Birch.—North America, Europe, Asia Minor, and northern Siberia. A hardy, beautiful tree, yielding a hard and handsome wood, whether in plain or quarter-sawed surfaces, or in the form of veneers. The wood is of close texture; often has a wavy grain, producing what is known as curly birch, noted for wavy figure of changing high lights and shadows.
Bosse.—Africa, French Ivory Coast. This large tree, closely resembling the cedar, has a wood light red or pink in color, which takes an excellent finish. It is used in America only as a veneer.
Boxwood.—Europe, North America, and the West Indies. An extremely heavy, tough, close-grained wood, white or pale yellow in color, used in making musical instruments and also in furniture inlay.
Bubinga.—West coast of Africa. Closely related to the rosewood, and its equal in weight, hardness, and capacity to take a high polish. The wood is slightly darker than mahogany. The veneer is usually striped, but sometimes figured, with a gorgeous black mottle. (See Kewazingo.)
Butternut.—North Central United States. (Also known as white walnut.) This relatively small tree has a short trunk which makes it difficult to get veneer logs of good length and free from knots.
Cedar.—Asia, Africa, and North America. The cedar of Lebanon has been a favorite with poets and painters for thousands of years. Other famous members of this family are the deodar or "god tree" of the Himalayas, and the thuya. Among the American varieties are the incense or white cedar, the Port Oxford or Oregon cedar, and the red or American cedar. Cedar was used as a furniture wood in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia almost 4,000 years ago.
Cherry.—Europe and North America. This fruit wood is now rare and little used in furniture making but it is highly valued by cabinet makers by reason of its handsome fine-grained texture, its freedom from warping, and its capacity to take a high polish.
Chestnut.—Europe and North America. The wood is closely allied to that of the oak, which it resembles in general appearance, though it is softer and the medullary rays are finer and less pronounced. Ideal for lumber cores of hardwood plywood. Decay resistant; easily glued and easy to work. The blight in no way subtracts from the quality of the wood, but it has decreased the amount now available.
Cypress.—Europe, Asia, and North America. The common cypress is straight, tapering, and stately, but dark and forbidding in appearance. The wood is hard, close-grained, of a rich reddish hue and durable. A veneer of cypress stumps, with a highly intricate grain, is used in furniture making under the name of faux satine, or false satin.