Supplemental Chapter 1:

Tree and Forest Products

Ache apple (Blighia sapida)

West African fruit/vegetable tree imported to Jamaica, where it is known as akee, and whence some of the fruit is now exported to the Jamaican community in Britain. In West Africa, e.g. in northern Ghana, it grows wild and is not much appreciated, but in Jamaica it is very popular and it is planted, not just as single trees but also in plantations. The ‘fruit’ is boiled and typically eaten with salt fish. It is rich in protein and fat, and tastes somewhat like scrambled eggs.

 

African cherry

Also known as Prunus africana, Pygeum africanum, or red stinkwood. Tree species in the montane forests of tropical Africa and Madagascar, yielding a bark from which is made a medicine, pygea, against benign prostatic hyperplasia. In Africa the bark is used to treat chest pains, malaria and other fevers.

 

Agatized wood

Fossilized wood that has had its organic matter replaced by agate, a silica mineral. Most fossilized or petrified wood has in fact been agatized, although it could also have been permeated by calcite or other substances. See also Lesbos (Lésvos) Petrified Forest Park.

 

Alpha-pinene

A colourless liquid occurring as a major component of the essential oil of pine trees, and used as a chemical raw material. The main source of alpha-pinene is turpentine obtained in the sulphate process of making paper pulp.

 

Amber

Amber is fossilized tree resin. Gems are made from the better grades. It occurs all over the world, but the main deposits are in 40 to 60 million years old sands under and along the edges of the Baltic Sea. There are also considerable deposits under the North Sea, and every day pieces of amber wash ashore with the high tide along the Danish west coast, messengers from some world which vanished under the North Sea as the sea level rose. Insects got trapped in the sticky resin and were preserved in the amber ¾ hundreds of these ancient species of insects have been classified.

Already in the Stone Age amber was an important export from the Baltic Sea region, and so it is still today, e.g. from Riga.

Cf. Whitby amber.

 

Aspirin

The active ingredient of aspirin is salicin, which during the first half of the 19th century was derived from the bark of the European white willow, Salix alba. In fact ‘salicin’, sometimes spelled with an ‘e’ at the end, and the related names of its compounds, are derived from the Latin name Salix. The peoples throughout the area of natural distribution of the willows, from North America through Europe to Russia, had discovered the febrifuge properties of willow bark long before its active ingredient was identified and synthesised. An infusion made from ground willow branches was also used by the Egyptian Copts as a remedy. The bark of poplar, a closely related genus which also belongs to the family Salicaceae, also contains salicin and was also used as a febrifuge, but less so.

 

Avocado

‘Avocado’ is the name of a subtropical fruit and of the tree (Persea americana) which bears it. The name is derived from the Aztec word ahuacatl, which means ‘testicle tree’.

 

 

Balsam

Aromatic resinous substance used in perfume, medicine and incense. It is often derived from trees.

 

Balsa-wood

The very light wood of the South American tropical tree Ochroma lagopus. Used for building model aeroplanes. The name ‘balsa’ is derived from the Spanish word for ‘raft’. The Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl and his companions constructed the raft ‘Kon-Tiki’* from balsa-wood.

 

Bark

The function of the bark is to protect the sensitive cambium layer underneath, where the growth of the tree takes place. Some trees like eucalypts and plane-trees shed their rough dark outer bark, and the smooth white stem which emerges then looks as if it did not have any bark at all, but all trees do. The bark may represent 10-30% of the total volume of the stem, depending on species, age and site. Species with thick bark are generally more fire-resistant. Tree bark can be used for fuel, compost, mulching or insulation. Cork, quinine, many medicines (senna*, guaiacum* etc.) and other products are derived from bark. Cf. Birch.

 

Bay leaf

Leaf of the bay tree, Laurus nobilis; used for making wreaths for crowning victorious athletes in ancient Greece and illustrious persons in general in ancient Rome (hence the term ‘laureate’), for medicine in the middle ages, and for cooking today. Bay leaves are aromatic, and the Oracle of Delphi used to chew them. Cf. Laurel.

 

Bender

‘Bender’ is a name used by Gypsies in SW England for their traditional homes made from bent poles and sticks, generally of hazel wood.

 

Bentwood furniture

Furniture made from wooden rods bent into shape by the application of heat and steam. An early example were the Windsor chairs in the 18^th century, but the big breakthrough came with the Austrian cabinet-maker Michael Thonet during the second half the 19^th century. In the 20^th century the Swiss architect Le Corbusier promoted the technique, and it also provided the inspiration for the tubular steel furniture.

 

Betel nut

Betel nuts, seed of the areca palm (Areca catechu), are chewed together with betel leaves (from the betel pepper plant, Piper betle), and with lime which releases the stimulating alkaloids (cf. Coca). Betel is chewed by one tenth of the human population, from India to SE Asia. The areca palm, which is cultivated in those countries, reaches a height of up to 15 m. The betel alkaloid is used by veterinarians as a de-worming agent, which may be a clue to its widespread use by humans.

 

Bilharzia, Cure for

‘Desert date’(Balanites aegyptiaca) is a small tree which grows in dry areas of Africa from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic in the west, and to Zambia in the south. It produces fruit, fodder and a good wood. The fruit pulp is dried by nomadic tribes and used as food. An emulsion made from the fruit is lethal to the snail which is host of bilharzia and to the water flea which carries the pathogenic Guinea-worm. As this emulsion is harmless to humans and domestic animals, it can be used to treat wells and other water supplies.

 

Bluebell

The lovely bluebell woods of May are an important feature in the English collective imagination. Wild bluebells are confined to ancient woodlands, and in Britain about half of those have been lost since the 1930s, so in that respect the bluebell is an endangered forest plant. It does not occur in the same profusion in other European countries.

 

Blueberries

Important forest product in the Nordic countries. The fruit of low, deciduous woodland shrubs of the species Vaccinium myrtillus which are found from Ireland in the west to central Siberia in the east, mainly in coniferous forests, and more particularly under spruce. It is used to make juice, pies, jam, soup and cordial, and is said to be a good remedy for high blood pressure. Formerly it was also used as a dye. The slightly taller North American variety V. corymbosum is also cultivated. Cf. Lingonberries.

 

Brazilwood

Brazilwood, also known as Pernambuco wood, Bahia wood, Caesalpinia echinata and Guilandina echinata has for the past 250 years been the preferred wood for the making of bows for violins. They are made by some 400 small firms situated mainly in France, the US, the UK, Germany, Brazil and China. Since the year 2000 more than three quarters of the world’s bow-makers have contributed to the International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative which has planted more than 500,000 trees in NE Brazil and strives to increase public awareness about the conservation of brazilwood. But in spite of that, in 2007 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) placed Caesalpinia echinata on its list of protected species, at the request of Brazilian scientists.

A red dye is also obtained from the wood, and in the Brazilian state of Pará the tree is sometimes planted for that purpose. The Portuguese name of this wood, Pau Brasil, was the title of a 1925 manifesto by the Brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade in which he wrote that Brazil should find itself and not follow Portuguese culture so slavishly.

 

Breadfruit

The breadfruit, staple food of the South Pacific, comes from a tree, Artocarpus communis, also called A. incisa or A. altilis. The purpose of Captain William Bligh’s ill-fated expedition on HMS the Bounty was to collect seedlings of the breadfruit tree in Tahiti and take them to the West Indies where they would be planted to provide food for the slaves. All that was done, in spite of the mutiny, but in the end the slaves did not like the breadfruit. In the South Seas, cloth is made from the inner bark, canoes and furniture from the wood, and caulking material from the milky juice.

 

Building poles

Second most important use of wood in the developing countries, after fuelwood. Used for fences, for building the houses, and for other purposes. Because the fuelwood there is generally collected by women and children, the men in the villages are rarely interested in treeplanting, so to make them interested one can point out that the planted trees will also yield building timber. It is like selling a product by dangling an attractive freebie in front of the customer. I spent much time sitting in the shade of some village tree doing precisely that, in order to interest the people in treeplanting.

 

Bushmeat

Bushmeat is a very important forest product in the tropics, especially in west and central Africa. Not only does it provide many jobs, but also much needed protein, and cash revenue from the sales. There is nothing wrong with hunting, but it needs to be controlled, not only for the sake of the wildlife but also for the sake of future hunters. Unfortunately, in Africa, hunting is adequately controlled only in South Africa and Kenya.

Pangolin (anteater), reptiles, rodents, primates, carnivores and ungulates are hunted in W&C Africa for bushmeat. In Nigeria alone more than a million tons per annum are harvested. Paris and London have big African communities where high prices are paid for bushmeat. A 2010 study estimated that 270 tons are illicitly imported each year at the Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, and other studies have shown much higher figures for London.

 

 

Camphor

Moth repellent. Also used as a general insect repellent, incense, medicine (e.g. against nasal congestion — cf. Eucalyptus oil), and as a plasticizer for cellulose nitrate. Derived from the camphor tree or camphor laurel, Cinnamomum camphora, originating in China, Taiwan and Japan, but also planted elsewhere, for example in the Western Cape, South Africa, where it forms a magnificent tree.

 

Carnauba

Carnauba wax, used in furniture polish, is obtained from the leaves of the carnauba tree, Copernecia cerifera, also known as the ‘tree of life’ in its native Brazil. The tree, a palm, covers its leaves (fronds) with the wax during the dry season to reduce the loss of moisture.

 

 

 

Charcoal

Although charcoal can be made from bone, coconut shells and other materials, it is primarily made from wood, by means of a process of incomplete combustion. In the developing countries it tends to replace wood as a household fuel when people become better off (more calories per kg, lighter to carry home, occupies less storage space at home, fire requires less attention, produces less smoke), or as nearby wood resources are depleted (charcoal, because it commands a higher price per kg than fuelwood, can be economically transported over longer distances). The next step in the evolution of household fuels as GDP increases, is paraffin (US: ‘kerosene’). When I worked on fuelwood projects in Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, most towns and cities (and virtually the entire rural population) were still using fuelwood, whereas Dakar, Khartoum, Nairobi and the cities of Zambia were generally using charcoal, and Lagos — close to oil refineries — was using mainly paraffin.

Charcoal-making was formerly an important source of income in Europe for farmers in forest-rich areas. In the south central highlands of Sweden during the 17^th to 19^th century the farmers would spend on the average about 75 days a year making and selling charcoal to the iron foundries. Farmers near the foundries could spend up to 150 days a year on making charcoal. Such work could often be fitted in during the agricultural off-season, giving the farmers round-the year employment. Until the early 20^th century there were also professional charcoal-makers who travelled around, often in the wake of wood cutters, setting up temporary kilns in the forest clearings. During World War II large amounts of charcoal were industrially produced in the UK for use in ammunition and gas masks. Today charcoal-making is an important source of income for the farmers in the developing countries, often for the women, whom one sees along the roads selling charcoal or fuelwood.

Unfortunately people who think that wood is a finite resource like coal and oil are often hostile to charcoal-making and all other forest industries. They would be reassured to know that in spite of the enormous amounts of wood converted to charcoal in Sweden from the 17^th to 19^th centuries, the forests there are today more productive than ever before.

 

Chequers, checkers

Alcoholic drink once brewed from the fruit of the wild service tree*, Sorbus torminalis. The country residence of the British prime minister is most probably called after this drink. The inn-sign ‘chequers’ with a picture of a chessboard, is based on the erroneous belief that the name of the drink had something to do with chess or draughts.

 

Chestnut (Castanea sativa)

The ‘sweet’ or ‘European’ chestnut grows from North Africa to southern Sweden. Its nuts are eaten roasted, or mashed and used as stuffing in poultry, or as roasted or crystallised sweets, or used as feed for livestock. It is part of the very specific diet given to the pigs which produce the famous Parma ham from northern Italy. The Romans made chestnut porridge. In the Iberian peninsula chestnuts were a dominant human food until the Roman conquest introduced other crops. The Corsican beer Pietra is made with chestnut flour.

 

 

 

Chewsticks

In Africa most people use chewsticks rather than toothbrushes for their dental care, and Western dentist who have studied the practice have found it to be very good. In West Africa, SW Ghana is a big producer of chewsticks, which are exported as far as to Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo. Only two varieties are available in the Ghanaian market, made from the highforest trees Garcinia epunctata and Garcinia afzelii. Some 24,000 to 80,000 trees are harvested each year just for the market of Kumasi, a city of some one million people, and the value of the annual production for Kumasi alone in 1992 was more than £200,000. The resource is under stress.

 

Chicle

The tree species Sapodilla manilkara (formerly Achras sapota) is known in Spanish as zapote, from the Aztec word trápotl, and in English as chicle tree, from the Nahuatl Amerindian word tzictli, because its latex is one of the sources of chicle chewing gum. The chicle tappers, or chicleros, obtain some 2 kg of chicle per tree every 5-7 years. Besides the wood and the latex, the chicle tree produces a fruit that provides food for wildlife.

 

Chips, wood

Before wood is boiled in the digesters of the pulp mills to separate the cellulose from the lignin, and then to use the cellulose for the manufacture of the paper, the logs are cut up into small pieces called chips. Wood chips are also a very convenient way of transporting wood over long distances in tanker-like ships, not only to pulp mills but also to power plants and board factories: the chips can be blown on board into the holds of the ships, and sucked out at the other end, like wheat.

 

Cinnamon

Spice derived from the dried inner bark of a small tree of the laurel family, Cinnamomum zeylanicum. It is a native of Sri Lanka, SE India and Myanmar, but today it is also cultivated in South America and the West Indies. Cinnamon was once more highly priced per unit of weight than gold, and it was the most profitable spice in the trade of the Dutch East India Company. In ancient Egypt it was used for embalming and witchcraft, in medieval Europe for religious rites and flavouring.

A similar spice, ‘cassia’, is derived from the bark of a related tree species, C. cassia, which is a native of East Asia from China to Indonesia. South Europeans prefer cassia, North Europeans prefer cinnamon, whereas in North America the two spices are sold without distinction as to the species.

Today cinnamon is used mainly to flavour cakes, apple pie, curries and other foods. It has also been recommended for diabetics because it reduces the blood sugar content by mimicking the action of insulin (New Scientist, 2003).

 

Cloves

The dried flower-buds of the small evergreen tropical tree Syzygium aromaticum, probably indigenous to the Moluccas in Indonesia. Today Zanzibar is the biggest producer, followed by Madagascar and Indonesia. It has been used as a spice in the East since before the birth of Christ, and in Europe since the Middle Ages. It is also used as an antiseptic, a pain reliever and a traditional remedy for toothache.

Coal

Coal is fossilized plant material, mainly from trees: tall forest trees like Lepidodendrons and Sigillaria which grew to height of 30 m and which had widely spreading roots; and giant reeds, Calamites, which grew in swamps. The absence of annual rings* in the tree trunks indicates that these trees grew in tropical or semitropical climates. The carbon which is today locked away underground in the form of coal was then in the air in the form of carbon dioxide, which perhaps explains the warm and rainy climate of the period when the coal was formed, the Carboniferous Period of the Palaeozoic Era, some 360 million years ago. Cf. Global warming.

 

Combretastatin A4

Chemical derived from the African tree Combretum caffrum. Scientists from the British Cancer Research Campaign in Northwood, London, have reported that it produces impressive results in the treatment of tumours.

 

Conker

The hard fruit (nut) of horse chestnut*. The plural, ‘conkers’, is the name of a children’s game in England, played with these fruits. The word has the same origin as ‘conquer’. Before the horse chestnut was introduced into Britain sometime after 1600, the game was played using shells and other objects.

During World War I Chaim (Azriel) Weizmann, 1874-1952, who later became the first president of Israel, was a chemist in Manchester where he developed a method of manufacturing acetone from conkers. The acetone in turn was used for the manufacture of cordite, needed in the munitions industry.

 

Copal

Resins obtained from tropical trees and used in the production of varnishes. It can be obtained from living trees, but also from fossilised resin deposits. The most common copal in international trade is Zanzibar copal, the fossilised resin of the tree Trachylobium verrucosum, which is found in the soil over a wide area of East Africa, often in areas which are devoid of trees today. Other types of copal are jackass (recent) copal, Manila copal, and South American copal. Cf. Kauri gum.

 

Coracle (English), curragh or currach (Irish); corwgl (Welsh)

Irish and Welsh boats made by covering a wooden frame with hides or canvas. Such a method of boat construction indicates wood scarcity. Cf. Wales.

 

Crown vs. Stem

In the developing countries one could say that the crown of the tree is for the poor, and the stem is for the rich. So government forestry departments which are particularly concerned with the poor will plant mainly big-crowned trees for fruit, fodder, branchwood, shade etc, whereas those more concerned with generating commercial profits will by preference plant narrow-crowned trees for sawnwood, poles or pulpwood.

 

Curare

Indian arrow poison made in South America from the bark of various species of Strychnos (strychnine* is also derived from this genus), a genus of tropical trees and shrubs, especially from S. toxifera. An ingredient of curare is tubocurarine, which is used by anaesthetists to produce relaxation of the muscles when the patient is under general anaesthesia; it can also be used to reduce the spasms of tetanus.

 

Currants and gooseberries

Currants and gooseberries spread the white-pine blister rust which kills five-leaf pines in Europe and North America. In NW United States, where the white pine is an important timber tree, the cultivation of currants and gooseberries has been prohibited in some areas.

 

 

Dancing-clogs

Sycamore* (Acer pseudoplatanus) is considered the best wood for wooden-soled footwear and wooden clogs for step-, Morris- and clog-dancers, at least in Britain, because it makes a particularly clean and sharp sound.

 

Deal

Pine or spruce wood (‘whitewood’), especially when sawn. From an old Germanic word meaning ‘plank’.

 

Dendrochemistry

In the same way that tree ring numbers can be used for dating, and tree ring widths can tell much about the growing conditions of trees at different times (see Annual ring and Tree ring dating), so the chemical composition of the wood laid down at different times can tell us about environmental conditions. The relatively new science which deals with this is called dendrochemistry.

 

Digging stick

Wooden agricultural implement still used in some places. Often it is fire-hardened at the digging end, and weighted with a stone at the other end. The spade and the plough were developed from it.

 

 

Ekikunta

Cloth made from the bark of the mutuba tree (Ficus natalensis) in Uganda and used in the funeral rites. Such cloth has been used for about 600 years in the Buganda region of Uganda, for blankets and formerly also for clothing.

 

Ethanol (ethyl alcohol)

Ethanol made from wood powers environmentally-friendly buses in Sweden; it produces fewer fumes than petrol (gasoline) or diesel, and it is almost carbon-neutral (see Energy plantations). In 1995 there was a shortage of ethanol in Sweden, and the price rose by 30% in a year, so 5,000 litres of cheap red wine was converted to ethanol.

 

Eucalyptus oil

Derived from the leaves of eucalypts. The oil content is higher when the climate is warmer. The oil if for example extracted from the leaves of Eucalyptus globulus in the plantations near Huelva in SW Spain, but not from the leaves of the same species grown along the cool Atlantic coast of northern Spain. The oil is used in lozenges, cough drops, nasal decongestants (cf. Camphor), insect repellents, and antiseptic herbal ointments for the healing of minor wounds and the soothing of muscular pains.

 

 

Frankincense

Frankincense, also called olibanium, is an aromatic gum obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, from the family Burseraceae. It was used by the ancient Egyptians and Jews in their religious rites. Its first recorded mention is on an Egyptian tomb from the 15^th century BC. It was one of the gifts presented to the infant Jesus by the three Wise Men or ‘Magi’ from the East, and it is still widely used in the services of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. In Ethiopia alone there are 15,000 churches which together use a total of 2,000 tons of frankincense a year. It was used by the Romans and the Chinese as medicine, but according to modern science it has no medicinal value.

To produce the frankincense, incisions are made in the trunks of the trees. The gum seeps out and hardens on contact with the air. The industry is particularly important in Ethiopia and Somalia. See also Myrrh, which is produced from plants of a related genus Commiphora – also a member of the Burseraceae family.

 

Fuelwood

The fossil fuels cannot last forever. They are getting ever more expensive, and when we burn them we add to the CO₂ in the atmosphere which increases the rate of global warming*, and that is generally considered to be a bad thing. Fortunately wood, our first fuel, which had almost disappeared as an industrial fuel in the developed countries, can come back there as an important energy source, at least until we have cheap fusion power. The wood can be obtained from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council to be sustainable. Wood is at least as carbon-neutral as wind turbines or nuclear power, but cheaper than then former and less dangerous than the latter. For modern industrial purposes it could be used in the form of chips, pellets, charcoal or producer gas. There is an entry on each of these fuels in this chapter.

Of the three billion m³ of wood produced in the world in 2005, at least 40% were used as fuelwood. More wood is used for fuel than for any other single purpose, and most of that is collected and used by women in developing countries, and carried home on their heads. They are not ecologically destructive, because they collect dead and fallen wood rather than cutting live wood. Unfortunately they then use it in very inefficient stoves; in the three-stone-‘stove’ used in most of Africa only about 10% of the heat goes into the pot, the rest is lost to the atmosphere.

In virtually all societies, fuelwood was the first household fuel, for cooking and heating, both in rural and in urban areas. This was the case in Europe and North America until about 150 years ago, when wood was as important an energy source as oil is today, not just for household use but for industrial purposes as well. When there was a wood scarcity at the Cape in the early days of the Dutch settlement, it was a real crisis situation. And Addis Ababa was moved several times because the city exhausted the fuelwood supply in the area around it — until a Frenchman at the end of the 19^th century introduced the much denigrated but very useful eucalyptus tree from Australia.

As already mentioned, fuelwood is again becoming important even in the developed countries. The firm Prenergy Power Ltd is building a £400 million 350 MW state-of-the-art power plant in Port Talbot, Wales; i.e., its cost per MW will be £400/350 = £1.14 million, which is a mere 40% of the cost of electricity produced by wind turbines. The Port Talbot plant will be fuelled by 2 million tons of wood chips p.a. imported from sustainable forests in SE United States and Canada. It is due to be ready in 2012. Drax, the biggest power plant in the UK, situated in north Yorkshire, is also building a new plant which will use fuelwood. The power plants in Denmark use a million tons of wood pellets a year, and this figure is expected to double in seven years’ time.

On a non-industrial level, central heating boilers for households are now available which are fuelled by wood pellets and where the pellets are fed automatically into the boiler like oil or gas. It would be paradoxical if our first fuel again becomes one of our main fuels – full circle.

Fuelwood used in cremation

Cremation accounts for a huge consumption of fuelwood in India. In ancient Rome cremation was also widely practised, but after about 100 AD it ceased, perhaps partly because of the spread of Christianity, but mainly because it threatened to bring about serious wood shortages.

 

 

Gin

The word ‘Gin’ is a corruption of genièvre, which is the French name for the juniper* berry. Although this berry is slightly poisonous, many poisons are beneficial in small quantities, and in the 17^th century Franciscus Sylvius, professor of medicine at the university of Leiden in Holland, developed a medicine based on the juniper berry; this gave rise to gin in Britain. The juniper berry, a tree product, is the main flavouring ingredient.

 

Grand National horse race

28,000 branches of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) are needed each spring to construct the jumps at the Grand National Handicap Steeplechase held near Liverpool. In case somebody bewails this: It is a good market for the foresters – the forest is a renewable resource, the trees were planted to be harvested, and Sitka spruce is not a native species anyhow.

 

Guaiacum

Resin of the tree Guaiacum officinale (‘lignum vitae’) which occurs from southern United States to northern South America. Guaifenesin, used to treat respiratory disorders, is made from that resin.

 

Gum arabic

A tree-derived water soluble gum used all over the world as emulsifier, flavouring agent and thickener in confectionary, sweets, food, pharmaceuticals, soft drinks, adhesives, ink and other products. Also used in the making of lithographs. Sudan is the main producer of gum arabic. In 1997 the US Congress passed a bill imposing economic sanctions on Sudan as an alleged ‘sponsor of terrorism’, but while the bill passed through Congress the soft drink manufacturers managed to get gum arabic exempted. Osama bin Laden has or had business interests in gum arabic in Sudan. Most gum arabic is derived from the tree species Acacia senegal. It is very widely distributed from Senegal in the west to NW India in the east, but it is most common in the province of Kordofan in Sudan.

 

Gun stocks

The best gun (rifle) stocks are made from walnut root balls. Beech wood is also technically good, but lacks the right dark colour and figure. The best walnut stocks comes from trees which are 200 to 300 years old, and which have had a hard life, which gives them the desired figure. America, Turkey, Morocco, France and Spain are the main exporting countries.

 

Gutta-percha

Latex of certain trees in Malaysia, the South Pacific and South America, especially Palaqium oblongifolia. The latex is used in golf balls, in chewing gum, to insulate underwater cables, and for other purposes, but today it has been partly replaced by synthetics. The name ‘gutta-percha’ is derived from the Malay names for ‘latex’ and for the tree.

 

 

Honey

In some forests, like the savanna woodlands of Tanzania, the value of honey and – especially – beeswax production exceeds that of timber, per unit of area. Honey is also greatly appreciated by forest dwellers such as pygmies, who at considerable trouble and danger climb high trees and smoke out bees in order to get the honey. Smoking out bees in fact is one of the main causes of forest fires in Africa. Both nectar and pollen provide food for bees. Some tree species provide one or both of these foods in more abundance than other.

 

 

Iron gall ink

Iron gall ink was the most common ink used for writing and for early drawings from about the 13^th century. It is made from ‘oak apples’, i.e. from the swellings caused by the larvae of the gall wasp on oak trees. From these swelling iron sulphate was extracted, which was then mixed with gum arabic*.

 

Jet

Jet, a black gemstone, is formed from driftwood which has been submerged for a long time in the mud of the sea floor. It has since Roman times been recovered from shales at Whitby in Yorkshire, NE England.

 

Kauri gum or resin

Kauri gum, also known as ‘kauri copal’ and ‘dammar’, is derived from the kauri ‘pine’ Agathis australis, a conifer native to the North Island of New Zealand. The gum is a hard amber-like substance which is dug up from sites where the tree has previously grown. It is used for varnishes and paints.

 

 

Kino

Word of West African origin for tannin-containing gum obtained from trees and used as an astringent in medicine and tanning.

 

Kyudo bow

The Japanese kyudo ritual bows are made of strips of bamboo and mulberry wood.

 

 

Latex

Milky fluid found in some trees, e.g. the rubber tree.

 

Linden tea

Tea made from the leaves of linden (lime) trees, once popular in Europe. It is for example mentioned in Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya*. See also the entry Linden (lime) tree.

 

Lingonberries

Lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) also known as cowberries, foxberries, mountain or rock cranberries, or red whortleberries, are an important forest product in the Nordic countries. The red berries are borne on 10-40 cm high shrubby, woody, evergreen plants on the forest floor in the coniferous forests around the North Pole. They require some shade, non-alkaline soils, and not-too-hot summers. The berries contain vitamins A, C, B1, B2 and B3, as well as potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. In Scandinavia they are generally boiled with sugar to make a preserve eaten with meatballs or game. They are also used to make juice, and in herbal medicine. Cf. Blueberries.

 

Log cabin

The log cabin design, popular with American frontiersmen, was introduced into North America by Swedish colonists in Delaware in the 17^th century.

 

 

Maple syrup

Syrup produced in NE USA and E Canada from sugar maple and also from black maple. It was produced by the Native Americans already before the arrival of the Europeans. The sweet sap from which the syrup is made will flow from any wound in the sapwood in early spring, whenever a period of freezing is followed by a period of thawing. The sap is then boiled to concentrate it to syrup.

 

Marine timbers

Iroko, used for the Thames* barrier, and teak, much used for the decks of wooden yachts, are good marine timbers, but best of all is the extremely hard and heavy wood greenheart from Guyana.

 

Maté

Tea-like beverage brewed from the dried caffeine-rich leaves of an evergreen tree or shrub related to the English holly. Also known as ‘yerba maté’. Popular in Paraguay and Argentina.

 

Mushrooms

Mushrooms are fruiting bodies of fungi living on decaying organic matter such as dead roots and stumps of trees. As they are most common in forests, they can be considered forest products. The picking of mushrooms, followed by identification of doubtful species in a handbook, cleaning and cooking, are traditional family activities in the forests of Scandinavia in the autumn, providing both fun and food. Overpicking of mushrooms can reduce the population of the related fungi so much that the rotting of the dead wood in the forest is harmed.

 

Myrrh

Gum, aromatic when burnt, obtained from trees of the genus Commiphora, which grows in Arabia and NE Africa. It has for thousands of years been highly esteemed in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East as incense, medicine, and in preparing bodies for burial. Together with frankincense*, it was one of the gifts presented at Jesus’s birth by the three Wise Men or ‘Magi’ from the East, and according to Mark it was also mixed with the wine which he was offered immediately before the crucifixion, but which he declined. Today it is used in toothpaste, tonics and perfume. Cf. Corkwood.

 

 

Non-timber and non-wood forest products

A non-timber forest product like fuelwood is hugely important in the developing countries, and so are non-wood forest products like medicinal plants, nuts, berries, honey, beeswax and bushmeat. Intangible non-wood forest products like soil and water conservation, biodiversity, carbon storage and outdoor recreation are important everywhere.

 

Nutmeg

Spice consisting of the fruit of the evergreen tree Myristica fragrans from the Moluccas or ‘Spice Islands’ in Indonesia, which is also grown in the West Indies and elsewhere in the tropics. It was used already by the Romans, then as incense. In about 1600 it became very popular as a spice in Europe, and it then became the subject of much intrigue between the Dutch, the English and the Portuguese. Today nutmeg is used for flavouring cakes, puddings, vegetables and beverages. Nutmeg butter is also used as a remedy against skin irritations and rheumatism. The tree can reach a height of 20 metres.

 

 

Oak chips

Splinters of oak wood used to impart an oaken or ‘toasty’ taste to wine without going to the expense of maturing it in oak barrels. Hence the trade term ‘micro-barrels’. ‘Chipping’ is generally used for flavouring cheap wines. It is a practice much disapproved of but much used, in many countries. When a wine has been matured in an oak vat or barrel, or treated with oak chips as described above, it is said to be ‘oaked’. See Wine barrels and vats.

 

 

 

Olive oil

The honorific Greek title ‘Christ’, which is synonymous with ‘Messiah’ in Hebrew, means ‘the anointed one’, and refers to the old Hebrew custom of rubbing olive oil on persons to confirm their appointment to high office, or sometimes just to honour them.

Today olive oil is widely used in cooking, not only in the Mediterranean countries but also in north Europe, where it was once sold only in pharmacies for medicinal purposes. The cookery writer Elizabeth David is generally credited with introducing olive oil into the British kitchen with her books on Mediterranean food published in the 1950s and 60s.

 

Olives

The edible olive was cultivated in Crete as early as 3500 BC, and by the Semitic peoples at least by 3000 BC — it was an olive twig that was brought back by Noah’s dove to the ark when the flood subsided.

The French writer George Sand describes in her book A Winter in Majorca how in the winter of 1838/39 she and Frédéric Chopin used olive pit charcoal in the fireplaces of the houses they rented on the island of Majorca (Mallorca).

 

 

Palissandre

A name of French origin used in the timber trade for various trees and their wood, especially Brazilian rosewood, also known as jacaranda. The Spanish form of the word is palo sandro which is probably derived from the Latin words palus, ‘stake’, and sanctus, ‘holy’, referring – again (see Aspen and Dogwood) – to the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

 

Palm oil

Oil palms originated in the forests of West Africa, where they still exist in the wild, and form an important part of the diet of forest dwellers. I saw the latter extract the oil from the fruits with very simple methods in the forest of Ziama* in Guinea-Conakry, where I worked on and off for years.

We resent the fact that almost 10% of the forest area in Indonesia has been converted to oil palm, but it has created many jobs, poverty alleviation is important, tree crops are better for the soil than non-tree crops, and in any case we in Europe and America converted most of our forest to farmland more than a thousand years ago.

 

Peeler log

Log ‘peeled’ on rotary lathes for the making of veneer. Such logs should preferably be straight, have big diameters, no splits, not too much taper, and their wood should not be too hard. Wood is normally stronger in the outer parts of logs than in their centre, and in the making of rotary-cut veneer it is precisely the outer parts which are used, whereas when a log is sawn, it is the other way round, much of the outer part is lost in slabs; from this point of view peeling is more rational than sawing.

 

Pellets, wood

Wood pellets are made from highly compressed pulverised wood. The demand for them has increased very much during the last few years, as a fuel in power stations (see Fuelwood), or for district heating (i.e., the heating of many properties from a central heating plant), or for the heating of individual houses; this is because of the high price of oil and because wood fuel is about 90% carbon neutral. Other wood fuels, e.g. wood chips, have the same advantages, but pellets can be more easily fed into the boilers. Europe is the biggest producer and consumer of wood pellets. During the last quarter of 2008 most forest products prices declined – but not for pellets.

 

Pentosan

Medicine made from beech wood shavings, and considered as a possible prophylactic for those at risk to contract the Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), the human form of the mad cow disease.

 

Pine-leaf oil

Pine-leaf oil is steam-distilled from the needles and the branches. Inhaling the steam from boiling water with a few drops of the oil in it will alleviate cold symptoms.

 

Pine seed (kernels, nuts)

Edible pine seeds, pine kernels, or ‘pine nuts’ are sold as a snack or for cooking and baking. They are rich in vitamin E. In parts of the Mediterranean area, e.g. in Lebanon, they are a very important income from the Mediterranean stone* pine (Pinus pinea). Edible seed are also produced by Pinus cembra, the ‘Eurasian stone pine’, and by a group of pine species in the US South-West (piñons or pinyons).

 

Pistachio

Commercial pistachio nuts are derived from a tree of the cashew nut family. The tree is thought to be a native of Iran, but it is today widely cultivated from Afghanistan in the east to California in the west.

 

Potash

Potash made from wood, and then used to make soap, glass and other products, was exported from Sweden already in the 13th century. Especially in areas rich in beech forest, the farmers knew how to produce potash. When the settlers during the colonial period in America cleared the forest for agriculture, the sale of fuelwood and of potash made from the wood ashes would almost pay for the cost of the land.

 

Producer gas (gengas)

During World War II most cars and buses in Sweden were fuelled by producer gas, gengas in Swedish, a combustible gas produced by passing air through – for example – smouldering wood. The wood was bought in cubes of about one inch on each side; in the morning they were fed into a cylinder which was either mounted at the back of the car or dragged behind the car like a small trailer; the wood was lit, and all day long it smouldered and produced the gas. The engines needed only a small modification to switch from petrol to wood. I was a child in Sweden during the war, and I remember the gengas-fuelled cars very well.

 

Production and consumption of roundwood in the world

The dry weight of the world’s production of wood exceeds the production of steel, is about the same as the production of cereals, but is less than the production of coal (fossilised wood). The production and consumption of wood in the world rose from 1961 to 1990, but since then it has levelled off.

 

Propolis

Resinous substance collected from tree buds and bark by bees, which use it for sealing cracks in their hives as well as for covering offensive foreign objects which are too big for them to remove. It is also used in alternative medicine to treat bacterial infections.

 

Pulp and paper

Pulp and paper can be made from wood*, straw, bamboo, rags, bagasse, reeds, old paper, grasses and many other materials. Until the 19^th century most paper was made from rags, but today nearly all paper – except banknotes – is made from wood, which is cheaper, but not as strong. Conifers (softwoods) like pine, spruce and fir tend to have long fibres, yielding strong paper. Non-conifers (‘hardwoods*’, ‘broadleaved species’) like birch or eucalyptus have shorter fibres, yielding less strong papers, but having other advantages like giving the paper a smoother and more printable surface, and also a greater opacity so that something printed on the other side is less likely to show through.

A problem identified in the 1950s is that over the years the rosin and the alum which is mixed with the pulp during the paper-making combine with the air’s oxygen to form acid compounds which eat away the paper. Only paper made after about the middle of the 19^th century was made in this way. Today some pulp and paper mills are switching to the production of alkaline paper, but it entails a huge cost. In the meantime the acid paper is a big problem in modern libraries, where it costs about £30 per book to photocopy it onto alkaline paper, or £200 per book to give it the full conservation treatment.

 

 

Quercetin

Antioxidant derived from the bark of young shoots of the common oak. The name is derived from quercus, the Latin for ‘oak’.

 

Quillaia (quillaja)

An extract from the bark of the quillaia tree or soap tree, Quillaja saponaria, of the rose family, is used as an expectorant. The tree is native from Peru and Chile, but it has also been planted in northern India. Soap can be made from it.

 

Quinine

Quinine is made from the bark of the Andean cinchona tree which has been cultivated for many years in the tropical highlands of Java, India, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Burundi, Guinea and other countries for its bark, which yields quinine. The words ‘Cinchona’ and ‘quinine’ are derived from the Quecha word kina, meaning ‘bark’. Quinine is used in the treatment of malaria and other fevers, cardiac disorders, and pain, as well as in the manufacture of tonic water. It has been used against malaria in the West since about 1700. After the Second World War it was largely replaced by synthetics, but there is still a good market for quinine.

The value of the bark per kilo is so high that it is sometimes difficult to get it onto the ships or into the factories without thieves replacing it with other similar-looking but worthless bark.

 

 

Rauwolfia spp.

The roots of many tree species of the tropical genus Rauwolfia contain an alkaloid called reserpine which is used for the treatment of high blood pressure and as a tranquilliser. It was first found in an Indian tree of the same genus.

 

Rayon

Artificial fibre made from wood cellulose. Developed at the end of the 19^th century. The biggest producer in the world is Sappi’s Saiccor mill at Umkomaas south of Durban in South Africa. It uses eucalyptus wood as raw material. Cf. Tencel.

 

‘Red’ and ‘white’ woods

In French, and to a lesser extent in English, people in the tropical timber trade distinguish between ‘red’ and ‘white’ tropical woods. The former are the dark, often reddish or brown, heavy, valuable furniture woods. The latter are lighter — both in colour and in weight — and less valuable, similar to pine or spruce or even poplars in the temperate areas, and used mainly for veneer or as a light building timber.

 

Retsina

Greek white wine with pine resin added. Specialty of Attica. Very much an acquired taste. This style of wine-making is said to have developed in classical times when wine was stored in sheepskins caulked with resin. Cf. Sandarac.

 

Rosewood

A name for several tropical hardwoods from Central and South America, Africa and India; reddish brown, and grained with black resinous layers. The most commercially important is Honduras rosewood, Dalbergia stevensoni. The Madagascan rosewood is also very valuable, much used for guitars, but is unfortunately often illegally exported. The rosewoods are not as important in the trade as they used to be, but they are still used, for example for making flooring, furniture, billiard cues, guitars* and xylophone bars.

 

 

Sandarac (sandarach)

Faintly aromatic resin obtained from the arartree or sandarac tree, found in the countries around the western Mediterranean, or from species of Callitris found in North Africa, Australia and North America. It is used as incense, and for coating various materials (paper, metal, leather, pencils), and as an additive to Greek wines. See also Retsina.

 

Sawdust

Sawdust can be burnt as such for generating heat, for example for wood-drying kilns, or for generating electricity. It can be compressed into briquettes, which can then be used as fuel either in industry or in households. It can be used as an absorbent under cattle in cowsheds, instead of straw, or for the production of mulching or compost. It can be spread on oil slicks in the sea, causing the oil to form cakes which can then be scooped up by fishing nets, providing a useful alternative employment for fishermen rendered inactive by the oil-spill, and obviating the need to use chemical dispersers. Generally, however, sawdust is not used at all, but is dumped near the sawmills, where it forms huge dumps, greatly increasing the danger of fire.

 

Senna

(1) The dried leaves or pods of some trees of the genus Senna from Egypt, India and tropical Africa are used as a laxative. The word ‘senna’ is derived from the Arabic sana.

(2) Senna siamea from Thailand is a beautiful tree, excellent for fuelwood, shade and ornament in the semi-humid tropics, and much planted in West Africa and in Tanzania. The flowers are eaten in salads in Thailand, its country of origin, where they are believed to enlarge women’s breasts.

 

‘Spruce Goose’

Gigantic seaplane plane built of plywood by Howard Hughes in California at the end of the 1939-45 war. By 1995 no plane had been built with a bigger wing span. In spite of its eight engines, Spruce Goose was underpowered, and ever only flew a couple of miles.

 

Storax

A fragrant resin used in perfumes, medicines and incense, formerly obtained from Styrax officialis, snowdrop bush, and from Liquidambar orientalis, oriental sweetgum, a tree of the witch-hazel family.

 

Strychnine

Produced from the seed of the East Indian tree Strychnos nux-vomica (same genus that yields curare*) and other species. It is a nerve stimulant, which increases muscle tone, and formerly it was widely used in tonics and bitters. Another example of how poisons in small doses can be beneficial.

 

 

Tall oil

A dark liquid by-product of the sulphate (kraft) process of making wood pulp. Used for making paint, varnish, linoleum, lubricants, soap and other products. Its name is derived from the Swedish word for ‘pine’, tall.

 

Tannin

Tannin is derived from the bark of many trees, e.g. some acacias, oaks, and quebracho. See also Chestnut, Oak, Quebracho and Wattle.

 

Tapa

Traditional cloth made in Polynesia by pounding the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree. Sometimes the word ‘tapa’ is used to describe bark paining on such cloth — or cloth made from the inner bark of certain other trees — in northern Australia, New Guinea and Melanesia. Cf. Paper mulberry.

 

 

Taxol and taxotere

Taxol (generic name: paclitaxel) was the first anti-cancer taxoid drug derived from yew* trees (Taxus spp.), specifically from the Pacific yew. Later another taxoid, docetaxal (taxotere), derived from the European yew, was shown to be more potent. In Britain yew tree clippings provide the main raw material. More than 18 tons are needed to provide one patient with a single course of treatment. The price paid per kg of clippings varies considerably. It may go down, as the active ingredients can now be synthesized.

 

Tea

Tea is derived from trees and bushes of the species Camellia sinensis, formerly called Thea sinensis, from the highlands of south-east Asia. The Assam variety, for example, is a single-stemmed tree with a height of up to 18 metres, although for ease of plucking the leaves and shoots it would obviously not be allowed to reach that height when grown in plantation form.

 

Tencel

An artificial textile fibre made from wood cellulose. Developed by Courtaulds in the 1980s in the company’s laboratory in Coventry, England. The fabric has been used by well-known designers like Giorgio Armani. See also Rayon.

 

Thames barrier

Moveable flood protection barrier built partly of West African iroko (Chlorophora excelsa) wood across the Thames River at Woolwich Reach downstream from Greenwich, to protect London against flooding from the sea, like the flood which devastated parts of eastern England and western Netherlands in January-February 1953, killing more than 2000 people.

 

Timber

A vague term, but generally meaning big-dimension wood suitable for heavy construction; the term is derived from Germanic word meaning ‘building’.

 

Topotecan

A chemotherapy drug used against certain types of cancer. Originally isolated from the wood of the Chinese tree Camptotheca acuminata, but also found in the Indian tree Nothapodytes foetida.

 

Totem pole

Carved, vertical, painted wooden poles erected by the Native Americans of the NW coast of North America, usually with animal motifs indicating the lineage of the head of the household. Totem poles may serve as tombstones or as indicators of the owner of a house or a waterfront.

 

Tree fodder

Tree fodder used to be very important in Europe, branches of broadleaved trees being cut and the leaves and twigs fed to cattle and other domestic animals. Some historians think that leaf fodder was more important than hay in Europe during prehistoric time. One study has shown that during the 18th and 19th centuries in the archipelago of Åland between Sweden and Finland the dry weight of the annual harvest of leaf fodder was about eight times greater than the dry weight of the annual harvest of hay. To this day many old trees in Europe show signs of this practice, especially species like linden (lime) and ash, but also alder, birch and other broadleaved species.

Tree leaf fodder is still very important in a country like Nepal, where every morning one sees lines of women returning to their villages with enormous bundles of tree branches on their heads to give to their stall-fed cattle. See also Fodder trees.

 

Tropical timber

South-East Asia is the biggest producer of tropical timber in the world, and Japan is the biggest consumer .

 

Truffle

Edible subterranean forest mushroom which, although rare, can be a very valuable forest product, especially in Italy and France where they are a highly appreciated delicacy. Truffles particularly like open forests on calcareous soil. White truffles are considered far superior to the black variety. The white truffles fetch an average price of €3,000/kg, but in Italy their price could be as high as €6,500/kg. Although that may not be quite the price of gold, it is in that class. The centres of truffle production are at Uzes in Languedoc, France, and in Umbria in Italy.

In England, truffles used to be collected especially in the beech woods. The Perigord or black truffle is sometimes grown commercially: oak or hazel are planted, and the soil around their roots is inoculated with soil where truffles have been present. Production begins after 7-15 years, and can continue for up 30 years.

 

 

Vegetable ‘ivory’

Used as a substitute for elephant ivory. Derived from the seeds of the tagua palm (Phytelephas macrocarpa) in the humid but seasonally dry forests of NW South America. The exports from Ecuador go mainly to Italy.

 

 

Water pipes

Pipes for water supply were formerly made from wood. In the Cultural History Museum of Cape Town there are examples of such pipes made of teak used in Cape Town in the 17^th century. In central Copenhagen pipes made of pine wood were laid down in about 1750.

 

Wheels

In wooden wheels in Britain the nave or hub was typically made of elm, the spokes of oak, and the felloes (which made up the outer circle of the wheel) of ash.

 

Whisky barrels

Scotch whisky is matured in barrels made from American oak, the barrels having first been used for maturing American whisky (‘whiskey’, ‘bourbon’). Three quarters of a million such ‘second-hand’ barrels are imported each year from the USA to Scotland. The demand is now outstripping the supply, and barrels have to be made from British oak which is ‘cooked’ by microwaves and then exposed to infra-red light to give it the same ‘old’ qualities as the imported second-hand American oak barrels. Cf. Wine barrels and vats.

 

Whitby amber

Fossilized resin of the Araucaria trees which 180 million years ago occurred in what is now the North Sea. This amber* is black, looks a bit like obsidian, and is used to make jewellery which today is generally associated with mourning. It occurs in the cliffs at Whitby in Yorkshire, and coastal erosion lays it bare and facilitates its exploitation.

 

Wicker

Plaited twigs or osiers* used as material for chairs etc. The word is derived from the Swedish vika, bend.

 

Wine barrels and vats

Oak is the preferred wood for making barrels and vats for maturing wine. European sessile oak (Quercus petraea) and American white oak (Q. alba) are used. The common, English or pedunculate (referring to the stalks of the acorns) oak (Q. robur) is used for maturing brandy. Sometimes chestnut wood is used for maturing wine, and sometimes the wood is ‘toasted’ over an open fire or with a blow torch (sic).

During the ageing in wood the acidity of the wine decreases, undesirable substances and bacteria are precipitated, and complex chemical reactions take place which affect taste and aroma. After three to six years the wood loses its effect, and then the winemaker must either shave the inside of the barrel or replace it. Cf. Whisky barrels.

 

Wood

The purpose of the wood (xylem) in trees is to support the crown, to push it up towards the light, and to conduct water and nutrients to it from the soil. Wood is made up mainly of cellulose and lignin. The cellulose is used for making paper, paperboard and rayon. The lignin is used as fuel in the pulpmills, and for spreading on dirt roads to keep the dust down, but these are low-value uses, and a big fortune awaits the biochemist who finds and patents a better use of lignin, vast quantities of which are produced each year in the chemical pulpmills of the world. Cf. Pulp and paper. Wood also contains some minerals (left in the ash when it burns), sometimes resins and oils, and, like all plant matter, some sugar. The cellulose molecule is related to the sugar molecule, but the chain is longer.

The word ‘wood’ or ‘wode’, from the old English ‘wudu’, is related to the concept of madness: Wodan (Odin) was the Germanic god of, inter alia, fury and intoxication, and Wut in modern German means ‘rage’.

Cf. Production and consumption of roundwood in the world.

 

Wood-framed house

Wattle-and-daub huts and half-timbered houses have for millennia employed the principle that made modern skyscrapers possible, namely that a building can be supported by a rigid skeleton rather than by the walls. Remains of wattle-and-daub huts have been found on iron age sites in Europe, and the construction method is probably even older than that. ‘Wattle’ here means pliant rods and twigs of wood; they are ‘daubed’ with clay or mud. During the Middle Ages a combination of half-timbered and wattle-and-daub houses were sometimes built, where wattle-and-daub filled the spaces between the timber.

 

Wood tar

Liquid obtained as one of the products from the carbonisation of wood — see Charcoal. There is hardwood tar obtained from species like beech and oak, and there is pine tar. The latter is sometimes called Stockholm or Archangel tar, and large quantities of it are made in Sweden, Russia and Finland. Turpentine is part of the process of manufacture.

 

 

Xylitol

An ingredient in chewing gum, made from birch tree sap. Prevents tooth decay. Discovered in Finland.

 

 

Zam-buk

An antiseptic herbal ointment containing the tree products Eucalyptus oil*, Camphor* and Sassafras*; for the treatment of rheumatic pains as well as minor wounds, burns, insect bites etc.. Has been available in the trade since 1903, and was previously much used as a home remedy.