Category :    Medium Hardwoods

Species

General Characteristics

Sapwood well defined; colour of heartwood rose-red or deep red; planed surfaces not particularly lustrous; faint stripe figure (seldom pronounced) on radial surface; texture rather coarse but even; grain shallowly or heavily interlocked or spiral; hard to cut across grain; often (particularly when fresh) with camphor-like odour: air dry density ranging from 575 to 815 kg/m³ (36 to 51 lb/ft³); D. aromatica is durable but non durable in the case of D. oblongifolia.

Structure

Growth rings absent but irregularly spaced, concentric layers of vertical canal, may simulate growth rings. Vessels with simple perforation; medium-sized to moderately large; generally moderately few; almost exclusively solitary; evenly distributed but with a tendency to form short oblique lines; mostly filled with tyloses; no deposits.
Wood parenchyma of both the apotracheal and paratracheal types; the former as irregularly spaced concentric lines and some diffuse strands and the latter as indistinct borders to the vessels with a tendency to aliform.
Rays moderately fine to medium-sized; clearly visible to the naked eye, not promi-nent on a radial surface.

Other Features

Burning splinter test: Splinter burns to charcoal.
Froth test: Negative.

Uses

The timber is suitable for medium construction, posts, beams, joists, rafters, flooring, plywood manufacture, laboratory benches and railway sleepers