Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Persian Lilac wood
Persian Lilac (Melia azedarach, family Meliaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 36 lb/ft³ (577 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 683–684.
Other names, by country: Tamaga (Burma), Bois rouge (New Caledonia), Chinaberry tree (U.S.A.).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 36 lb/ft³ (577 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.47 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.47; air-dry density 36 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.5% tangential
- Radial 5.0%, volumetric 13.5%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
Strength
Bending strength is the modulus of rupture (MOR); stiffness is the modulus of elasticity (MOE); crushing strength is compression parallel to the grain. The sheet collects these from published tests: it prints 2 data sets, from different tests and sources, so they can differ widely; all are shown, in the sheet's order, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 16,000 psi (110 MPa) | 1.3 million psi (9 GPa) | 8,100 psi (56 MPa) |
| Green | 8,500 psi (59 MPa) | 1.15 million psi (7.9 GPa) | 3,920 psi (27 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood reddish, darkening on exposure to a reddish-brown, marked with dark striations caused by zones of springwood pores; sapwood yellowish-white, distinct. Grain straight; texture coarse and uneven; lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Easy to saw and machine, and peels well on a veneer lathe; dresses to a smooth finish and takes a good polish.
- Durability
- The timber is reported to be resistant to attack by decay fungi and termites.
- Uses
- Turnery, furniture components, decorative veneers, novelty items, boxes and chests.
- Where it grows
- Native to the Himalayan region and perhaps elsewhere in Asia. Cultivated throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world as an ornamental.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 683–684, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for furniture with the species picker
Weigh persian Lilac against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.