Category :    Medium Hardwoods

Species

General Characteristics

Sapwood very well defined; colour of heartwood brick-red when freshly sawn, weathering to orange-red speckled by yel¬low brown lines; planed surface moderately lustrous; with stripe figure on radial sur¬face; texture coarse and even; grain inter-locked, spiral or wavy; concentric rings of abnormal tissue may be visible on cross-section of unsawn logs; very hard and horny to cut across grain;air dry density ranging from 770 to 1250 kg/m³ (48 to 70 lb/ft³); moderately durable even under severe condi¬tions of exposure.

Structure

Growth rings indistinct or absent.
Vessels with simple perforation; large or very large; very few or few; partly solitary and partly in radial groups of 2 to 6; evenly distributed without any clear arrangement; generally without tyloses; white coloured deposit rarely present.
Wood parenchyma predominantly paratracheal; as conspicuous aliform; narrow terminal bands (apotracheal) may rarely occur.
Rays moderately fine, just visible to the naked eye on cross-section; not conspicuous on a radial surface.
Ripple marks generally distinct.
Intercellular canals absent.
Included phloem Concentric bands of included phloem often present (but this is usually discarded during sawing and may not be seen except on logs).

Other Features

Burning splinter test: Splinter burns to pure white ash.
Froth test: Negative.

Uses