Calophyllum

• Large hardwood with more than 100 species.
• Grows to 30m high and 0.8m diameter.
• Rarely buttressed (except for Papua New Guinea species) but occasionally with stilt roots.
• Shallow-grooved outer bark is grey or white, and sheds in large thin strips.
• Fast growing and often gregarious (grows in groups) due to natural regeneration.
• Grows in widely different habitats from ridges in mountain forests to coastal swamps, lowland forests, and even coral cays.

• Species of the genus marketed under the trade name Calophyllum occur from:
  • Madagascar
  • India
  • South-East Asia
  • Pacific Islands
  • South America
  • West Indies\
• 4 species of Calophyllum occur in North Queensland rainforests, but are marketed under different trade names.

Colour

• Sapwood varies between species from pale yellow, yellow-brown often with pink tints, to orange.
• Sometimes distinct from the heartwood, depending on the species.
• Heartwood is pink-red, or red-brown.

Grain

• Grain is interlocked, wavy or irregular, producing streaky or ribbon figure (pattern) on the radial face.
• Back-sawn boards commonly produce a zigzag figure (pattern).

Construction

• Used in the past in general construction as flooring, framing, plywood.

Decorative

• Cabinet work.
• Mouldings.
• Joinery.
• Panelling.
• Turnery.
• Veneer.

Others

• Boat building (ribs, masts, spars, oars and canoes).

• Density: Air-dry density varies considerably between species. The range is between 540 and 900kg/m³—640kg/m³ is used for reference purposes.
• Strength groups: S5 unseasoned, SD6 seasoned.
• Stress grades: F5, F7, F8, F11, (unseasoned); F7, F8, F11, F14, (seasoned), when visually stress graded according to AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
• Joint groups: J4 unseasoned, JD3 seasoned.
• Shrinkage to 12% MC:
  • C. kajewskii, Solomon Islands: 4.4% (tangential); 2.5% (radial)
  • C. papuanum, PNG: 5.3% (tangential); 2.8% (radial)
  • C.vitiense, Fiji: 5.1% (tangential); 3.3% (radial).
• Unit shrinkage:
  • C. kajewskii, Solomon Islands: 0.23% (tangential), 0.16% (radial)
  • C. papuanum, PNG: 0.30% (tangential), 0.23% (radial)
  • C. vitiense, Fiji: 0.23% (tangential), 0.19% (radial).
• Durability above-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy less than 7 years).
• Durability in-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy less than 5 years).
• Lyctine susceptibility: untreated sapwood susceptible to lyctine borer attack.
• Termite resistance: not resistant.
• Preservation: sapwood readily impregnates with preservative.
• Seasoning: difficult to season; use weights, end sealing and close sticker intervals to minimise degrade.
• Hardness: firm (rated 4 on a 6-class scale) to indent and working with hand tools.
• Machining: saws and machines well, though irregular, interlocked grain may make finishing difficult; irregular grain may show up in woolly patches.
• Fixing: screws well, but nailing properties are relatively poor—pre-drill to prevent splitting.
• Gluing: satisfactorily bonds using standard procedures.
• Finishing: you may need to use filler, but finishes well, takes stains, polish or paint.

General characteristics

• Sapwood: pale yellowish pink, not easily distinguished from heartwood, depending on species.
• Heartwood: pink-red to reddish brown.
• Texture: coarse, open and uneven; grain interlocked or wavy.

Wood structure

• Vessels: large to medium, solitary, arranged in oblique flares; vessel lines are very prominent, darker than surrounding tissue, on dressed surfaces.
• Parenchyma (soft tissue): abundant, paratracheal, widely spaced concentric bands, visible to the unaided eye.
• Rays: very fine.

Other features

• Burning splinter test: match-size splinter burns to ash.

• Ilic, J 1991, CSIRO atlas of hardwoods, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, Australia.
• Queensland Government, DAF 2018, Construction timbers in Queensland: properties and specifications for satisfactory performance of construction timbers in Queensland. Class 1 and Class 10 buildings, Books 1 & 2, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane.
• Standards Australia, 2000, AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes, Standards Australia International, Strathfield, NSW.