| | Commercial timbers |
Nomenclature etc. CALOPHYLLACEAE (CLUSIACEAE, GUTTIFERAE). Trade and local names: penaga lilin (MY); Ceylon ironwood, Indian rose chestnut, Cobra's ironwood, mesua (GB); nag kesar, nag champa, narmishka, tadinangu, vainavu, nokte, nagishor (IN). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Description based on 4 specimens. Tree. Geographic distribution: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indomalesia.
General. Heartwood basically brown, red (red-brown). Sapwood colour distinct from heartwood colour. Density 0.94–1.13 g/cm³.
Vessels. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels arranged in a diagonal and/or radial pattern, exclusively solitary. Average tangential vessel diameter 100–150–200 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 4–6. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 4–7 µm (pits only between vasicentric tracheids and vessels). Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, different from intervessel pits, rounded or angular and horizontal to vertical, of two distinct sizes or types in the same ray cell. Tyloses present, thinwalled and sclerotic. Other deposits present, red-brown.
Tracheids and fibres. Vascular or vasicentric tracheids commonly present (vasicentric tracheids). Fibres very thick-walled. Fibre pits mainly restricted to radial walls, simple to minutely bordered. Ocasionally with helical thickenings in vasicentric tracheids.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma banded and not banded. Bands not marginal (or seemingly marginal). Axial parenchyma bands much wider than rays. Bands fine. Axial parenchyma apotracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 6–11. Parenchyma bands wavy.
Rays. Rays 9–13 per tangential mm, exclusively uniseriate (occasionally also bi-seriate rays). 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 (rarely 2).
Mineral inclusions. Crystals present, prismatic, located in axial parenchyma cells. Crystal-containing axial parenchyma cells chambered. Number of crystals per cell or chamber one. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract fluorescent (purple); colour of water extract colourless to brown. Ethanol extract fluorescent (pinkish). Colour of ethanol extract red (orange). Splinter burns to partial ash. Ash yellow-brown.
Illustrations. • Transverse section. • Tangential section. • Radial section.
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’.
