SOME TIMBER CHARACTERISTICS OF <em>GMELINA</em> <em>ARBOREA</em> GROWN IN A PLANTATION IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Abstract

Three trees of 33-y-old Gmelina arborea were examined. The timber was pale in colour with straight to slightly interlocked grain. Texture was moderately coarse. The timber was light to medium weight with basic density ranging from 345 to 620 kg m^-3. The timber had indistinct growth rings, and pores with simple perforation and arranged in solitary, radial pairs and radial multiples of up to six pores. The pores were moderately small to extremely large. Parenchyma was mainly paratracheal with vasicentric and confluent type. Generally, density increased from pith to bark and from the butt end to the top of stem.