IDENTIFICATION OF TRUE MAHOGANY. 11 



guile on the Manila market. Almon has no other common names 

 except in the native dialect. 



Tanguile and red lauaan constitute the bulk of so-called " Philip- 

 pine mahogany " sent to the United States. Almon is included occa- 

 sionally. Rarely, other species of the Dipterocarp family may be 

 included, especially white lauaan {Pentacme contorta Merr. and 

 Eolfe) and bagtican {Parashorea malaanonan (Blanco) Merr.). 

 When tanguile is desired, g&nuine tanguile should be specified. 



WHEKE GROWN. 



Philippine Islands. 



PHYSICAL PEOPEKTIES. 



Tanguile is " soft to moderately hard ; light to moderately heavy, 

 specific gravity 0.469 to 0.509 (Gardner) ; ^'^ heartwood pale red to 

 dark reddish-brown; grain distinctly crossed, producing a broad, 

 conspicuous ribbon when quarter-sawed ; seasons well, but may warp 

 if not carefully stacked ; easy to work." ^® 



Eed lauaan is " soft to moderately hard ; light to moderately heavy, 

 specific gravity 0.406 (Gardner) ; heartwood light red to dark red- 

 dish brown; grain distinctly crossed, forming a conspicuous ribbon 

 when quarter-sawed; texture rather coarse; seasons well, splitting 

 and warping very little ; easy to work." ^^ 



Almon is "soft; light, specific gravity 4.464 (Gardner); heart- 

 wood very pale red; texture rather coarse; grain somewhat crossed, 

 making a narrow distinct ribbon when quarter-sawed, small but dis- 

 tinct silver grain; seasons well, checking and warping very little; 

 very easy to work." ^^ 



Tanguile, in general, is slightly heavier, harder, stronger, and finer- 

 grained than either red lauaan or almon. 



STKUCTUBE. 



The pores are very distinct on smoothly cut transverse and longi- 

 tudinal surfaces. They are fairly uniform in size in each species, but 

 average slightly smaller in tanguile than in red lauaan and almon. 

 They are evenly distributed, singly or occasionally by twos. The 

 pores are open for the most part, but occasionally contain tyloses. 

 Reddish-brown gum is never found in the pores. 



White tangential lines varying in length from very short to the 

 full thickness of a board are usually common on the cross-section (see 



" The moisture percentage and the volume (oven-dry or otherwise) on which this 

 specific gravity is based are not given, but undoubtedly the basis of computation was the 

 same as that used in computing the specific gravities of red lauaan and almon quoted in 

 the succeeding paragraphs. Forest Products Laboratory determinations show an average 

 specific gravity for tanguile based on the oven-dry weight and oven-dry volume of 0.57. 



^'^ Philippine Bureau of Forestry Bulletin 14, pp. 168—171. 



