Tulip plum

• Grows to 30m high and 1.0m stem diameter, but it's usually much smaller.
• Trunk is often irregular in cross-section.
• Bark is dark brown, very scaly, rough and sheds in oblong pieces.

• Distributed mainly in wetter areas along the Queensland coast:
  • Maryborough to Townsville
  • Cairns and Atherton regions.
• Sawn timber is available but it's not common.

Colour

• Heartwood is pale to dark reddish brown, usually streaked with darker bands.
• Sapwood is usually pinkish brown.

Grain

• Close grained, fine texture.
• Usually straight.

• Decorative: cabinet making, turnery, walking sticks, umbrella handles.
• Others: previously used in smokers' pipes, and brush stock.

• Density: 930kg/m³ at 12% moisture content; about 1.1m³ of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
• Strength groups: (S3) unseasoned, SD3 seasoned (brackets indicate provisional value).
• Stress grades: F8, F11, F14, F17 (unseasoned); F14, F17, F22, F27 (seasoned) when visually stress-graded according to AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
• Joint groups: JD2 seasoned.
• Shrinkage to 12% MC: not available.
• Unit shrinkage: not available.
• 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 lyctid borer attack.
• Termite resistance: not resistant.
• Preservation: sapwood readily impregnates with preservative, but penetration of heartwood is negligible using available commercial processes.
• Seasoning: satisfactorily dries using conventional air and kiln seasoning.
• Hardness: hard (rated 2 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
• Machining: machines, and turns well, to a smooth surface.
• Fixing: no difficulty using standard fittings and fastenings.
• Gluing: as with most high-density species, machine and prepare surface immediately before gluing.
• Finishing: readily accepts stain, polish and paint.

General characteristics

• Sapwood: pinkish brown.
• Heartwood: pale to dark reddish brown with occasional darker bands formed by latewood.
• Texture: fine and uniform.

Wood structure

• Growth rings: sometimes indicates growth zones.
• Vessels: small, uniformly distributed, except in latewood at the end of a growth zone (where present); mostly in short radial multiples, some solitary and with an occasional cluster; vessel lines just visible on longitudinal surfaces; frequent tyloses; some deposits of extraneous material visible in vessels and rays.
• Parenchyma (soft tissue): indefinite under a lens.
• Rays: fine.

Other features

• Burning splinter test: crackles as it burns to a full white ash.

• Boland, DJ, Brooker, MIH, Chippendale, GM, Hall, N, Hyland, BPM, Johnston, RD, Kleinig, DA and Turner, JD 2006, Forest trees of Australia, 5th ed., CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
• Bootle, K 2005, Wood in Australia: Types, properties and uses, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
• 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.