| | Commercial timbers |
Nomenclature etc. ARALIACEAE. Syn.: Kalopanax septemlobus (Thunb.) Koidz., K. ricinifolius (Thunb.) Miq., Acanthopanax ricinifolius (Sieb. & Zucc.) Seem. Trade and local names: sen noki, haragiri, nakoda (JP), tsitsin (CN), "Goldrüster", "Sen Esche" (DE); devil's walking stick, white nut tree, Castor-oil tree, Castor aralia (GB). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Tree. Geographic distribution: temperate Asia.
General. Growth ring boundaries distinct. Heartwood basically brown to yellow to white or grey. Sapwood colour similar to heartwood colour. Density 0.5–0.7 g/cm³.
Vessels. Vessels present. Wood ring porous. Ring of earlywood vessels uniseriate. Vessels arranged in tangential bands (wavy), in multiples, commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows and in clusters (latewood only). Average tangential vessel diameter 75–185–315 µm. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 7–9 µm, pits vestured or not vestured. Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, different from intervessel pits, rounded or angular. Helical thickenings absent. Tyloses present, thinwalled.
Tracheids and fibres. Vascular or vasicentric tracheids commonly present. Fibres very thin-walled, or of medium wall thickness. Fibre pits mainly restricted to radial walls, simple to minutely bordered. Fibres septate and non-septate; evenly distributed.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma present (sparse), banded. Bands marginal (or seemingly marginal). Axial parenchyma bands much wider than rays. Bands coarse. Axial parenchyma apotracheal, or paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates. Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 4–5.
Rays. Rays 5–7 per tangential mm, multiseriate, (1–)2–6 cells wide. Height of large rays up to 500 µm, or commonly 500 to 1000 µm. Rays composed of two or more cell types (heterocellular). Heterocellular rays with square and upright cells restricted to marginal rows, mostly 1 marginal row of upright or square cells or mostly 2–4 marginal rows of upright or square cells (rarely).
Mineral inclusions. Crystals not observed. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour of water extract colourless to brown. Ethanol extract not fluorescent. Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown. Froth test positive. Splinter burns to partial ash. Ash white to grey.
Illustrations. • Macroscopic images. transverse (ca. 10x). radial (natural size). • Transverse section 1. slow grown tree with very narrow growth increments. • Transverse section 2. fast grown tree with wide growth increments. • Tangential section. septate fibres regularly present in this specimen. • Radial section.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2000 onwards. Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
