U.S.D.A.

FOREST SERVICE RESEARCH PAPER FPL 103 • MARCH 1969

U.S. Department of Agriculture • Forest Service • Forest Products Laboratory • Madison, Wis.
Abstract
Fifteen species of exotic woods, mostly tropical,
with good service reputations were comparatively
evaluated for resistance to decay organisms by soil-
block tests, and 12 of the species were evaluated by
field stake tests. Results indicated that wallaba,
ekki, and jarrah were very resistant; African oak
was resistant; Liberian pine, ohia, parinarium, wish-
more, and robusta and saligna eucalyptus were mod­
erately resistant. Two species, kakrodua and Austra­
lian toon, were resistant in laboratory tests but only
moderately resistant in field tests.
 NATURAL DECAY RESISTANCE OF FIFTEEN

EXOTIC WOODS IMPORTED FOR EXTERIOR USE

By JOE W. CLARK, Plant Pathologist

FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY

FOREST SERVICE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

These included the following woods:

Introduction Ekki (Lophira alata Banks ex Gaertn. f.) syn.
(L. procera A. Chev.)
Kokrodua (Afrormosia elata Harms)
Wood species with heartwood of consistently
African oak (Gilbertiodendron preussii (Harms)
high levels of natural decay resistance have long
J. Leonard)
been sought for woad structures that are neces­
Parinarium (Parinari excelsa Sabine) syn. (P.
sarily exposed to decay. Based on their avail­
holstii Engl.)
ability and service reputation abroad, a number
Wishmore (Tarrietia utilis Sprague (Sprague))
of foreign wood species are being considered
Liberian pine (Tetraberlinia tubmaniana J.
for use in these decay situations. To establish Leonard)
an estimate of their comparative decay resist­
Four Hawaiian species were appraised at the
ance, a number of these species have been tested request and with the support of the Pacific South­
at the Laboratory in cooperation with interested west Forest and Range Experiment Station, U.S.
users, importers, or other reaearch groups. Forest Service. The sample material consisted
of the following woods:
Ohia (Metrosideros collina (Forst.) Gray) syn.
Species Tested (M. polymorpha)(Gaud.) Rock)
and Cooperators Australian toon (Toona ciliata var. australis
Roxb.)
Testing of six African species was supported Robusta eucalyptus (Eucalyptus robusta J. E.
by the U.S. Department of the Navy. Thematerial Smith)
was sent to the Laboratory by the Brooklyn Navy Saligna eucalyptus (Eucalyptus saligna J. E.
Yard or by collaborating hardwood importers. Smith)

1
Maintained at Madison, Wis., in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin.
 Material for testing two species from Australia
and Guinea was supplied by Greenheart
(Demerara) Inc., New York. The species were
the following:
Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata J. E. Smith)
Wallaba, either (Eperua falcata Aubl.) or
(Eperua grandiflora (Aubl.) Benth.)
Guatemakn c y p r e s s samples (Cupressus
lusitanica Mill.) were furnished by the Fine Woods
Co., New Orleans, La.
Samples of angelique from French Guinea
(Dicorynia guianensis Amsh.) were supplied by
French Guiana Timbers, Inc., New York.
Three samples of pagoda wood (Sophora
japonica L.) were made available by the U.S. Soil
Conservation Service.
Sample Material
and Preparation
Most sample material was received as boards
sawed from undesignated parts of logs; therefore
no distinctions could be made for the position of
the samples in the tree other than that all were
from the heartwood. However, if samples fur­
nished were radially sawed boards. the outermost
material--judged by growth-ring curvature--was
used. Suppliers of sample materials were asked
to select samples from different parts of stock
to lessen the probability of sending more than
one sample from a single tree.
Blocks for testing in the laboratory and field
stakes were sawed from 2.5- by 2.5-centimeter
(1- by 1-inch) sticks; this provided end-matched
material. The laboratory test blocks were cut to
a thickness of 0.9 centimder (3/8 inch) and the
field stakes to a length of 25.4 centimeters
(10 inches). For three species, cypress, pagoda
wood, and angelique, material was not available
for field stakes.
Laboratory Testing Procedure
Laboratory tests were conducted by the standard
ASTM soil-block test procedure.2 The blocks
were exposed individually to pure cultures of
each test fungus in 177-milliliter (6-ounce)
French-square bottles maintained at constant
conditions of 27° C. 180° F.) and 70 percent rela­
tive humidity. Decay was measured by the per­
centage loss in dry weight of the blocks. The
test duration, approximately 12 weeks, was deter­
mined by the time required by the test fungus to
cause a weight loss of 60 percent in decay-
susceptible control, or reference, blocks exposed
concomitantly with the blocks being evaluated.
All fungi were standard test organisms used in
similar tests at the Forest Products Labo­
ratory3 ,4 ,5 ,6 and at other laboratories. The
white-rot fungus, Polyporus verisicolor (Madison
697). and the brown-rot fungus, Lenzites trabea
(Madison 617), were used in testing all the woods.
An additional brown-rot fungus, Poria monticola
(Madison 698). was used in testing the six African
species and the cypress. pagoda wood, and
angelique. The fungi used with each wood are
listed in tables 1 and 2.
Field Stake Tests
The field stakes were exposed, in replicates
of three, near Saucier, Miss., and the test was
duplicated with most of the woods at an exposure
site near Madison, Wis. The stakes were identi­
fied by aluminum tags and driven to a depth of
8 inches in three systematically randomized sub­
plots on each area. Exposure of the stakes in the
field was for approximately 4 years (four grow­
ing seasons), although some of the Madison
stakes were left in the field six growing seasons
because of the lack of fungus attack. The plot

2
American Society for Testing and Materials. Standard Methods. Standard method for
accelerated laboratory test of natural decay resistance of woods. ASTM designation:
D-2017-63, 1968.
3Campbell, R. W., and Clark, J. W. Decay resistance of baldcypress heartwood. Forest
Prod. Jour. 10(5): 250-253, 1960.
4Clark, J. W. Comparative decay resistance of some common pines, hemlock, spruce, and
true fir. Forest Sci. 3:315-320, 1957.
5Moses, C. S. Laboratory decay test of some commercial species of mahogany, Forest
Prod. Jour. 5:149-152, 1955.
6Scheffer, T. C., and Duncan, C. G. The decay resistance of Central American and
Ecuadorian wood. Trop. Woods 92:1-24, 1947.

FPL 103 2
 Table 1.--Weight losses for specimens
used in the Madison area--one of four wood
products exposure sites of the Forest Service--
now appears to be unsatisfactory as a field expo­
sure site for short stakes because of low mois­
ture levels in the upper 10 inches of soil during
much of the growing season. Because of the
limited decay in the stakes exposed on this plot,
the results obtained on it are not considered in
this report.
Decay in the field stakes was caused either
completely or very predominantly by the action
of white-rot fungi. In five of the most decay-
susceptible species, some Mississippi field stakes
in the Iaboratory, soil-block decay tests and four classes of decay resistance 1
were so severely deteriorated by decay and ter­
mites after 4 years that only the aboveground
portions of the stakes were recoverable. A 55 per­
cent weight loss was assigned to these.
Brown rot was observed only as isolated,
small, localized areas in a few stakes that were
otherwise decayed by white-rot fungi. More white
rot than brown rot would be expected in field-
exposed hardwood stakes, but the almost total
absence of brown rots was not expected.
The part of the field stake weight loss caused
by the activity of termites in the exposure plots
in Mississippi was undetermined. It appeared

 Table 2.--Weight loses and classes of decay resistance for
of resistance for the laboratory t e s t s
that where termite attack was observed, the
attack occurred mainly in the decayed wood.
Thus, in this test, low decay resistance and
termite susceptibility were substantially
correlated.
Decay Resistance
of the Fifteen Species
Results of the laboratory soil-block tests are
given in table 1. These are shown as the range
and average percent weight loss caused by each
test fungus during the standard exposures and by
the percentage of samples of each species occur-
ring in four decay-resistance classes based on
ranges of percent weight loss. Classes are as
follows: Very resistant, 0-10 percent; resistant,
FPL 103
stakes of Mississippi field test and corresponding classes
11-24 percent; moderately resistant, 25-44 per-
cent; and nonresistant, 45 percent or greater,
This arbitrary classification for laboratory test
results is suggested in ASTM standard test pro-
cedure 2017 and has been used for some time at
this Laboratory. 4, 6 It has been found to provide
resistance classifications in generally good
agreement with species reputations for
resistance.
Average weight losses caused essentially by
decay in the field stakes on the Mississippi site
are shown in table 2. Included with these are the
corresponding weight losses in the soil-block
tests produced by the fungus that caused the most
decay in the respective wood species.
The average weight losses obtained in the field
and in the laboratory are generally in good
agreement as shown in figure 1. Therefore, taken
together they appear to give a reasonably good
4

 measure of the levels of decay resistance in the

different woods --insofar as the samples were
representative. In addition to indicating the degree
of test correlation, the figure also was helpful
in setting the ranges of weight loss for the field
stakes that would best correspond to those estab­
lished by the laboratory tests to denote the four
classes of decay resistance for the stakes. The
ranges assigned for this purpose are shown on
the figure by the class boundary lines.
Having thus established the ranges of weight
loss for the four classes of decay resistance, it
was possible to evaluate the test results in per­
centages of samples (trees) in each class. This
is shown in the last four columns at the right of
table 2. The average and range in decay resist­
ance shown together provides as complete an
appraisal of species decay resistance as is
needed for most purposes. Often a more general
appraisal, as a single average weight loss, is
sufficient to indicate resistance. Figure 1 pro­
vides a simple basis for this type of appraisal.
This would place the woods in resistance groups
as follows: Wallaba, ekki, and jarrah--very
decay resistant; African oak--resistant; Liberian
Figure 1.--Relation of average weight losses
in field stakes to corresponding average pine, robusta and saligna eucalyptus, ohia,
weight losses produced by the fungus that parinarium, and wishmore-- moderately resist­
caused the must decay in laboratory tests. ant. Kokrodua and Australian toon appeared to
Assigned limits for four classes of decay be resistant in the laboratory tests but only
resistance in stakes are as follows: VR,
moderately resistant in the field stake exposures.
very resistant, 0 - 22 percent; R, resist­
ant, 23 - 40 percent; MR, moderately Wallaba appeared to be unusually decay resistant.
resistant, 41 - 67 percent; and N, non­ Weight losses recorded for soil-block tests with
resistant, 68 percent or greater. The the wallaba samples largely represent losses of
straight line depicting the relation was volatile materials rather than decay.
derived by least-squares analysis.

FPL 103 1.5-5