Part 26 (1/2)
APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, light red brown, sap-wood almost white; diffuse-porous; rings, fine and difficult to distinguish; grain, straight, close, polishes well; rays, numerous, very obscure.
PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Weight, medium (34th in this list); 37 lbs. per cu. ft.; sp. gr., 0.5909; medium strong (52d in this list); elasticity medium (44th in this list); medium hard (36th in this list); shrinkage, 6 per cent.; warps and twists badly in seasoning; not durable when exposed; easy to work; crumbles in splitting; nails badly.
COMMON USES: Building construction, cabinet-work, veneering, street pavement, barrel staves and heads.
REMARKS: Largely used in veneers, because when solid it warps and twists badly. Exudations used in medicine to some extent.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Radial Section, life size.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Tangential Section, life size.]
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SYCAMORE. b.u.t.tONWOOD. b.u.t.tON BALL. WATER BEECH.
Sycamore, from two Greek words meaning fig and mulberry; b.u.t.tonwood and b.u.t.ton-ball, refer to fruit b.a.l.l.s.
_Plata.n.u.s occidentalis_ Linnaeus.
_Plata.n.u.s_, refers to the broad leaves; _occidentalis_, western, to distinguish it from European species.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Habitat.]
HABITAT: (See map); best in valley of lower Ohio and Mississippi.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Leaf.]
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TREE: Height, 70'-100', and even 170'; diameter, 6'-12'; trunk, commonly divides into 2 or 3 large branches, limbs spreading, often dividing angularly; bark, flakes off in great irregular ma.s.ses, leaving mottled surface, greenish gray and brown, this peculiarity due to its rigid texture; leaves, palmately 3 to 5 lobed, 4”-9” long, petiole enlarged, enclosing buds; fruit, large rough b.a.l.l.s, persistent through winter.
APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, reddish brown, sap-wood lighter; diffuse-porous; rings, marked by broad bands of small ducts; grain, cross, close; rays, numerous, large, conspicuous.
PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Weight, medium (38th in this list); 35 lbs.
per cu. ft.; sp. gr., 0.5678; medium strong (54th in this list); elasticity, medium (43d in this list); medium hard (30th in this list); shrinkage, 5 per cent.; warps little; very durable, once used for mummy coffins; hard to work; splits very hard.
COMMON USES: Tobacco boxes, yokes, furniture, butcher blocks.
REMARKS: Trunks often very large and hollow.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Radial Section, life size.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Tangential Section, life size.]
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