Message from Willem Hurkmans, Publication Chair

by
Arthur Lee

A disk of Gymnanthes Lucida [Euphorbiaceae] collected on December 7, 2005 by Alan Curtis & Willem Hurkmans near the archaeological site of Kohunlich, Quintana Roo, Mexico. I counted 76 growth rings.

The Publications Committee is doing the groundwork for two new series to appear in World of Wood —

1. Wood dealers and sawmills of the world. This will not be about late scale enterprise but about local dealers working in a local tradition and trading mainly in local woods.

2. Tree ring records [what tree will become the ‘Lord of the Rings’ ?]. This is a photo contest showing a cross section of wood [a board or a disk or a tree stump] where the growth rings are featured. Whoever sends in a picture should give some details: where and when was the picture taken, what species is it, how many rings did you count. I hope that ‘usual’ local species will be presented — but interesting boards of trade species are welcome too. I attach an example (above).

Both series are projected to include many photos. If I get comments from ‘outsiders’ it’s mainly that World of Wood has very good photos! I hope you can spread the word and maybe think of sending in something yourself. In particular, the Tree rings will be easy to photograph and you could be done in 5 minutes!

Of course, I will present an introduction when we’re starting on these series to appear in World of Wood. I hope that at least some of you and our members in general will find these new series interesting. For the ‘local sawmills’ series I already have prepared 4 articles which I will send in when I don’t get material from other people. But I do hope to seduce members to do something!

Cheers — Willem