Category :    Light Hardwoods

Species

General Characteristics

Sapwood not differentiated from heartwood by colour; wood straw-coloured when freshly cut, weathering to a light brown; planed surface with medium lustre; tangential surface with feathery tracery produced by wood parenchyma bands; texture moderately fine and even; grain interlocked; soft or moderately hard to cut across grain; air dry density ranging from 480 to 640 kg/m³ (30 to 40 lb/ft³); not durable in contact with the ground or in exposed positions.

Structure

Growth rings absent or indistinct.
Vessels with simple perforation; medium-sized; generally moderately few in number; mostly in radial pairs or multiples of 2 to 6 in a scries and occasional clusters; diffuse but the predominantly radial pairs and multiples suggestive of a radial arrangement; tyloses and deposits absent.
Wood parenchyma exclusively apotracheal as rather closely spaced, but distinct terminal bands.
Rays fine, not visible to the naked eye on cross-section; not prominent on a radial surface.
Ripple marks absent.
Intercellular canals absent.

Other Features

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

Uses