Page:A primer of forestry, with illustrations of the principal forest trees of Western Australia.djvu/101

95 diameter of from 9 to 10 inches. The outer portion of the bole is made up of hardened masses of leaf bases and the trunk is very often black like that of the blackboy and from the same cause—fire. Between the outside layer of pressed leaves and the core or pith is a layer of fibrous material running the whole length



Blackboy

of the tree. This fibre is now used to a considerable extent in the manufacture of brooms for street-sweeping, and of various classes of brushes of finer grade. The core, on proper treatment, yields chemicals of commercial value, just as does that of the blackboy.