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| Commercial timbers |
Nomenclature etc. ALTINGIACEAE (HAMAMELIDACEAE). Similar species from southern Asia (1) and Asia Minor (2): Liquidambar formosana (1); Liquidambar orientalis (2). Trade and local names: ambar wood, tassel wood (US); Amberbaum, Satin-Nuss, (DE); estoraque, liquidambar, ocozotl (MX); satén (ES, cAm). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Tree. Geographic distribution: temperate Asia (L. formosana), North America, Mexico and Central America.
General. Growth ring boundaries distinct. Heartwood basically brown to red; with streaks (black). Sapwood colour distinct from heartwood colour. Density 0.44–0.55 g/cm³.
Vessels. Vessels present. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels exclusively solitary. Vessel outline angular. Average tangential vessel diameter 40–70 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 100–170. Perforation plates scalariform, with 15–30 bars. Intervessel pits scalariform or opposite, average diameter (vertical) 6–9 µm, pits vestured. Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, rounded or angular and horizontal to vertical, of two distinct sizes or types in the same ray cell. Helical thickenings present, in narrow and wide vessel elements, throughout the body of vessel elements or only in vessel element tails. Tyloses present, thinwalled.
Tracheids and fibres. Fibres very thin-walled to of medium wall thickness. Fibre pits common in both radial and tangential walls, distinctly bordered.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma apotracheal, or paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse, or diffuse-in-aggregates. Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 4–7.
Rays. Rays 9–13 per tangential mm, multiseriate, 1–3 cells wide. Height of large rays up to 500 µm to commonly 500 to 1000 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 or mostly 2–4 marginal rows of upright or square cells.
Mineral inclusions. Crystals present or not observed (prismatic crystals in upright/square and procumbent ray cells observed only in Liquidambar formosana), prismatic, located in ray cells. Crystal-containing ray cells upright and/or square or procumbent. Number of crystals per cell or chamber one. Crystal containing cells somewhat enlarged (idioblasts). Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent.
Illustrations. • Transverse section. • Tangential section. • Radial section. • Perforation plates; intervessel pits. scalariform to opposite intervascular pitting and scalariform perforation plates. pits. plates. plates. • Crystals. Liquidambar formosana. large prismatic crystals present in rays of L. formosana but absent in L. styraciflua and L. orientalis.
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’.
