Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Lancewood

LANCEWOOD is a straight-grained, tough, light, elastic wood obtained from the West Indies and Guiana. It is brought into commerce in the form of taper poles of about 20 feet in length and from 6 to 8 inches in diameter at the thickest end. Lancewood is principally used by carriage-builders for shafts; but since, the practice of employing curved shafts has come largely into use it is not in so great demand as formerly. The smaller wood is used for whip-handles, for the tops of fishing rods, and for various minor purposes where even grained elastic wood is a desideratum. The wood is obtained from two species of Guatteria, a genus belonging to the natural order Anonaceæ. The black lancewood or carisiri of Guiana (Guatteria virgata) is a tree which grows to a height of 50 feet, of remarkably slender form, and seldom yields wood of more than 3 inches diameter. The yellow lancewood tree (yari-yari of Guiana) is of similar dimensions, found in tolerable abundance throughout Guiana, and used by the Indians for arrow-points, as well as for spars, beams, &c.