Category :    Light Hardwoods

Species

General Characteristics

Sapwood ill-defined or indistinct when freshly cut but changing colour and becoming moderately sharply or sharply defined in the course of drying; heartwood almost pure white when freshly cut, but gradually changing to yellow-brown or buff-colour and weathering ultimately to a golden-brown or define brown; planed surface lustrous; with subtle ribbon figures; texture moderately coarse but even; grain interlocked; moderately hard or hard to cut across grain; air dry density ranging from 512 to 992 kg/m³ (32 to 62 lb/ft³) but on an average about 672 kg/m³ (42 lb/ft³); moderately durable in contact with the ground or exposed situations.

Structure

Growth rings absent.
Vessels with simple perforation; medium-sized or moderately large; few or moder¬ately few in number; mostly solitary, the others in radial or oblique pairs and radial groups of up to 4; unevenly distributed in groups of 3 to 5 vessels in a group or in short oblique lines; tyloses commonly absent; deposits absent.
Wood parenchyma of both paratracheal and apotracheal types; paratracheal paren¬chyma as incomplete vasicentric or vasicentric, aliform or confluent, with the aliform type predominant and all the above types being present in most of the species; apotracheal type as concentric bands containing resin canals, occasional narrow, terminal bands, diffuse strands and narrow or broad discontinuous tangential layers.
Rays fine or medium-sized, visible or distinct to the naked eye on cross-section; not conspicuous on a radial surface.

Other Features

Burning splinter test: Splinter burns to ash except S. bentongensis and S. dealbata which burns to charcoal. Froth test: Negative.

Uses

The timber is suitable for general utility purposes, planking, stair stringers, treads and railings, light to medium construction, panelling and partitioning, furniture manufacture and flooring. This timber is very popular as a plywood species.