resistant to decay fungi and termites. It is also very resistant
to marine borers in temperate waters but much less so in
warm tropical waters.
Greenheart is used principally where strength and resistance
to wear are required. Uses include ship and dock building,
lock gates, wharves, piers, jetties, vats, piling, planking,
industrial flooring, bridges, and some specialty items (fish-
ing rods and billiard cue butts).
Guatambu
(see Pau Marfim)
Guayacan
(see Ipe)
Hura
Hura (Hura crepitans)
grows throughout the
West Indies from Central
America to northern Bra-
zil and Bolivia.
It is a large tree, com-
monly reaching a height
of 30 to 43 m (90 to
130 ft), with clear boles of 12 to 23 m (40 to 75 ft). The
diameter often reaches 1 to 1.5 m (3 to 5 ft) and occasion-
ally to 3 m (9 ft).
The pale yellowish-brown or pale olive-gray heartwood is
indistinct from the yellowish-white sapwood. The texture
is fine to medium and the grain straight to interlocked.
Hura is a low-strength and low-density wood (density of
air-dried wood is 240 to 448 kg m–3 (15 to 28 lb ft–3)); the
wood is moderately difficult to air dry. Warping is variable
and sometimes severe. The wood usually machines easily,
but green material is somewhat difficult to work because of
tension wood, which results in a fuzzy surface. The wood
finishes well and is easy to glue and nail. Hura is variable
in resistance to attack by decay fungi, but it is highly sus-
ceptible to blue stain and very susceptible to wood termites.
However, the wood is easy to treat with preservative.
Hura is often used in general carpentry, boxes and crates,
and lower grade furniture. Other important uses are veneer
and plywood, fiberboard, and particleboard.
Ilomba
Ilomba (Pycnanthus an‑
golensis) is a tree of the
rainforest and ranges from
Guinea and Sierra Leone
through tropical West
Africa to Uganda and An-
gola. Common names in-
clude pycnanthus, walele,
and otie.Ekop is a general utility wood that is used for veneer,
plywood, and furniture components.
Encino
(see Oak)
Gola
(see Ekop)
Gonçalo Alves
Most imports of gonçalo
alves (Astronium graveo‑
lens and A. fraxinifolium)
have been from Brazil.
These species range from
southern Mexico through
Central America into the
Amazon basin.Freshly cut heartwood is russet brown, orange–brown, or
reddish brown to red with narrow to wide, irregular, me-
dium to very dark brown stripes. After exposure to air, the
heartwood becomes brown, red, or dark reddish brown
with nearly black stripes. The sapwood is grayish white and
sharply demarcated from the heartwood. The texture is fine
to medium and uniform. The grain varies from straight to
interlocked and wavy.
Gonçalo alves turns readily, finishes very smoothly, and
takes a high natural polish. The heartwood is highly resis-
tant to moisture absorption; pigmented areas may present
some difficulties in gluing because of their high density.
The heartwood is very durable and resistant to both white-
and brown-rot organisms. The high density (1,010 kg m–3
(63 lb ft–3)) of the air-dried wood is accompanied by equally
high strength values, which are considerably higher in most
respects than those of any U.S. species. Despite its strength,
however, gonçalo alves is imported primarily for its beauty.
In the United States, gonçalo alves has the greatest value
for specialty items such as archery bows, billiard cue butts,
brushbacks, and cutlery handles, and in turnery and carving
applications.
Greenheart
Greenheart (Chlorocar‑
dium rodiei) is essentially
a Guyana tree, although
small stands also occur in
Suriname.
The heartwood varies
from light to dark olive
green or nearly black. The
texture is fine and uniform, and the grain is straight to wavy.
Greenheart is stronger and stiffer than white oak (Quercus
alba) and generally more difficult to work with tools be-
cause of its high density; density of air-dried wood is more
than 960 kg m–3 (60 lb ft–3). The heartwood is rated as very
General Technical Report FPL–GTR– 190