused by the 
slow alteration or oxidation of a characteristic constituent, 
which in certain instances is deposited in some quantity in 
the shakes and cracks of the timber. 
The material used in the present investigation was 
obtained from the Sydney Technological Museum, which 
recently came into possession of a log of “‘Red Ash”’ 
collected near Morrisett, New South Wales; the heart- 
wood of this specimen was much shaken, and the shakes 
contained a soft white substance, somewhat chalky in 
appearance, which was evidently an aggregation of the 
characteristic constituent always present in the timber of 
this tree. 
