Psydrax

Voucher:  Psydrax latifolia F.Muell. ex Benth. JAB153  Previously known as Canthium latifolium.

Family:  Rubiaceae  Common name(s):   Native currant, wild currant

Habit:  Tree to 3 m tall.  Distribution:   South-west Queensland, north-west New South Wales, northern South Australia, central Northern Territory and central Western Australia.

General features: Density 900 kg/m3 .   Heartwood absent or visually indiscernible from sapwood.  Maiden (1889) describes the wood as "pinkish, with streaks of a darker colour".

Microscopic features:

Vessels  Tangential vessel diameter: range 13-32 µm; mean 19 µm; SD 4 µm; average maximum 40-46 µm; n =   212 vessels.  Vessels per square millimetre: range 353-515 vessels per mm2 ; n = 3 sampled areas.   Vessels arranged in radial multiples; number difficult to determine as vessels and parenchyma hard to distinguish.  Vessel to vessel pits vestured.  Perforation plates simple.

Axial parenchyma    Axial parenchyma arrangement difficult to determine as parenchyma and vessels hard to distinguish. 

Rays  Rays 1-2 cells wide with uniseriate rays present (n = 65 rays).  Rays of uniform width and not wider than vessels.  Rays 9-13 per tangential mm (n =   8 sampled areas).  Ray height: range 128-454 µm; mean 230 µm; SD 72 µm; n =    30 rays.   Rays homocellular or heterocellular?   

Helical thickenings   Absent.

Physical and chemical tests:   Chrome azurol-s test negative.  

Notes:  Heartwood-dependent characters are not assessed for wood where heartwood is absent or visually indiscernible from sapwood until such time it can be reliably determined that heartwood is present.