Category :    Medium Hardwoods

Species

General Characteristics

Sapwood light red-brown not sharply di ffercntiated from heartwood; heartwood red-brown or dark red-brown often with a purple tinge; planed surface not particularly lustrous; silver figure on radial surface: texture moderately coarse and even; grain interlocked; moderately hard to cut across grain; air dry density ranging from 675 to 815 kg/m³ (42 to 51 lb/ft³) and averaging at 735 kg/m³ (46 lb/ft³); not durable.

Structure

Growth rings absent.
Vessels with scalariform perforation plates; medium-sized; generally moderately few but occasionally moderately numerous; exclusively solitary but overlapping vessel segments may produce the illusion of tangential pairs; diffuse without any arrangement; tyloses absent but white coloured deposits common.
Wood parenchyma sparse, mainly apotracheal, sometimes not visible even with a lens except as scattered specks but commonly visible (with a lens) as diffuse strands or short tangential lines between the rays; paralrachcal type present (as paratracheal diffuse) but this is not visible with a lens.
Raysoftwodistinctsix.es; fine rays barely visible to the naked eye; broad rays distinct producing conspicuous silver figure on radial surface.
Ripple marks absent.
Intercellular canals absent.

Other Features

Burning splinter test: Splinter bums to a full ash.
Froth test: Negative.

Uses