Category :    Light Hardwoods

Species

General Characteristics

Sapwood lighter-coloured and distinct from heartwood; colour of heartwood light red-brown; planed surface not lustrous: stripe figure on radial surface; texture rather coarse but even; grain interlocked; moderately hard to cut across grain; air dry density ranging from 595 to 755 kg/m³ (37 to 47 lb/ft³) averaging 672 kg/m³ (42 lb/ft³); moderately durable in contact with the ground or in exposed positions.

Structure

Growth rings absent.
Vessels with simple perforation; moderately large; few or moderately few in number; mostly solitary, the rest in oblique or radial pairs and radial multiples of up to 4 in a series; diffuse but withatendency lobe aligned in short, obIiquelines;tyloses present but generally not abundant; vessel deposits absent.
Wood parenchyma as both parairachcal and apoiracheal; paratracheal type as incomplete, narrow vasiceniric, aliform or locally conilucnt; the apotracheal type as irregularly spaced bands enclosing resin canals and as diffuse strands which may form short, narrow lines between the rays.
Rays medium-sized and visible to the naked eye on cross-section; fairly conspicuous on a radial surface.

Other Features

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

Uses