USDA Forest Service
Forest Products Laboratory
One Gifford Pinchot Drive
Madison, WI 53705-2398
(608) 231-9200
Wood Technical Fact Sheet
Eucalyptus deglupta
Deglupta
Family: Myrtaceae
Other Common Names: Bagras (Philippines), Mindanao gum (Australia), Komo, Kamarere (New Guinea).
Distribution: Native to the Philippines and other western Pacific islands. Favored as a plantation species throughout the world in lowland humid tropics.
The Tree: One of the largest and tallest trees in the Philippines, boles are straight and clear to 100 ft; with trunk diameters to 80 in.
The Wood:
General Characteristics: Heartwood varies from light red, light brown, to dark red brown; sapwood whitish, not always distinctly marked off from the heartwood. Texture moderately coarse; grain decidedly interlocked, showing a typical ribbon grain when quartered; lustrous; without distinctive odor or taste.
Weight: Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume): forest-grown 0.45 to 0.65, young plantation material 0.35 to 0.40; air-dry density forest-grown 35 to 50 pcf; plantation 25 to 30 pcf.
Mechanical Properties: (2-in. standard)
Moisture content Bending strength Modulus of elasticity Maximum crushing strength
(%) (Psi) (1,000 psi) (Psi)
12% (58) 10,550 1,530 5,650
Janka side hardness for dry material 470 lb. Forest Products Laboratory toughness in.-lb for dry material (2-cm standard).
Drying and Shrinkage: Generally reported to be easy to dry with little degrade if plantation-grown, forest-grown wood reported to collapse and prone to honeycomb. Kiln schedule similar to T6-D2 used in Fiji for 4/4 plantation stock. Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial 3.9%; tangential 7.8%.
Working Properties: Both forest- and plantation-grown wood easy to saw and machine but does not dress smoothly on quartered faces; takes a good finish.
Durability: Heartwood not resistant to attack by decay fungi; sapwood susceptible to powder-post beetle attack.
Preservation: Sapwood easily treated using open tank or pressure systems.
Uses: Furniture components, general construction, millwork, posts and poles (treated), pulp and paper products.
Additional Reading: (20), (48), (58)