Nutmeg-Wood

NUTMEG-WOOD. See Palm

Olive-Wood

OLIVE-WOOD, principally imported from Leghorn, is the wood of the fruit-tree (Olea europea); it is much like box, but softer, with darker grey-coloured veins. The roots have a very pretty knotted and curly character; they are much esteemed on the Continent for making embossed boxes, pressed into engraved metallic moulds.

There is another wood, apparently from South America, called Olive-wood, but it does not agree in colour, either with the fruit or wood of the olive-tree, but is of a greenish orange, with broad stripes and marks of a darker brown tint; it is a handsome wood for turning, but not very hard.

Elaodendron glaucum is called bois d'olive, but there is no proof that it yields the olive-wood alluded to, as the country from which this is imported is not distinctly known.

Omander

OMANDER. Set Coromandel.

Orange-Tree

ORANGE-TREE. The orange, lemon and lime trees, (Citrus,) are evergreens that seldom exceed about 15 feet in height The wood is only met with as an object of curiosity: it is of a yellow colour, but devoid of smell. See

Apricot-Tree

APRICOT-TREE.

The orange is Citrus Aurantium, the lemon, C. Limonum, the lima C. Limetta, and the citron C. Medica.

Palisander

PALISANDER, a name used on the Continent for rosewood.

Thar is considerable irregularity in the employment of this nuns; in the work of Bargerona a kind of striped ebony to flgured as bois de Palixcauire, in other French works this name to considered a synonym of bois violet, and Mated at a wood brough by the Dutch from their South American colonies, and much esteemed.

Peach-Wood

PEACH-WOOD See NICARAGUA-WOOD.

Pear-Trek

PEAR-TREK, (Pyrus communis,) is a native of Europe. The wild trees are principally used, and they may be obtained from 7 to 14 inches diameter. The colour is a light brown, approaching that of pole mahogany or cedar, generally less red than the apple-tree.

It is one of the brown woods of the Tunbridge-turner, by whom it is much used; and it is esteemed a very good wood for carving, as it cuts with nearly equal facility in all directions of the grain, and many of the old works are cut in it It is now much used for the engraved blocks for calico-printers, paper-stainers, and pastry-cooks; it does not stand very well, unless it is exceedingly well seasoned.

Some pieces of pear-tree much resemble lime-tree from being, in the language of the workmen, "without grain," but the pear-tree is harder and tougher, and has a few darker streaks: they are used however for similar purposes.

Pernambouca

PERNAMBOUCA. See Beazil-wood.

Peruvian-Wood

PERUVIAN-WOOD, a fine sound wood so called, is of the rose-wood character, and measures about 12 to 16 inches through; it is harder, closer, and lighter in colour than rose-wood with a straighter distribution of its dark red-brown and black veins; it has no scent. Its true name and locality are unknown.

Pigeon-Wood

PIGEON-WOOD. Mr. Loddiges' specimen is of the colour of walnut-tree, with blackish cloudy marks; another from Jamaica, at the Society of Arts, is of a brown orange-colour; the latter is the more general tint of the woods thus named. See Zebra-wood.

Plum-Tree

PLUM-TREE, (Prunus domestica and P. spinosa,) Europe, similar in general character to pear-tree, is used principally in turning. This is a handsome wood, and is frequently used in Tunbridge works: in the endway of the grain it resembles cherry-tree, but the old trees are of a more reddish-brown, with darker marks of the same colour. It begins to rot in small holes more generally away from, rather than in the centre of the tree, and it is very wasteful on that account.