Australian Forest Woods: Characteristics, Uses and Identification

Introduction

Australian Forest Woods covers 130 forest species. Forest trees are those, other than rainforest trees, found in high rainfall areas and which are centred in wetter areas of Australia, and species which are marginal to the rainforest areas. Forest trees also include species found in areas of lower rainfall, which under improved conditions can produce a stem size capable of producing useful wood. The forest species described in this book cover a variety of species which are represented in most states of Australia and illustrate a good range of woods.

In conjunction with my previous book, Australian Rainforest Woods, which covers 141 rainforest species, this book fills a gap on the subject of wood, and the wood characteristics of the useful Australian tree species, as well as providing information and identification details of the trees. My aim is to enable ‘wood enthusiasts’ to learn about these species – but more importantly, in having learnt more about the tree and its wood, to thereby have greater respect for these species and their wood. Knowledge and understanding go hand in hand in enhancing sustainability.

Ferns, the understorey plants to the angiosperms, growing in the Otway Ranges, Victoria.

You may also ask, ‘Why go to all that trouble when there are already so many books that have been published on Australian trees?’ Well, the answer to that question lies in the simple fact that current books on trees are written mostly by botanists, and since wood is not a part of botanical tree identification, most botanical books dealing with species identification do not mention wood and many wood enthusiasts have, over the years, expressed interest in a book which includes information about trees and their wood.

Plant classification

Botanists recognise two main subdivisions of woody plants:

• Gymnosperms, which are plants where the seeds are not enclosed in a seed case. These include the cone-bearing plants represented by a number of pines, such as hoop, bunya, kauri, cypress, brown and radiata.

• Angiosperms, which are plants where the seeds are enclosed in a case. The angiosperms are further divided into two classes:

Ferns overlayed by Acacia melanoxylon (blackwood) and Eucalyptus regnans (mountain ash).

– Monocotyledons, which produce only one primary leaf when the seeds germinate. This group includes palms and bamboos.

– Dicotyledons, which produce two primary leaves, or cotyledons, when the seeds germinate. In Australia this is by far the largest group and includes the majority of the woody plants in our eucalypt, acacia and rainforests.

In addition to these subdivisions, an internationally accepted system of classification places all plants into a hierarchical order as follows:

• orders

• families

• genera (singular: genus)

• species.

All members of one species are identical, varying only within specified limits. Using southern silky oak (Grevillea robusta) as an example, a full classification therefore becomes:

This may seem complicated but you will soon become aware that only the genus and species are usually quoted and we rarely have the need to go above family level. Many woods also have a standard trade name and/or a local or common name.

A carved rosewood (Dysoxylum fraserianum) bowl loaded with turned and carved wooden fruit in many wood species.

These are often confusing because one species may have several different names depending on where it occurs and what it is used for. It is preferable therefore to use botanical names on wood samples whenever possible.

The evolution of gymnosperms (softwoods)

Before we examine the current state of Australian forests in more detail, let’s go back to around 300 million years ago, where all the continents were joined as the supercontinent of Pangaea, and there were still only ferns and lichens, and Australia experienced its last period of glaciation.

Forward to around 240 million years ago, and the first of the Australian gymnosperms (conifers, or softwoods) evolved in the southern hemisphere of Pangaea. This included seven members in the Podocarpaceae family, four of which are not found on any other continent: Podocarpus dispermus (double-seeded brown pine), Podocarpus elatus (brown pine), Podocarpus grayae (northern brown pine) and Podocarpus smithii (Smith’s pine) – all rainforest species.

This was closely followed 220 million years ago by the Araucariaceae family, with three new genera evolving. The most significant species being: Agathis robusta (kauri pine), Araucaria cunninghamii (hoop pine), Araucaria bidwillii (bunya pine) and Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine).

These two families are the oldest of the eight remaining conifer families currently growing on Earth.

These were pivotal events, because the oldest northern hemisphere conifer, in the Taxaceae family, evolved 65 million years later – around 175 million years ago.

The conifers brought two major changes:

• they massively boosted the oxygen levels in the atmosphere, needed for more complex forms of life to evolve.

• they brought into being an entirely new form of ‘wood’, which eventually provided humans with the essentials for habitation, both as a fuel for heat and as a structural material for buildings and construction.

Conifers pre-date the birds and the bees and were pollinated by the wind. So, essentially Australia’s conifers changed the world!

Then around 200 million years ago the supercontinent of Pangaea began its separation into Laurasia (forming the northern land mass) and Gondwana (the southern land mass). Fossil records indicate that the vegetation at that time consisted of ferns, horsetails, cycads and conifers.

The evolution of angiosperms (hardwoods)

Some time prior to 135 million years ago, a pivotal adaptation took place in the plant world, happening around the time of the evolution of insects. Plants evolved pollen-producing flowers as the primary reproductive mechanisms to attract insects to gather their pollen and sugar-loaded sap from plants, and therefore transfer this pollen to other flowers, which were then fertilised in the process.

Up until then, the conifers were pollinated by the wind. So once insects became more specialised and numerous, conifers were almost invariably also visited by insects in their search for pollen, and this contributed to adaptations that began the evolution of the largest group of tree species – the angiosperms (hardwoods). It has been estimated that this began around 135 million years ago, and since that time they have evolved and adapted to the ever-changing cycles of the insect world, and climate and environment, and now represent the majority of tree species.

Fossil records indicate that the first flowering plant to appear in Australia and South America around 70 million years ago was similar to Nothofagus cunninghamii (myrtle beech), and is a sign that the countries were still connected to Antarctica at that time, and that myrtle beech may have been the first in the Nothofagus family to evolve flowers.

One possible early family in the evolution of the angiosperms is the Proteaceae, which now includes genera such as Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea and Persoonia. Many of these genera are found across Australia, indicating that the heavily forested areas of the continent have been through a succession of very productive times.

From the beginning, the most important factor in evolution has been the inter-dependence between the organisms that created and nourished our diversity within plant families, and those that consumed them and relied on them for their existence. This includes the recycling of nutrients – something we still know far too little about.

Despite the gymnosperms’ much earlier evolution, the angiosperms now represent most of the species growing in Australia. Around 75% of these species are ‘endemic’, which indicate they evolved following Australia’s separation from Antarctica around 30 million years ago.

The current state of our forests

There have been a number of methods used to access Australia’s forest areas. According to Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2013, Australia has shown a steady decline of around 3.7 million hectares per year, from 162 million hectares to 125 million hectares between 2003 and 2013.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), however, considers there to be a net loss of around 1.4 million hectares per year, accounted for by land-use change for urban development and agriculture, as well as the result of environmental factors including drought, fire, and on the overall seasonal conditions.

Forest now covers 16% of the total area of Australia (770 million hectares). Around 70% of Australia’s actual forest area is covered by Eucalyptus forests comprising around 900 species. By comparison, despite their wider occurrence, only 10% of Australia’s forest area is covered by around 1000 species of Acacia, which although being the largest group, are scattered in mixed or pure stands, and grow in the less-accessible and dryer areas of Australia. Acacias only have a few species in rainforest areas.

Melaleuca with 200 species and Grevillea with 290 or so species each comprise roughly 5% of Australia’s forest area; Callitris and Casuarina species comprise around 1.5% each. The remaining 7% of forest area is occupied by around 1200 other species, mostly rainforest species on 2% of the forest area, plus the remaining 1500 marginal forest species covering around 5% of the forest area and widely scattered mostly on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range – adding up to around 5300 species in total.

By comparison, in the tropical forests of the world, trees currently cover 47% of the total land area. In the northern hemisphere’s boreal forests, trees cover 30% of the land, with Canada having the largest proportion with 60% of its land covered by trees. In the subtropical areas 9% is covered by trees, and 11% in temperate areas.

Ninety-eight per cent of Australia’s forest area contains over 400 native tree species. However, less than 250 of an estimated 5300 wood-producing trees have ever been ‘commercialised’; most have simply been extracted from our natural stands simply because of their availability for the job at hand. So, despite the fact that we have the most tree species of any country, we have never really considered ourselves as a wood producer for anything other than our immediate needs.

The area of plantation timbers in Australia comprises around 1 million hectares of softwood and 650 000 hectares of hardwood plantations. In 2003 it was predicted that our plantation areas were expected to double by 2020 with a vision of reaching 3 million hectares. However the reality has been that the area of plantation stabilised at around 2 million hectares by 2015.

Regarding ownership, an estimated 81.9 million hectares (66%) of Australia’s native forest is privately managed on private and leasehold tenures, while 21.5 million hectares (17%) is in formal nature conservation reserves. A further 10.2 million hectares (8%) of native forest is in multiple-use public forests. The remaining 9 million hectares (6%) occurs on other Crown Land, or land of unresolved tenure.

A stand of Eucalyptus regnans (mountain ash) in the Otway Ranges, Victoria.

Timber harvesting is therefore permitted in 74% of Australia’s forest, but most of the harvested lumber comes from 12 million hectares of publicly owned land, of which less than 1% is harvested annually. The current annual harvest is around 25 million cubic metres, of which approximately 42% is from native forest and most of the remainder is plantation softwood. To put this in perspective, the world’s annual harvest of lumber is around 4 billion cubic metres.

There are three interesting features of the Australian production and marketing system for timber:

• the sawnwood component of hardwood production has fallen by roughly 30% in the last decade

• 75% of the mostly eucalypt harvested from our native forests is pulped to produce paper and/or wood panel products

• in recent times we have planted fewer forests.

Overall, the evidence indicates that we need to do something NOW, rather than debating how much we are losing. The simple answer is we seriously need to plant more trees. We cannot delay the desperate need to establish more forests and plant more trees, considering that Australia has at times in the past had 60% of its landmass covered by rainforest. Reafforestation will also result in the long term improvement of soil fertility, nutrient availability and food production capacity – as well as ensuring and enhancing sustainability.

I live on a small suburban block in Brisbane, Queensland, and 22 years ago my wife and I planted 30 of the smaller rainforest tree species in our backyard. As a result, today we have 18 reasonably well-developed rainforest trees – as you can see in the photo below. So, from my experience, if I were asked ‘When is the best time to plant a rainforest in your backyard here in Brisbane?’, my answer would be ‘The best time is 22 years ago – but the second best time is NOW’.

Looking out on the 20 year-old planting of rainforest trees in our suburban city backyard as seen from our upper back deck.

Historical geological aspects

Before Antarctica and Australia separated there was a continuous mass of land from the South Pole well into the tropics, and the Pacific Ocean had no direct outlet for its heat, as it does today. The Pacific Ocean – or the Tethys Ocean, as it was named before the breakup – was a huge circulating cauldron of warm water, and Australia experienced a much higher precipitation rate, with the result that there were periods when 60% of Australia was covered by rainforest – as was most of Antarctica – and the angiosperms were evolving in this warmer climate.

Then, as the southern continents broke free and drifted north, and in particular as South America broke away from Antarctica, the Earth’s spin began to distribute the warmer waters of the Pacific around the newly formed Southern Ocean and eventually the warmer current was drawn north, via the Gulf Stream into the Atlantic. This is known as the Thermohaline Circulation (THC) system and as it dipped beneath the ice cap of the North Pole the water was cooled, increasing its density, and was the driver for its return south beneath the warmer surface waters, to rejoin the Great Southern Ocean. We are currently nearing the end of 10 000 years of warming, the Gulf Stream is now down to only 5–10% of its capacity, and we are likely to be entering the 20th ice age cycle in the past 2 million years.

With this ‘new age’ climate system, Australia has progressively become drier, and open forests have replaced most of the original closed forests, or rainforests, leaving only scattered remnants. These changes have favoured the eucalypt species.

On occasions between 50 and 60% of Australia has also been covered by the sea for long periods, and this has created even greater changes to which the individuals in the Eucalyptus and Acacia genera have had to adapt. Species in the Arillastrum and Angophora genera were also most likely to be early adapters, as well as rainforest types in the Stockwellia genus in north Queensland, and the Allosyncarpia genus in Arnhem Land.

From the very beginning, Australia as a whole has been adversely weathered and is subsequently mostly covered with soils of low fertility. Also, as the continent has progressively moved north over a volcanic hot-spot – which is currently under the Tasman Sea – this hot-spot has delivered higher quality volcanic soils progressively along the east coast, commencing with the Atherton Tablelands around 33 million years ago, extending down to the southern end of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria around 9–10 million years ago. This activity has resulted in the fracturing and elevation of the eastern coast as the Australian Plate has gradually jacked itself up on the Pacific Plate. The continent of Australia is still moving north and as a direct result the Atherton Tablelands, for example, has been elevated by 500–600 metres in that time.

Box with body of Tasmanian sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum) and top of Western Australia or flame sheoak (Allocasuarina fraseriana) crafted by the author.

All these changes mean that many Australian angiosperms have experienced the climate changes of the past and have developed special natural adaptations to events such as fire, flood and drought – to name three obvious adaptations evident in some species – which have influenced their evolution.

Natural cycles are not the only precursors of adaptations, as there is evidence that the use of fire by the Aboriginal people during the past 50 000 years has formed fire-adapted species – the eucalypts being one good example.

Variability in the Eucalyptus genus

Fossils found of eucalypt flowers, fruits and leaves in Patagonia, South America, date back to 53 million years ago. This was before Gondwana had broken up. However, the early evolution and migration of eucalypts remains poorly understood. From the initial evolution, the eucalypts are now essentially endemic to Australia and are found in almost every vegetation type in Australia, with the exception of the highest peaks of the Snowy Mountains and in most rainforest communities, although they are evident in the rainforest margins. In the very arid regions they are restricted to where residual moisture is available. However, there are nine eucalypt species that are not found in Australia. These occur in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and the nearby islands, which have had periods of land bridge connection to Australia on several occasions.

Two of the most widely distributed eucalypts in Australia are Eucalyptus camaldulensis (river red gum), which is absent only from Tasmania and the southern coastal regions of the mainland, and Eucalyptus coolabah (coolabah), which is found over much of the arid and semi-arid parts of the mainland. Many other species have very restricted distribution, including: the mallee Eucalyptus recurva, which grows near Mongarlowe in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales and is represented by only five plants; Eucalyptus copulans, a smooth-barked tree in the Blue Mountains which is known for only one tree; and Eucalyptus phylacis (Meelup mallee), a small tree or mallee with coarse, non-fibrous bark, which is known for only a single population of about 25 suckers, because it has not produced viable seed, growing at Cape Naturaliste, Western Australia.

The degree of fire tolerance in eucalypt species is determined by the presence of merismatic tissue below the bark. Mallee species, for example, have this tissue in varying abundance at, or just below, ground level and can send up new stems from reserves of plant food and recover that way. Other species have merismatic tissue under the bark on the trunk, and occasionally in very fire-resistant species into the branches, thus enabling them to produce a proliferation of new leaves following even a crown fire.

Figured box of raspberry jam (Acacia acuminata) body, and the top of red cedar (Toona ciliata) crafted by the author.

A further example of adaptation relates to eucalypts developing salt tolerance, such that they will thrive in areas of sea water inundation which has left areas of saline incorporated wetlands. There are at least 21 eucalypt species that can tolerate salt and will grow quite happily on saline soils. Eucalyptus camaldulensis is one such species which has 37 ‘provenances’ – which, while not being classified as a variety, conveys a series of specific adaptations for that species.

Variability in the Acacia genus

The first acacia appeared 25 million years ago and evolved as a direct result of the continuing environmental changes to Australia’s climate. There are over 950 species of Acacia, and the big challenge for botanists today is to keep up with the changes that are occurring – not only because of genetic mutations, but also as a result of the frequent cross-breeding of species. Australia could well be described as ‘a hotbed’ of plant evolution, and the ‘mulga group’ of acacias is possibly the most complex and variable group of any genus in the world.

To sum up

Variations occur both between and within tree populations, so it does make the process of identification much more difficult. So next time you enter an Australian forest just sit under a tree for a while and contemplate a few of these possibilities before making a positive identification. And don’t forget, there are also the ecological factors to be taken into consideration as well. These factors allow species to coexist in often bewilderingly complex mixed populations, including the epigenetic effects which can result from the environment and other factors, which, while not being of a genetic origin, may still express themselves in the plant in some way.

So, perhaps you may need to sit for a while under a ‘close relative’ or two, or three, or more – just to make sure.

There is of course also the matter of hybridisation, where chromosomes from two different plant species combine, which could be a major factor in creating further species diversity, such as characteristics like tree height, differences in the number of stems arising from the ground as well as the divergence of the lateral branches, the spread of the branches and therefore to overall shape of the plant – some being more rounded – as well as differences in the colour and density of the foliage and flowers.

What an interesting web the trees of Australia weave.

Australian forest species used for their wood

This section provides the details of 130 Australian forest species used for their woods, including properties, characteristics and uses.

Members of the International Wood Collectors Society under one of South Australia’s large river red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis). Members of this society were of great assistance in the gathering of information for this book.

Acacia aneura

mulga

The upward pointing branches and well-defined main stem of the mulga.

The usually irregular trunk of the mulga.

Silvery-grey leaf stalks or phyllodes that function as leaves.

Derivation: Acacia from the Greek akakia (to sharpen). Dioscorides used the word in the first century AD for the Egyptian thorn tree (Acacia aranica) which is prickly. Aneura from the Greek a (not) and neuron (nerve) referring to the absence of conspicuous veins in the phyllodes. There are a number of varieties, including: var. aneura, var. argentea, var. fuliginea, var. intermedia, var. macrocarpa, var. major, var. microcarpa, var. pilbarana and var. tenuis. A. aneura is a member of Group 16 identified by their flowers in spikes and fine phyllodes.

Family: Mimosaceae contains 40–60 genera with about 3000 species in Australia, America, Africa, Asia, Melasia, the Pacific Islands and New Guinea. There are 17 genera with over 1100 species in Australia. Of these, 12 genera and around 48 species are found in rainforests. Acacia is the largest genus, containing more than 1000 species. They generally form a lower layer of trees or shrubs and are found in rainforests as well as open forests. It is a modern genus known to be around 25 million years old.

Other names: Yarran and mulga spearwood.

Distribution: Mulga is the dominant species of a million or more hectares of arid and semi-arid areas with a mean annual rainfall of 200–300 mm in Queensland and New South Wales. It also extends into areas receiving 500 mm, and in the driest areas of Western Australia the lowest annual rainfall may be only 50–60 mm. It grows on flood- and erosion-prone plains in broad valley heads, as well as being scattered on hill slopes and ridges. In sand ridge deserts it may occur in the dunes. Soil types vary but the denser stands are usually found on red earths and sands or red clay sands, and sometimes on sandy gravels. On less favourable soils such as lateritic and calcareous crusts it is very scattered. Most stands are in low open woodland or, to some extent, in tall open shrubland. It often occurs mostly in large, almost pure stands, but may be found in association with a number of other acacias.

The tree: Mulga is extremely variable with many forms recognised and occurs as a shrub or small tree from 2–9 m tall. It is readily recognised by its upward pointing branches and well-defined main stem which may be divided. The tree appears to be thrusting upwards, and it has been observed that rain, as it falls on the tree, is diverted down the phyllodes and stems and therefore falls onto the ground closer to the trunk – almost the opposite to most normal distribution – an amazing drought survival characteristic. Silvery-grey leaf stalks or phyllodes that function as leaves, are also a distinctive characteristics. Bright yellow flowers appear after late summer rain, every six or so years and grow on stalk-like 3 cm long rods. Seed pods are 4 cm long and 1.5 cm wide and are flat, narrow at the base and broad at the tip.

It is thought that the tree has a lifespan of 200–300 years. It’s also a complex species having a number of growth variants and can sometimes be hard to separate from Acacia brachystachya, A. catenulata, A. clivicola (now A. sibirica) or A. ramulosa.

Mulga is considered an important fodder tree, not because it is the most nutritious but because it’s widespread, abundant and palatable. There is variation in palatability, and local observations are necessary when planning to lop mulga for stock in times of drought. Mulga has been known to keep sheep and cattle alive for three years during times of serious drought and has been called the ‘manna tree’ of the wilderness.

Wood of Acacia aneura

The sapwood is brilliant yellow and the heartwood dark brown to red-coffee, with contrasting longitudinal markings of golden or brilliant yellow. The wood is extremely hard with an air dry density at 12% moisture of 1100–1200 kg/m³. It has a very fine texture and therefore turns well and takes a high polish. It machines well and fixing is satisfactory. Shrinkage is 2.2% tangentially and 1.6% radially, so it is very stable. Care is needed when seasoning to prevent end-splitting.

See macrophotographs of Acacia aneura on page 183.

A ball-point pen turned from Acacia aneura.

History and usage

The word mulga is derived from an Aboriginal name for a shield made from the tree, and the tree formed a very important part in Aboriginal life, mainly because of its wide distribution – it was always at hand to form a shelter and as fuel for a fire. Mulga was also used in the production of nulla-nullas, an Aboriginal version of a club, as well as for boomerangs and bull-roarers – which mainly fill a role in ceremonies, or as toys – as well as for tools, such as sticks to lift edible roots, spear shafts and jagged spear ends. The seed was also part of the diet for some Aboriginal people.

The author’s 20 drawer (back to back) wood specimen cabinet crafted from Acacia aneura and holding 1800 standard wood specimens.

Following European settlement, mulga wood was used for making many ornaments which were popular all over Australia. It’s still sometimes used for fencing. Because the timber is so strong it was used for bullock yokes, but was made in smaller dimensions. Present-day use is mainly for turning where small ornamental articles are produced for tourists. The timber is also used locally for fuel.

With so much wood available, an effort is being made to have the timber recognised for use in furniture and cabinet making, either as solid wood or as a veneer. The wood grain contains great beauty and finishes well.

Small green galls – mulga apples – are formed by wasp larvae and are found attached to mulga foliage. These and the gum which is often found oozing from the trunk are sweet treats eaten by Aboriginal children. Mulga apples have a taste similar to dried apple.

To straighten mulga spears Aboriginal people coated the spears with melted animal fat and ‘ran’ these under the hot coals of a fire – not through the coals – and while the spear was still hot it could be straightened. They straightened the hot spear by bending it while holding with both hands – over their head. was this done for some reason to do with nature, or something that we cannot really appreciate?

Acacia cambagei

gidyea