Category :    Light Hardwoods

Species

General Characteristics

Sapwood yellow-brown sharply differentiated from heartwood; colour of heartwood deep pink, light-red or dark-red brown; planed surface mostly lustrous or very lustrous; without figure; texture coarse and rather uneven; grain wavy or interlocked; moderately soft to moderately hard to cut across grain; air dry density ranging from 465 to 850 kg/ m3 (29 to 53 lb/ft³) and averaging 672 kg/m³ (42 lb/ft³); moderately durable even under adverse conditions of exposure.

Structure

Growth rings absent but vague concentric markings may be present.
Vessels with simple perforation; generally moderately large or very large; very few or few in number; solitary and in radial pairs and multiples of 2 to 4 (rarely more); the solitary vessels may be fewer or more than the multiple vessels; often arranged in tangential lines; tyloses not common; characteristically with white, yellow or dark-coloured deposits.
Wood parenchyma paratracheal; as broad sheaths to the vessels (vasicentric) and tending to aliform and often forming locally confluent layers.
Rays very fine or moderately fine usually visible only with a lens on cross-section because of lack of significant contrast in colour between rays and the background. Ripple marks absent.
Intercellular canals absent.

Other Features

Burning splinter test: Splinter burns to ash. Froth test : Negative (mild frothing may occur).

Uses