Select Language:  

MENSIRA (Ilex cymosa)

Trade Name

Mensira

Scientific Name

Ilex cymosa Blume

Family

AQUIFOLIACEAE

Common Names

Sai khe tai (Thailand); Se-ko (Thailand); Marsh holly; Bengkulat (Brunei Darussalam); Mensira gunung (Indonesia); Ki bonteng (Indonesia); Ki sekel (Indonesia); Bengkulat (Sarawak); Timah-timah (Malaysia); Pait (Philippines)

Scientific Name Synonyms

Ilex pleiobrachiata Loes; Ilex javanica Koord. & Valeton; Ilex bogorensis Loes

Description Of The Tree

Botanical Description

It is a small tree, up to 20 m high. The bole has a diameter up to 70 cm, sometimes with small buttresses.

Natural Habitat

It is found in primary or sometimes secondary lowland swamp and mangrove forests, particularly on poorly drained soils, up to 2,400 m of altitude.

Wood Identification

Anatomic Description Of Wood

Tangential diameter of vessel lumina 200 micras or more (large). Colored deposits in heartwood vessels. Vestured pits. Vessels per mm2 less than 6 (rare). Simple perforation plates. Vessel-ray pits similar to intervessel pits in size and shape. Intervessel pits Axial parenchyma aliform. Axial parenchyma confluent. Prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells and/or in fibers. Axial parenchyma in narrow bands on lines up to 3 cells wide. Homogeneous rays and/or sub-homogeneous rays (all ray cells procumbent). Fibers with distinctly bordered pits.

Availability

Cites Status

Unrestricted

General Wood Description

Color

The heartwood varies from white to yellow, darkening to yellow-brown upon exposure, not clearly differentiated from the sapwood.

Grain

The grain is usually straight.

Texture

This species is usually reported to have a fine texture.

Natural Durability

It is non-durable and it is highly susceptible to sap-stain.

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

5

Wood Physical Properties

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

0.54

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

0.59

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

9.2

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

4.3

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

2.1

Wood Chemical Properties

Wood Mechanical Properties

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

737

Stiffness (MOE) 12%MC (kgf/cm²)

98435

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

328

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

102

Shear strength radial 12%MC (kgf/cm²)

92

Janka hardness (side) 12%MC (kgf)

310

Janka hardness (end grain) 12%MC (kgf)

354

Workability

Rotary Veneer Cutting

Lamination of this species is possible.

Sliced Veneer

Lamination of this species is possible.

Machining

Wood processing is reported to be easy.

Turning

30

REFERENCED USES

End Uses Summary

HOUSING GENERAL, frames, FURNITURE AND CABINETS, PLYWOOD AND VENEER, TURNING, cutlery, TOOLS, tool handles, PACKING, OTHER AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, handicrafts, pencil, matches, moldings

General Housing
  • 10 - Silica in Timbers
Frames
  • 16 - Woods of the World
Furniture Cabinets
  • 21 - Tropical timbers of the world. Part III-Southeast Asian and Oceanian Species.
Panels, Veneers
  • 25 - Directory of Timber Trade Malaysia
Turning
  • 30 - Embassy of Honduras in Japan
Knife Handles
  • 33 - Embassy of Gabon in Japan
Tools
  • 42 - Utilización Industrial de Nuevas Especies Forestales en el Perú.
Tool Handles
  • 43 - Maderas de Bolivia (Características y Usos de 55 Maderas Tropicales)
Packing
  • 45 - Recopilación y Análisis de Estudios Tecnológicos de Maderas Peruanas
Handcraft
  • 66 - Maderas latinoamericanas. VII. Caracteristicas anatomicas. propiedades fisicomecanicas, de secado, y tratabilidad de la madera juvenil de Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav. Oken.)
Pencils
  • 67 - Maderas latinoamericanas. VIII, Calophyllum brasilense, Couratari panamensis, Dendropanax arboreum y Bombacopsis sessilis
Matches
  • 71 - Proprietes physiques et mecaniques des bois tropicaux, premier supplement
Molding
  • 79 - Padronização da Nomenclatura Comercial Brasileira das Madeiras Tropicais Amazônicas, Sugestão

Please Provide Information To View Producer Information

* Or, continue as guest