544 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XXI, October 1967 
TABLE 3 
Relative Decay Resistance by Various Criteria 
TIMBER SPECIES 
PERCENTAGE 
Overall Mean 
WEIGHT LOSS 
Mean for 
Worst Fungus 
MEAN RANKING* 
Palaquium hornet 
0.2 
0.5 
1.0 
Eucalyptus microcorys 
0.6 
1.2 
3.5 
Intsia bijuga 
0.7 
2.4 
2.2 
Fagraea gracilipes 
1.4 
1.8 
4.8 
Tectona grandis 
1.5 
2.6 
5.2 
Syzygium spp. complex 
3.9 
6.3 
7.0 
Eucalyptus obliqua 
6.4 
14.9 
8.0 
Dacrydium elatum 
6.6 
10.1 
10.2 
Podocarpus neriifolius 
7.4 
16.6 
9-8 
Garcinia myrtifolia 
7.7 
13.2 
10.2 
Heritiera ornithocephala 
7.9 
13.9 
10.8 
Swietenia macrophylla 
8.2 
19.5 
10.5 
Palaquium fidjiense 
8.7 
15.7 
12.0 
Seri ant he s myriadenia 
13.9 
26.0 
15.5 
Pseudotsuga menziesii 
16.6 
32.2 
16.8 
Calophyllum spp. 
16.7 
22.6 
17.5 
Casuarina nodiflora 
17.4 
26.5 
16.0 
Eucalyptus citriodora 
19.7 
27.9 
18.5 
Podocarpus vitiensis 
20.0 
27.8 
18.0 
Alphitonia zizyphoides 
21.9 
33.8 
20.5 
Agathis vitiensis 
25.3 
28.7 
20.0 
Parinari insularum 
26.4 
31.7 
21.8 
Terminalia catappa 
28.8 
40.6 
22.8 
Gonystylus punctatus 
30.2 
32.0 
24.0 
Podocarpus javanica 
30.3 
35.8 
24.2 
Pinus radiata (sap wood) 
30.9 
39.7 
24.2 
Canarium spp. 
33.0 
48.0 
24.0 
Endospermum macrophyllum 
39-0 
44.0 
27.8 
Myristica spp. 
41.7 
54.1 
28.0 
Trichospermum richii 
48.5 
60.7 
29.2 
* For each fungal species, the timbers were ranked 1-30 in order of increasing mean percentage weight loss and the mean 
of these rankings for the four comparisons was obtained. 
! 
showing very similar durability (weight losses: 
36.3, 34.9, 28.8; 31.5; 33.3%). Amongst the 
four trees of Casuarina nodi flora sampled was 
one tree identified as Gymnostoma vitiense 
L. A. S. Johnson, which showed a slightly 
higher mean percentage weight loss (23.1 cf. 
13.0, 18.6, 17.4). However, no conclusions 
can be drawn from results for one tree of a 
species. Decay figures were similar for all trees 
of Myristica spp., which consisted of two trees 
of M. chartacea Gillespie (47.7, 39.8%), one 
tree of M. castanaefolia A. Gray (39.1%) and 
two trees of M. hypargyrea A. Gray (40.2, 
41.8%). Of five trees tested of the Palaquium 
pdjiense group, two trees were identified as 
Palaquium n.sp., but all showed such similar 
decay losses that the two species could not be 
distinguished on durability in these tests. 
In the case of the Syzygium spp. complex, 
apparently a number of botanical species ap- 
pear very similar in the field, inasmuch as nine 
different species were received under the trade 
name of "yasiyasi.” On the basis of field char- 
acteristics and physical properties of the tim- 
ber, these species can be divided into two 
main groups, as shown in Table 5, which 
includes the mean percentage weight loss for 
all four fungi for each tree. As there is some 
variation in the mean percentage weight losses 
for different trees within a species, and within 
each group, and as only one or two trees were 
tested for many of the species, no differentiation 
