GOEDONIA. 143 



than those of the slopes, he named Gordonia obtusa with seven 

 others, as being chiefly in use. Gamble, Flora of Madras, i, 1915, p. 

 80, says, wood reddish, hard, and close grained, but little used. 

 Trimen recorded of the Ceylon G. zeylanica (Handbook of the Flora 

 of Ceylon, i. 1893, p. Ill) "wood red, smooth, hard, shining" and 

 after this he adds words which imply that the carpenters up 

 country in Ceylon are familiar with the use of it. Bidley quoting 

 Maingay, (Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and Federated Malay 

 States, i. 1901, p. 48) wrote of the Malayan G. excelsa, (but 

 Maingay though doubtless referring to a Gordonia may not have 

 had G. excelsa before him), "Wood pale red, fine to medium 

 grain, good for houses, beams and boats. Weight 59 lbs. 5| oz. and 

 65 lbs. 7-|oz." De Sturler, (Oat. Descript des especes de Bois de 

 VArchipel des hides Orientates, 1867, p. 16) stated that a Gordonia 

 of vV. Java* furnishes a reddish brown wood of great density em- 

 ployed by carpenters; and that it works well. On p. 36 under the 

 name of Aylapia, he stated that a Gordonia of Amboyna gave a 

 reddish wood, used but not durable. 



Cantley's collector in Malacca in 1886 obtained G. singa- 

 poriana witli the note that the timber is used in house building 

 and is durable. The same in 1885 noted of what appears to be 

 G. hirtella that the wood is a dirty dark colour, and its heart black, 

 that it sinks in water and is used for house posts being very durable 

 for this purpose. 



Elmer while giving no uses for 67. Welborni describes the 

 wood as " hard, somewhat burly, and reddish." 



Moll and Janssonius (Mil-rographie des Holtzes der auf Java 

 vorkommender Baumarten, 1906, p. 334) described the structure 

 of the wood of G. excelsa, from Koorders' material; and on p. 338 

 they described the wood of Haemocharis integerrima. 



Whitford (Forests of the Philippines, part ii, 1911, p. 59) 

 states that Gordonia luzonica is of no importance to the lumberman. 



The Foliage. 



All the Gordonias are evergreen. Foliation in G. singaporiana 

 occurs in flushes of about four leaves generally of increasing size, 

 and the next leaf is small again, but the last leaf may be small 

 especially if it subtends a flower; and leaves at various points may 

 also be small subtending flowers. The leaves persist over more 

 than a year, and there may perhaps be two flushes in the twelve 

 months. At the top of the forest their length may be 15 cm., 

 but young trees in shade carry leaves as much as 35 cm. long, by 

 10 cm. in breadth. 



Along the margins of the leaves of Gordonia, when expanded, 

 little blackish bodies may be seen, which if the leaf has teeth are 

 on their apices, but are not absent if the teeth be so. These are 



* This is more likely to be Haemocharis integerrima than Gordonia 

 excelsa. Both have the same vernacular name — Kimandjel. 



R. A. Soc, No. 76, 1917. 



