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| Commercial timbers |
Nomenclature etc. FABACEAE-MIMOSOIDEAE. Syn.: Albizia falcata, A. falcataria, A. moluccana, Paraserianthes falcataria; in Southeast Asia widely planted for industrial timber. Trade and local names: batai, jeungjing, sengon laut, sika (ID); kayu machis (MY-SWK); white albizia (PG); Moluccan sau, falcata (PH). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Tree. Geographic distribution: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indomalesia.
General. Heartwood basically white or grey. Sapwood colour similar to heartwood colour. Density 0.23–0.3–0.5 g/cm³.
Vessels. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels in multiples, commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows. Average tangential vessel diameter 160–340 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 1–3(–4). Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 5–8 µm, pits vestured. Vessel-ray pits with distinct borders, similar to intervessel pits. Helical thickenings absent. Tyloses absent. Other deposits not observed.
Tracheids and fibres. Fibres very thin-walled. Average fibre length 1200–1500 µm. Fibre pits mainly restricted to radial walls, simple to minutely bordered. Fibres non-septate.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma not banded. Axial parenchyma apotracheal, or paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse (isolated crystalliferous parenchyma cells). Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty, or vasicentric. Axial parenchyma as strands.
Rays. Rays 6–12 per tangential mm, exclusively uniseriate or multiseriate, 1–2 cells wide. Height of large rays up to 500 µm. Rays composed of a single cell type (homocellular); homocellular ray cells procumbent.
Storied structures. Storied structure absent.
Secretory structures. Intercellular canals absent.
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. Colour of water extract colourless to brown. Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown.
Illustrations. • Transverse section. • Tangential section. • Radial section. • Crystals. prismatic crystals in long chains of chambered parenchyma cells.
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’.
