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SENNA (Senna siamea)
Trade Name
Senna
Scientific Name
Senna siamea (Lam.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby
Family
LEGUMINOSAE
Common Names
Johar (Sumatra); Khi lek ban (Thailand); Johor (Malaysia); Khi lek (Laos); Angkanh (Cambodia); Thailand shower (Philippines); Juah (Malaysia); Johar (Indonesia); Thai copper pod; Kassod tree; Phak chili (Thailand); Petai belalang (Malaysia)
Scientific Name Synonyms
Sciacassia siamea (Lam.) Britton; Chamaefistula gigantea G. Don; Cassia siamea var. puberula Kurz; Cassia siamea Lam.; Cassia gigantea Bertero ex DC.; Cassia florida Vahl; Cassia arborea Macfad.
Description Of The Tree
Botanical Description
It is described as a small to medium sized tree, up to 20 m tall, the bole is usually short, up to 50 cm in diameter.
Natural Habitat
Senna siamea is reported along roadsides and riverbanks. It occurs in different types of lowland forests.
Plantations Available?
It is planted throughout the tropics, in Vietnam is used for fuel-wood plantations.
Wood Identification
Anatomic Description Of Wood
Wood diffuse porous. Tangential diameter of vessel lumina 200 micras or more (large). Colored deposits in heartwood vessels. Vestured pits. Vessels per mm2 5 to 20. Vessels per mm2 less than 6 (rare). Simple perforation plates. Vessel-ray pits similar to interve Axial parenchyma confluent. Prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells and/or in fibers. Occasionally two cells per parenchyma strand. 3 to 4 cells per parenchyma strand. Occasionally 5 to 8 cells per parenchyma strand. Axial parenchyma bands more 4 to 10 rays per mm (medium). Homogeneous rays and/or sub-homogeneous rays (all ray cells procumbent). Occasionally septate fibers present. Fibers very thick walled. Fibers with simple to minutely bordered pits.
Availability
Cites Status
Unrestricted
General Wood Description
Odor
Its odor and taste is not distinct.
Color
The sapwood is white, distinct. The heartwood is reddish-brown, dark brown to almost black.
COLOR INDEX (1=Black, 7=Light yellow,white)
1
Grain
This species is typically reported to have wavy or interlocked grain.
Texture
This species is reported to have a fine to medium texture.
Luster
It is reported to be lustrous.
Natural Durability
The heartwood is reported to be resistant to termites.
Natural durability index (1= Very high durability, 7=Vey low durability)
2
Silica Content
Silica Content: Silica content is negligible. Silica Value: 0
Resistance To Impregnation
S. siamea wood is permeable to preservative substances.
Wood Physical Properties
Basic Density or Specific Gravity (O.D. weight/vol. green) (g/cm³)
0.63
Air-dry Density (Weight and volume at 12%MC) (g/cm³)
0.71
Total shrinkage Tangential (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)
9.4
Total shrinkage Radial (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)
5.6
Drying Defects
Ease of Drying: Drying is rather slow and sometimes difficult to perform. Drying Defects: Risks of distortions.
Dimensional stability ratio (Total Tangential Shrinkage %/Total Radial Shrinkage %)
1.7
Wood Chemical Properties
Wood Mechanical Properties
Bending Strength (MOR),12%MC (kgf/cm²)
1106
Stiffness (MOE) 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
121946
Compression parallel to fiber 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
550
Shear strength radial 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
107
Workability
Machining
This species is difficult to machine.
Planing
The wood has a tendency to pick up in planing.
Turning
30
Finishing
It takes a high finish.
Polishing
Polishing of this wood is easy.
REFERENCED USES
End Uses Summary
HOUSING GENERAL, beams, boards, panelling, FURNITURE AND CABINETS, luxury furniture, PLYWOOD AND VENEER, faces, Decorative veneer, TURNING, TOOLS, tool handles, agricultural tools, CONTAINERS, truck bodies, truck flooring, NAVAL CONSTRUCTION, OTHER AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, handicrafts
General Housing
- 10 - Silica in Timbers
Beams
- 11 - Prospect: The wood database
Boards
- 13 - Dry kiln schedules for commercial woods. Temperate and tropical. Section III. Latin American (Mexico, Central, and South America) Woods–Conventional Temperatures
Paneling
- 18 - W3TROPICOS Missouri Botanical Garden
Furniture Cabinets
- 21 - Tropical timbers of the world. Part III-Southeast Asian and Oceanian Species.
Furniture, Luxury
- 22 - Dry kiln schedules for commercial woods. Temperate and tropical. Section IV-Asian and Oceanian Woods
Panels, Veneers
- 25 - Directory of Timber Trade Malaysia
Faces
- 26 - Annual Review and Assessment of the World Timber Situation 1998-ITTO
Decorative veneer
- 28 - Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forest of Fiji
Turning
- 30 - Embassy of Honduras in Japan
Tools
- 42 - Utilización Industrial de Nuevas Especies Forestales en el Perú.
Tool Handles
- 43 - Maderas de Bolivia (Características y Usos de 55 Maderas Tropicales)
Agricultural Tools
- 44 - Atlas of Peruvian Woods
Truck Body
- 53 - Timbers of the New World
Truck Flooring
- 54 - Bulletin of the Government Forest Experiment Station N.157: Identification of Tropical Woods
Shipbuilding
- 55 - Tropical Timber Atlas of Latin America
Handcraft
- 66 - Maderas latinoamericanas. VII. Caracteristicas anatomicas. propiedades fisicomecanicas, de secado, y tratabilidad de la madera juvenil de Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav. Oken.)
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