254 



///. — Sloane, Hist. Jamaica, ii. t. 10, ff. 1-4 {Lignum campe- 

 chianum) ; Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and Bahama Is. ii. 

 t. 66 (Lignum ca?npechianum) ; Plenck, Ic. iv. t. 329 ; Lam. Encycl. 

 t. 340, f. 1 ; Desc. Ant. ii. t. 73 ; Tuss. Ant. iv. t. 36 ; Hayne, Darst. 

 Beschr. Gewache, x. t. 44 ; Nees von Esenbeck, Plant. Medic. Diisseld. 

 t. 342 ; Woodville, Med. Bot. iii. t. 163 ; Guimpel, Abbild. Beschr. 

 t. 165; Burnett, PI. Util. iv. t. 121b; Baillon, Hist. PI. ii. p. 83, 

 ff. 49-51 ; Zippel, Ausl. Handels. Nahrpfl. t. 32 ; Bentl. & Trimen, 

 Med. PI. t. 86 ; Engl. & Prantl, Pflan. iii. pt. 3, f. 93 A-D ; Shattuck, 

 Bahama Is. t. 39 (habit) ; Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxxi. 1904, p. 371, 

 f. 1 (seedlings of "red" and "bastard" logwood, 1 year old), p. 376, 

 f. 2 (flowers of " blue," "red," and "bastard" logwood) ; Bull. Dept. 

 Agric. Jamaica, ii. 1904, p. 245, f. 1 (seedlings of " red " and 

 "bastard" logwood), p. 249, f. 2 (flowers of "blue," "red," and 

 " bastard " logwood). 



Logwood ; Peachwood. 



The flowers are very attractive to bees. A large proportion of the 

 Jamaica honey is obtained from them (Journ. Jamaica Agric. Soc. 

 1902, p. 85). "Logwood Honey" is water white (I.e. 1907, p. 65), 

 compares very favourably with "Alfalfa," "Sage," or "White Clover" 

 honey (I.e. 1902, p. 264) and is equal to the purest honey gathered 

 from any bloom whatever in the United States (I.e. 1901, p. 326). 



The wood is suitable for posts and cabinet-work. Medicinally it 

 is an astringent, used in the form of decoction in diarrhoea. Its 

 chief use is as a dye, which is obtained from the heartwood and 

 root-stock. 



It is tough, hard, and dense — specific gravity 1*057 (Bentley & 

 Trimen, Med. PI. No. 86), 61 to 67 lbs. per cubic foot (Gamble, Man. 

 Ind. Timb. p. 271). A specimen of the commercial dyewood in the 

 Museum at Kew has a proportionate density of 0'972=60*75 lbs. per 

 cubic foot. 



Good Logwood shows in cross-section a dark-red colour which 

 deepens on exposure to a colour approaching purple, and a decoction 

 soon becomes highly coloured. 



The Logwood cutters in Yucatan distinguish between four varieties 

 of the wood " Tinta Negra," " Tinta Maria," " Tinta Catzim " and 

 " Tinta Amarilla Catzim " according to the dye content (Bucher, 

 Bull. Bot. Dept. Jamaica, 1896, p. 182). 



The so-called " bastard logwood " is lighter in colour, does not 

 darken on exposure, and water in which chips are immersed shows 

 little or no purple colour; it is valueless for dyeing purposes. A 

 sample at Kew has sp. gr. 0'8154=50"9 lbs. per cubic foot. This class 

 of wood has been found to contain 6*34 to 6*69 per cent of tannin, of 

 •yalue for tanning book-binding leather (Drabble & Nierenstein, 

 Journ. Inst. Comm. Res. Tropics, Liverpool Univ. April, 1907, p. 40). 



The cause of this difference in the wood appears to be uncertain — 

 botanically no differences can be observed, and no distinguishing 

 characters are evident until the trees are cut. Experiments have 

 been undertaken (1903) at Hope Gardens, Jamaica, and the New York 

 Botanical Gardens with seedlings of the trees producing normal and 

 abnormal dye-wood in order to try and ascertain the cause of the 

 occurrence of bastard logwood (Journ. New York Bot. Gdn. iv. 1903, 

 p. 4). A parallel case in this country is met with in " Brown Oak " 

 the cause of which is as yet also unexplained. 



