IRON-WOOD.
Pya of . . . ANYAB. Lignum ferreum, . LAT.
Pieng, . . . „ Sideroxylon, . . „ Jerntraa, . . . . DAN. Pao de ferro, . . PORT. Yserhout, . . DoT. Tverdodrevnik, . . Rus.
Bois de fer, . . . FR. Naw, . . . . SINGH.
Eisenholz, . . GER. Palohierro, . . . SP.
Legno di ferro, . . . IT. Jerntra, Iron-wood is a commercial term applied to a variety of woods, in consequence of their hard ness, and almost every country has an iron-wood of its own. One, the product of an evergreen tree, Sideroxylon, remarkable for the hardness and weight of its timber, which sinks in water, receives this name ; it is of a reddish hue, and corrodes like iron. This tree grows chiefly in the West India Islands, and is likewise very common in South America. Mesua ferrea, a tree furnishing one of the iron-woods, and which, also, has re ceived its specific name from the hardness of its wood, is a native of Ceylon and of the two Peninsulas of India, of Northern India, Malacca, and of the islands. M. pedunculata likewise furnishes part of the timber known under this name. That of Arakan is the Xylia dolabiformis ; but in Ceylon, the Maba buxifolia and Mimusops Indica also furnish the iron-woods of that island. The Ceylonese have also an iron - wood tree known under the name of Naw, of the western provinces of Ceylon, perhaps the M. ferrea. It is described as used for bridges and buildings. The timber of the Metrosideros vera of China is called true iron-wood. The Chinese are said to make their rudders and anchors of it, and, among the Japanese, it is so scarce and valuable, that it once was only allowed to be manufactured for the service of their king. The iron-wood of southern China, however, is Baryxylon rnfum ; of the island of Bourbon, Stadmannia sideroxylon ; and of the Cape of Good Hope, Sideroxylon melano phleos, which latter is very hard, close-grained, and sinks in water. That of the Canara forests is from two species of Memecylon (rainiflornm, um bellatum), and on the Coromandel coast the term is occasionally applied to the wood of the Casuarina equisetifolia. In Tenasserim, the term is applied
to the woods of Inga xylocarpa and I. bijemina, and to that of a species of Diospyros. The iron wood of Australia is from a species of Eucalyptus, E. sideroxylon, and that of Norfolk Island from the Notelma longifolia. The iron-wood of Guiana is from the Robinia panacoco (of Aublet), that of Jamaica is the Fagara pterota, and Erythroxylum areolatum is also called red - wood. IEgiphyla Martinicensis and Coccoloba latifolia are other West •Indian trees, to the timbers of which the name of iron-wood has been applied ; and Ostrya Virginica, called American hop hornbeam, has wood exceedingly hard and heavy, whence it is generally called iron-wood in America, and in some places lever-wood. Under the name of iron wood, two specimens were sent by the Calcutta Committee to the Exhibition of 1862. One of them, Pya, Vern., a tree of Akyab, grows to a moderate size, tand. is' plentiful in the Sandoway and Ramree : districts. The other iron - wood, also a tree of Akyab, grows to a large size, and is very plentiful in Arakan ; its wood is 'very hard, and used for posts. One of these, is perhaps the Xylia dolabriformis, Benth. The iron-wodd the South Sea Islands is the timber of Ube:Casuarina equisetifolia. The iron wood of New Zealand is the Vitex littoralis. The Aki or ;Lignum vitre of New Zealand, the Rata and the Pohutu kawa of the same country, are all haid-wooded trees belonging to the genus Metro siderds, Lindley; and several other species of MetrOsideros have been described, natives of Aukralia and the South Sea Islands, as furnishing iron-woods of commerce. The Metrosideros buxi folia of Allan Cunningham is the New Zealand plant called Aid, and is a rambling shrub, adher ing to trees, and climbing by means of its lateral roots to the summits of the loftiest trees in the forests of Wangaroa and the Bay of Islands. Eng. Cyc.; Holtzaptfel; Faulkner • Macgillivray ; Dr. Bennett ; Mr. Mendis ; Dr. Mason, Cal. Cat. Ex. of 1862; 31‘ Culloch.