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| Commercial timbers |
Nomenclature etc. ANACARDIACEAE. Including: M. foetida, M. caloneura, M. altissima, M. salomonensis, M. mucronulata. Trade and local names: sepam, tiger wood, figured asam (MY, ID); asam (MY-SAB); mangga, mango (IN);. Not protected under CITES regulations.
Tree. Geographic distribution: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indomalesia (as fruit tree cultivated worldwide in tropical regions).
General. Growth ring boundaries distinct or indistinct or absent (if visible demarcated by marginal parenchyma bands). Heartwood basically brown, brown to white or grey; with streaks or without streaks. Sapwood colour similar to heartwood colour, or distinct from heartwood colour. Density 0.52–0.7 g/cm³. Formation of dark brown heartwood with nearly black stripes is of facultative occurrence and quite common in some species; such wood is often traded as "tigerwood".
Vessels. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels arranged in no specific pattern, in multiples, commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows. Average tangential vessel diameter 160–280 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 3–6. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 10–13 µm. Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, different from intervessel pits, rounded or angular or horizontal to vertical. Helical thickenings absent. Tyloses present, thinwalled. Other deposits present (dark reddish brown).
Tracheids and fibres. Fibres of medium wall thickness. Fibre pits mainly restricted to radial walls, simple to minutely bordered. Fibres non-septate.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma banded or not banded. Bands marginal (or seemingly marginal). Axial parenchyma bands much wider than rays. Bands fine to coarse. Axial parenchyma apotracheal, or paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates. Paratracheal axial parenchyma aliform, or confluent. Aliform parenchyma of the lozenge type. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 4–8.
Rays. Rays 8–12 per tangential mm, multiseriate, 1–3 cells wide. Rays with multiseriate portions as wide as uniseriate portions present, or absent. Height of large rays up to 500 µm. Rays composed of two or more cell types (heterocellular). Heterocellular rays with square and upright cells restricted to marginal rows, mostly 1 marginal row of upright or square cells. Rays on average quite low, individual cells rather large.
Storied structures. Storied structure absent.
Secretory structures. Intercellular canals absent. Laticifers or tanniniferous tubes absent.
Mineral inclusions. Crystals present, prismatic, located in ray cells. Crystal-containing ray cells upright and/or square or procumbent. Number of crystals per cell or chamber more than one. Crystals in one cell or chamber of the same size, or of two distinct sizes. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood fluorescent (bright yellow in just one specimen), or not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour of water extract colourless to brown. Ethanol extract fluorescent (M. solomonensis: blue; M. indica: orange; Mangifera sp.: yellow; M. sylvatica: dirty orange). Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown, or red, or yellow. Froth test positive. Splinter burns to full ash, or to charcoal. Ash white to grey.
Illustrations. • Macroscopic images: Transverse section. transverse (ca. 10x). • Macroscopic images: wood surface. surface (natural size). tangential. radial. • Transverse section. Mangifera indica. • Tangential section. Mangifera indica. • Radial section. Mangifera indica.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2000 onwards. Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
