Teak

Teak, the name in the Dravidian languages for the valuable timber-tree, Tectona grandis. It belongs to the order Verbenaceae, and is a native of India south of 25-1/2° N. latitude (though cultivated in Assam as far north as 27°), of Burma, Java, and the Philippines. It thrives best on low hills, well drained, with an annual temperature of 75° to 81° F., and a rainfall of over 50 inches; and is associated with bamboos. It reaches 100 to 150 feet in height and 25 feet in girth, and has large opposite deciduous leaves and terminal panicles of small white flowers, succeeded by hairy nuts enclosed in accrescent calyces. The timber is yellow, but darkens in seasoning to brown: its annual rings are well marked by the larger and more numerous vessels in the spring-wood: it contains a considerable quantity of an aromatic oil, to which its great durability is due: when once seasoned, it does not shrink or split: it is not very hard, but is easily worked and takes a fine polish; and weighs from 38 to 46 lb. per cubic foot, i.e. about 50 cubic feet to the ton. Being heavier than water when green, the trees in Burma are girdled cut through to the heartwood for a year or two before felling, and they can then be floated down the Salwin or Irrawaddy to Moulmein or Rangoon, down the Menam or Mekhong. The heartwood is not attacked by termites or fungi, and is invaluable as a backing for armour-plated ships, and in India for house-building, railway carriages, parquet fioors, and furniture. Our imports vary from 30,000 to 40,000 loads per annum.