A large tree up to 58m high and 6.1 m in girth, with an average exploitable girth of 3,4-3,7m. It is heavily buttressed and has a long clear bole.

The wood is medium hard and of medium weight and ranges between 513-721 kg/m3 averaging 673 kg/m3 when green. It is pink when freshly cut, darkening to a reddish-brown, with pale golden-brown zones, on exposure. The sapwood is yellowish-brown in colour and is up to 51mm in width and it is not always distinctly demarcated from the heartwood. The grain is sometime straight, but generally interlocked, giving a characteristic stripe figure in quarter sawn stock. The texture is medium to coarse, but even. It has no distinct taste or odour. The planed surface is lustrous and it has growth rings fairly distinct to the naked eye due to the presence of terminal parenchyma.

Dries rapidly with little degrade. Durable; resistant to fungal and insect attack. The sapwood is moderately permeable to preservative treatments and the heartwood extremely resistant.The timber works fairly easily with both hand and machine tools. A reduction in the cutting angle to 15 degrees is advisable to avoid picking up in machine planing, especially when the timber has interlocked grain. Nails well, slightly resistant to screws. Glues well. Takes a high polish. African Mahogany is very suitable for veneer and plywood, furniture and carpentry.

Iroko is golden-orange to brown, lighter vessel lines are conspicuous on flat saw surfaces. The material may contain large, hard deposits of calcium carbonate in cavities, and the timber around them may be darker in colour. The grain is interlocked and sometimes irregular and the texture rather coarse, but even. The weight is 640 kg/m3 (40 lb/ft3); specific gravity .64.

Iroko's medium density timber has a moderate steam bending classification, with medium bending and crushing strength, very low stiffness and resistance to shock loads.

Iroko dries fairly rapidly and well without much degrade and there is a tendency for stick marks to show during drying. There is a small movement in service.

 The sapwood is liable to attack by powder post beetle, but is highly resistant to termites in Africa. The heartwood is very durable, and is extremely resistant to preservative treatment. The sapwood is permeable.

Used for interior and exterior joinery; laboratory benches, furniture making and carving. It is a structural timber suitable for piling and marine work, and for domestic flooring. Also for plywood manufacture and sliced for wall panelling, flush doors and decorative veneering.

The GMelina  arborea tree attains moderate to large height up to 30 m with girth of 1.2 to 4 a chlorophyll layer just under the outer bark, pale yellow white inside.

Melina  wood is pale yellow to cream coloured or plukish-buff when fresh, turning yellowish brown on exposure and is soft to moderately hard, light to moderately heavy, lustrous when fresh, usually straight to irregular or rarely wavy grained and medium course textured. Flowering takes place during February to April when the tree is more or less leafless whereas fruiting starts from May onwards up to June. The fruit is up to 2.5 cm long, smooth, dark green, turning yellow when ripe and has a fruity smell.

Gmelina arborea timber is reasonably strong for its weight. It is used in constructions, furniture, carriages, sports, musical instruments and artificial limbs. Once seasoned, it is a very steady timber and moderately resistant to decay and ranges from very resistant to moderately resistant to termites.

Its timber is highly esteemed for door and window panels, joinery and furniture especially for drawers, wardrobes, cupboards, kitchen and camp furniture, and musical instruments because of its lightweight, stability and durability. It is also used for bentwood articles. In boat building it is used for decking and for oars. 

Gmelina arborea is a popular timber for picture and slate frames, turnery articles and various types of brush backs, brush handles and toys also for handles of chisels, files, saws, screw drivers, sickles etc.

The wood is also used for manufacturing tea chests and general purpose plywood, blackboards, frame core and cross bands of flushdoor shutters. In the instrument industry gambhar timber is widely employed for the manufacture of drawing boards, plane tables, instrument boxes, thermometer scales and cheaper grade metric scales. It is also used in artificial limbs, carriages and bobbins. It is an approved timber for handles of tennis rackets, frames and reinforcements of carom boards and packing cases and crates. Gamhar is used in papermaking and matchwood industry too.Gmelina arborea leaves are considered good for cattle (crude protein – 11.9%) and are also used as a feed to eri-silkworm.

Bubinga is medium red-brown with lighter red to purple veining. The grain is straight or interlocked. In some logs the grain is very irregular and these are converted by peeling into rotary cut veneers called kevasingo. The texture is moderately coarse but even. The weight ranges from 800-960 kg/m3 (50-60 lb/ft3), average 880 kg/m3 (55 lb/ft3); specific gravity .88.

Bubinga has low steam bending qualities and exudation of gum pockets is troublesome.The timber dries easily except for gum exudation, with little degrade, and is stable inservice.

Bubinga is moderately durable but liable to common furniture beetle attack. The sapwoodis permeable and the heartwood is resistant to preservative treatment. It is an excellentturnery timber, and used for knife handles, brush backs, fancy goods. Thechief use is for sliced decorative veneers for cabinets and panelling, particularly the rotarycut kevasingo, with a wild, swirling, veined figure.

The tree Under favourable conditions it reaches 30m in height and 0,6-0,9m in diameter but most of the commercial timber from the forests of Northern Europe is cut from much smaller trees.

The timber The wide geographical range of this species is reflected in the variable character of the timber, particularly the rate of growth (ring-width), the texture of the wood and the number and size of knots. In the seasoned condition the lighter-coloured sapwood is usually distinct from the pale reddish-brown resinous heartwood; the sapwood comprises a relatively large proportion of the converted timber. The annual rings are clearly marked by the contrast between the light spring wood and the darker summer wood zones. The average density of seasoned timber is about 0,48. The wood is usually straight grained except in the neighbourhood of knots, which occur at fairly regular intervals.

Strength The strength depends largely on the incidence of knots and other natural defects which are taken into account in grading timber for constructional work. Redwood is slightly stronger than whitewood (spruce) of similar grade and less strong than Douglas fir, pitch pine and larch.

Redwood is classed as non-durable. The heartwood is moderately resistant to preservative treatment; the sapwood is permeable. Untreated sapwood is susceptible to attack by the common furniture beetle.

In general the timber works easily in all hand and machine operations. Clear, narrow-ringed material showing more than 5 rings to the centimeter, as used for joinery, takes a good clean finish from the tool. Where the rings are appreciably wider, however, there is a tendency for the soft spring wood to tear up, especially if the cutters are dull. Redwood takes nails well, and with the exception of the occasional resinous piece, can be stained and glued effectively and gives good results with paint, varnish and polish.

Being comparatively cheap, easily worked and available in a wide range of sizes, redwood is the principal material used in Northern Europe for carpentry and joinery, boxes and packing cases and many other general purposes. In the round it is the standard timber fro transmission poles and pit props. It is pupled for kraft paper.

Anigre's heartwood is pale yellow to reddish-brown in colour. Fairly straight grained and of uniform texture; it shows a pleasing but subdued figure. Weight about 530 kg/m3 (33 lb/ft3); specific gravity .53

Anigre is a soft, weak timber of medium density, low bending strength and shock resistance, medium crushing strength and very low stiffness.

 It dries easily, fairly rapidly and well with negligible degrade and with little movement in service.

Anigre is perishable; liable to attack by common furniture beetle, but is permeable for preservation treatment.

Used for Turnery and carving, plywood corestock, utility plywood, chip baskets and small laminated articles, woodenware, and veneers. In decorative veneer form, its natural defects are exploited, such as knots, burr (burl) clusters, minor stains and streaks, stumpwood etc., and for plywood panelling in contemporary style

Idigbo's heartwood is pale yellow-brown, showing a zonal figure originating in the growth rings – like plain oak – and sometimes with a light pinkish cast. The grain is straight to slightly irregular or interlocked. The texture is medium to fairly coarse and uneven. The weight is variable owing to the prevalence of light-weight brittleheart in the inner core-wood; also liable to thunder shakes. Weight from 480-620 kg/m3 (30-39 lb/ft3). Average sound material 560 kg/m3 (35 lb/ft3); specific gravity .56.
Very poor steam bending classification, medium crushing strength, low bending strength and very low stiffness and resistance to shock loads.

The timber dries rapidly and well with little checking or distortion. It is very stable with only small movement in service.

Idigbo's sapwood is liable to attack by powder post beetle. Moderately resistant to termites. The heartwood is durable and extremely resistant to preservative treatment; the sapwood is moderately resistant.

Used in furniture and high-class joinery for interior and exterior work, and general carpentry and joinery and construction work. Rotary cut material is used for plywood manufacture and sliced for decorative veneers for panelling. It should not be used in damp conditions due to natural staining properties if in contact with iron compounds.

African cedar is nearly 50-70% whitish-yellow sapwood, which clearly contrasts with the yellow-red to reddish-brown core wood. The timber is somewhat heavier and harder than the American cedar Juniperus virginiana. This fast-growing tree is the largest cedar species in Africa, reaching heights of up to 45m (148ft). The trunk – often rather shapeless in appearance – has a diameter of 120-200cm (4-6.5ft), and the base frequently exhibits high, twisting roots. The core timber often suffers from decomposition (commonly called Red Core Decay).   

This hard timber possesses good pressure and bending strengths, making it easy to work withAfrican Cedar being durable and weather resistant, has a wide variety of applications.African Cedar is used in the production of parquet, panels, pencils, fences, cabinets, and for siding and roof shingles in home construction.

The heartwood has a medium to dark reddish-brown colour, characterised by a well-defined ribbon striped figure on quartered surfaces. Sometimes, when wavy grain is present, a very attractive fiddleback figure, roe figure or occasionally, beautiful mottled figure is obtained. The grain is interlocked or wavy and the texture fairly fine. Has a cedar-like scent when freshly cut. The timber is liable to ring or cup shakes. Weight varies between 560-690 kg/m3 (35-43 lb/ft3) averages about 620 kg/m3 (39 lb/ft3); specific gravity .62.

Despite high crushing and medium bending strength and resistance to shock loads, with a low stiffness category, sapele has a poor steam bending classification as the wood buckles and ruptures severely.

Used in manufacturing quality furniture and in cabinetmaking, joinery, shop fitting, office furniture, solid doors, boat building, musical instruments, sports goods, counter tops and flooring. Extensively used as a constructional veneer for plywood and selected logs are sliced for paneling and decorative face veneers for cabinets and marquetry, etc.