Common Name: Mangkono

General Information

Mangkono is a tree that can grow up to 50 metres tall[]. The bole can be up to 115cm in diameter, but is generally irregular and often branching within a few metres of the ground - the longest clear bole reported is 10 metres[].
The tree has been heavily exploited from the wild for its very hard timber.
A naturally rare species, it yields the hardest timber found in the Philippines. The hardness of the wood gives the tree some protection against felling, but local people continue to cut trees of a small diameter because of the depletion of other hardwoods[]. The plant is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southeast Asia - Philippines.

Habitat

Not known

Properties

Conservation Status	Vulnerable
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	40.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The heartwood is a yellowish brown, turning to a dark bronze colour or nearly black with age; it is sharply demarcated from the 1 - 2cm layer of pale reddish heartwood. The grain is always crossed, frequently curly and twisted; the texture extremely fine and dense, so that the raw wood without oil or polish) can be burnished almost like metal[721[. The wood is exceedingly hard, very heavy and very durable[, ]. It is probably the most durable wood of the Philippines; posts 40 years old have just 1cm of the sapwood decayed at the surface of ground, and salt-water pilings over 20 years old are attacked by teredo only to about the same extent[]. The wood seasons without warping much, but large logs have often several radial heart cracks, and fresh sawn pieces check superficially, but not deeply. Very difficult to work. It is used for posts, piles, tool handles and other wooden tool parts, bowling balls, dumb-bells, paper weights and other desk novelties, pulleys, rollers, sheaves, bearings, saw-guide blocks, etc[].

Propagation

Seed -

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