GREENHEART. 
IMPORTANCE OF THE WOOD. 
Greenheart (.Vectandra rodiwi Schomb.) is a South American and 
West Indian tree belonging to the laurel family (Lauracexz), which 
includes our red bay (Persea borbonia (Linn.) Spreng.) and sassa- 
fras (Sassafras sassafras (Linn.) Karst.). Native Indian names for 
it are bebeeru, bibiru, supeira, and sipiri. Another name sometimes 
given it is torchwood, due to the fact that the heartwood of older 
trees, which is full of oil, burns readily. 
The truly remarkable lasting qualities of mature greenheart wood 
have given the tree a world-wide reputation. Authentic records show 
that the best grades surpass iron and steel in durability when placed 
in water or in contact with the soil. This extraordinary freedom 
from decay is due in part to the presence in the wood of an alkaloid 
known as biberine, and in part to the presence of resinous substances 
known as tyloses. These latter consist of reddish-brown masses of 
parenchymatous (living) cells growing in solid masses within vessel 
cavities, often completely filling them. As they develop with the 
growth of the tree they turn dark, sometimes coloring the wood nearly 
black. It is the extent of their development, and consequently the 
age of the tree, which in large measure determines the color of the 
wood.’ thus giving rise to three varieties—yellow, gray, and black 
greenheart—recognized in the trade. As might be expected, the black 
variety is the most durable, since the dark color testifies in general to 
the abundant development of tyloses. 
Next to sugar, greenheart has long been the chief article of export 
from British Guiana. Its valuable properties first became known to 
English timber merchants in 1769, and from then on it has been im- 
ported in large quantities, first into England and later into the United 
States. Although already well known, its importance in the timber 
trade in this country promises to increase, since no other foreign 
wood is so well adapted to so many important uses, 
1 First discovered in the bark and seeds by Dr. Rodie in 1854. It is now used as a 
substitute for cinchona. Both the bark and seeds have a market value as sources of 
supply and are exported in quantity. See ‘“‘ The Technologist,” vol. 3, 1863, pp. 140-142. 
2 The dark color of the wood may also in some instances be due to the character of the © 
soil in which the tree grew, since trees growing in wet or dark mucky soil take up 
highly colored substances, which, in their upward course through the stem of the tree, 
are deposited on the inner walls of the wood elements. 
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