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KAYU PUTEH (Melaleuca leucadendra)

Trade Name

Kayu puteh

Scientific Name

Melaleuca leucadendra (L.) L.

Family

MYRTACEAE

Common Names

Kayu puteh; Gelam; Niaouli (New Caledonia); Brown tea-tree (Australia); Paper bark (Australia); Cajeput (United States of America); Smach chanlus (Cambodia); Tea tree (Papua New Guinea); Tram (Vietnam); Kayu putih (Indonesia); Broad leaved tea tree (Papua New Guinea)

Scientific Name Synonyms

Myrtus leucodendra L.; Melaleuca viridiflora Gaertner

Description Of The Tree

Botanical Description

It is an evergreen, small to medium-sized tree up to 15 m tall and 20 to 30 cm in diameter. It is reported as an essential oil plant.

Natural Habitat

It grows in pure stands on wet coastal flats and brackish swamps.

Natural Distribution

It is native to eastern Australia, Malay Archipelago, New Caledonia, and New Guinea.

Plantations Available?

This tree has been widely planted in other tropical and subtropical areas, often becoming naturalized.

Non Timber Uses

The wood contains cajeput oil which can be extracted by steam distillation.

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Wood Identification

Anatomic Description Of Wood

Wood diffuse porous. Tangential diameter of vessel lumina 100 micras or less (very small). Vessels per mm2 5 to 20. Vessels per mm2 less than 6 (rare). Simple perforation plates. Vessel-ray pits similar to intervessel pits in size and shape. Intervessel pits sm Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty and/or vasicentric. Axial parenchyma aliform. Axial parenchyma confluent. Occasionally 5 to 8 cells per parenchyma strand. Occasionally axial parenchyma in narrow bands on lines up to 3 cells wide. Occasionally axial parenc 4 to 10 rays per mm (medium). Occasionally larger rays more than 4 seriate. Occasionally silica bodies in the ray cells. Homogeneous rays and/or sub-homogeneous rays (all ray cells procumbent). Fibers very thin walled. Fibers with simple to minutely bordered pits.

Availability

Cites Status

Unrestricted

General Wood Description

Color

The sapwood is yellowish, merging gradually into pinkish-gray heartwood.

Grain

The grain is interlocked, occasionally crossed.

Texture

The texture is typically fine to medium.

Natural Durability

It is durable in contact with the ground and in water.

Natural durability index (1= Very high durability, 7=Vey low durability)

1

Silica Content

Silica Content: Silica content varies from 0.2-0.95%. Silica Value: 0.55

Wood Physical Properties

Basic Density or Specific Gravity (O.D. weight/vol. green) (g/cm³)

0.65

Air-dry Density (Weight and volume at 12%MC) (g/cm³)

0.72

Total shrinkage Tangential (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)

8.4

Total shrinkage Radial (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)

4.8

Drying Defects

Ease of Drying: Boards dry rapidly without much degrade. Drying Defects: The wood is sometimes prone to collapse, checking, cupping and warping.

Dimensional stability ratio (Total Tangential Shrinkage %/Total Radial Shrinkage %)

1.8

Wood Chemical Properties

Wood Mechanical Properties

Bending Strength (MOR),12%MC (kgf/cm²)

834

Compression parallel to fiber 12%MC (kgf/cm²)

415

Workability

Sawing

Melaleuca is a hard timber but it saws well.

Blunting Effect

It tends to dull the saw-teeth.

Machining

Machining operations are fair to difficult due to interlocked grain.

Gluing

This wood is reported to glue well.

Finishing

It takes a fairly good finish.

REFERENCED USES

End Uses Summary

EXTERIOR GENERAL, bridges, poles, paling, rails, crossarms, crossties, HOUSING GENERAL, FURNITURE AND CABINETS, TOOLS, agricultural tools, PACKING, CONTAINERS, truck bodies, truck flooring, NAVAL CONSTRUCTION, boats, port pillar, port storage

Exterior General
  • 1 - Tabela de resultados de ensaios fisicos e mecanicos
Bridges
  • 2 - 25 madeiras da amazonia de valor comercial, caracterizacao, macroscopica, usos comuns e indices qualificativos
Poles
  • 3 - Estudo dendrologico e determinacao das caracteristicas fisicas e mecanicas do genipapo (Genipa americana)
Paling Fence Pickets
  • 4 - Estudo dendrologico e determinacao das caracteristicas fisicas e mecanicas da bicuiba
Rails
  • 6 - Physical and mechanical properties of Eucalyptus deglupta Blume grown in Costa Rica
Crossheads Crossarms
  • 7 - Maderas latinoamericanas. II, Quercus alata Q. costaricensis y Q. eugeniaefolia
Crossties
  • 8 - Maderas latinoamericas. III, Podocarpus standleyi ,Podocarpus oleifolius, Drims granadensis, Magnolia poasana y Didymopanax pittieri
General Housing
  • 10 - Silica in Timbers
Furniture Cabinets
  • 21 - Tropical timbers of the world. Part III-Southeast Asian and Oceanian Species.
Tools
  • 42 - Utilización Industrial de Nuevas Especies Forestales en el Perú.
Agricultural Tools
  • 44 - Atlas of Peruvian Woods
Packing
  • 45 - Recopilación y Análisis de Estudios Tecnológicos de Maderas Peruanas
Truck Body
  • 53 - Timbers of the New World
Truck Flooring
  • 54 - Bulletin of the Government Forest Experiment Station N.157: Identification of Tropical Woods
Shipbuilding
  • 55 - Tropical Timber Atlas of Latin America
Boats
  • 56 - Manual de Identificación de Especies Forestales de la Subregión Andina.
Port Pillar
  • 61 - Manual de Diseño para Maderas del Grupo Andino
Port Storage
  • 62 - Estudio Tecnológico de Maderas del Perú (Zona Pucallpa) Vol I

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