542 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XXI, October 1967 
TABLE 2 ( continued ) 
WOOD PROPERTIES PERCENTAGE WEIGHT LOSS** 
TIMBER SPECIES 
NO. 
OF 
TREES 
Basic 
Density 
(lb/cu ft) 
Water 
Uptake 
(%) 
Fomes 
lividus 
Pycnoporus 
coccineus 
Lenzites 
trabea 
Coniophora 
olivacea 
Gonystylus 
4 
35.3 
54.4 
29.3 
32.0 
28.6 
31.0 
punctatus 
29-9-41.6 
48.4-60.4 
25.1-33.9 
23.1-37.7 
19.8-38.6 
25.0-36.7 
Podocarpus 
3 
27.7 
103.5 
22.0 
32.0 
35.8 
31.3 
javanica 
24.8-28.8 
39.0-149.2 
18.5-25.2 
28.4-37.0 
24.9-44.5 
27.0-34.9 
Pin us radiated 
5 
28.8 
80.4 
23.7 
27.2 
33.1 
39.7 
(sapwood) 
25.6-32.3 
75.3-84.9 
21.4-27.5 
20.8-36.0 
24.4-39-7 
38.2-41.0 
Canarium spp. 
5 
29.4 
49.7 
48.0 
28.9 
24.7 
30.4 
26.1-33.8 
35.0-77.4 
32.1-60.1 
21.0-47.4 
9-9-35.6 
17.4-40.0 
Endospermum 
5 
25.1 
65.0 
41.9 
44.0 
33.8 
36.4 
macrophyllum 
18.1-29-5 
52.5-90.7 
31.1-55.4 
37.6-53.9 
25.8-48.6 
31.6-39.6 
Myristica spp. 
5 
26.1 
100.4 
54.1 
44.2 
29.0 
39.6 
22.7-32.5 
73.7-123 .6 
49.8-60.1 
36.4-63.3 
19-0-39.2 
33.6-46.0 
T richospermum 
4 
17.4 
198.2 
60.7 
55.7 
31.4 
46.1 
richii 
11.6-22.2 
128.7-270.3 
48.9-70.2 
42.2-72.9 
18.2-49.7 
38.5-53.9 
* Values represent the mean for two specimens (inner and outer heartwood) from each tree and the range. Species 
arranged in decreasing order of overall mean for four fungi. 
** Incubation period of 8 weeks (12 weeks for P. coccineus) . 
I Reference timbers of known durability included for comparison. 
radial measurement varying with each tree. 
The material was air-dried before a quarter- 
sawn plank (y 8 inch thick) was removed from 
each billet for testing. 
Two specimens were tested from each tree, 
for each fungal species. It has been shown in 
many timbers (Scheffer and Duncan, 1947; 
Findlay, 1956; Rudman and Da Costa, 1959; 
Rudman, 1964) that the outermost heartwood 
is the most durable wood in the tree, and so a 
sample was taken from this position, as well 
as one closer to the pith, representing the rest 
of the heartwood which would be used com- 
mercially. The test blocks measured % inch 
parallel to the fibres, 1 y 8 inches radially, and 
y 8 inch tangentially, the longest dimension 
being in the radial direction so as to sample 
the maximum variation in durability. The sap- 
wood was not normally tested, as it is usually 
nondurable and can be readily treated with 
preservatives if necessary. However, in some 
trees the sapwood-heartwood boundary could 
not be defined or there appeared to be little or 
no heartwood, and in these cases sapwood was 
tested as well as, or instead of, heartwood, in- 
asmuch as this would be the timber used com- 
mercially. 
Decay Tests 
A soil-block method was used in which cy- 
lindrical 8-oz glass jars (2% inches diameter; 
3% inches high) with unlined metal screw 
caps were partly filled with 120 g of forest 
loam soil at 60% moisture content. Two feeder 
strips (1% X % X 1/16 inch) of beech 
( Fagus sylvatica ) sapwood were placed on the 
soil and, after sterilization, were inoculated 
with the particular test fungus. After fumiga- 
tion with propylene oxide (Hansen and Snyder, 
1947), two blocks, representing the inner and 
outer heartwood of the one tree, were placed 
in each jar, the largest face resting on the 
fungal mycelium. The percentage loss of 
weight, as compared with the air-dry initial 
weight, was used as a measure of the amount 
of decay. 
Four test fungi were used: Coniophora 
olivacea (Fr.) Karst, (dfp 1779) and Lenzites 
trabea Pers. ex Fr. (dfp 8845), both brown- 
rot fungi, and Pycnoporus coccineus (Fr.) 
Bond, and Sing. (syn. Coriolus sanguineus [L. 
ex Fr.] G. H. Cunn.) (dfp 2544) and Tomes 
lividus (Kalch.) Sacc. (dfp 7904), two white- 
rot fungi. The incubation period was 12 weeks 
