Teak
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What is a teak tree?
A teak is a valuable timber tree, scientifically known as Tectona grandis, belonging to the family Verbenaceae. Teak trees are native to India, Myanmar, and Thailand. The name teak comes from the Malayalam word tekka.
These trees have a straight stem, a spreading crown, and branchlets with large pith. Teak leaves are large and rough, and the tree produces small white flowers in branched clusters. The fruit is a fleshy drupe with a stony seed.
Teak timber is valued for its durability and is used in shipbuilding, furniture, and construction. Myanmar is the primary source of teak, followed by Indonesia, India, and Thailand.
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Where do teak trees naturally grow?
Teak trees (Tectona grandis) are native to India, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand. They thrive as far north as the 25th parallel in most of this region but extend to the 32nd parallel in Punjab. These trees are not typically found near the coast, with the most valuable forests located on low hills up to about 900 metres (3,000 feet). Teak stands are also found in the Philippines, Java, and elsewhere in the Malay Archipelago. Additionally, teak has been planted in Africa, Central America, and South America.
Teak is a large deciduous tree of the family Verbenaceae, yielding one of the most valuable timbers. The name teak comes from the Malayalam word tekka.
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What does the wood of a teak tree look like?
The unseasoned heartwood of a teak tree has a pleasant, strong, aromatic fragrance and a beautiful golden yellow color, which darkens into brown, mottled with darker streaks, as it ages; the timber retains its aromatic fragrance for a long time. The sapwood of the teak tree is white. Teak wood is hard and yellowish-brown.
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Why is teak wood considered special or valuable?
Teak wood is highly valued for its exceptional durability, with beams lasting centuries in ancient buildings. Its aromatic heartwood has a beautiful golden-yellow color that darkens over time. Teak is strong, stable, and of medium weight, making it suitable for shipbuilding, furniture, and construction. Though termites may attack the sapwood, the heartwood is highly resistant. The majority of the world's teak comes from Myanmar, with Indonesia, India, and Thailand being the next highest producers. Due to deforestation concerns, many countries have placed restrictions on teak logging since the 1980s.
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How is teak wood commonly used?
Teak, or Tectona grandis, is a valuable timber from a large deciduous tree. For over 2,000 years, teak has been widely used in India. The name "teak" comes from the Malayalam word tēkka.
Teakwood is valued for its durability and dimensional stability and is commonly used in shipbuilding, furniture, and construction. It is used for door and window frames, wharves, bridges, flooring, paneling, railway cars, and venetian blinds. It is strong, of medium weight and hardness. While termites consume the sapwood, they seldom attack the heartwood.
Myanmar is the primary source of teak, followed by Indonesia, India, and Thailand. However, to combat deforestation, many countries have placed restrictions on teak logging since the mid-1980s.
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Teak, (genus Tectona grandis), large deciduous tree of the family Verbenaceae, or its wood, one of the most valuable timbers. Teak has been widely used in India for more than 2,000 years. The name teak is from the Malayalam word tēkka.
The tree has a straight but often buttressed stem (i.e., thickened at the base), a spreading crown, and four-sided branchlets with large quadrangular pith. The leaves are opposite or sometimes whorled in young specimens, about 0.5 metre (1.5 feet) long and 23 cm (9 inches) wide. In shape they resemble those of the tobacco plant, but their substance is hard and the surface rough. The branches terminate in many small white flowers in large, erect, cross-branched panicles. The fruit is a drupe (fleshy, with a stony seed) 1.7 cm (two-thirds of an inch) in diameter. The bark of the stem is about 1.3 cm (half an inch) thick, gray or brownish gray, the sapwood white; the unseasoned heartwood has a pleasant and strong aromatic fragrance and a beautiful golden yellow colour, which on seasoning darkens into brown, mottled with darker streaks. The timber retains its aromatic fragrance to a great age.
Native to India, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand, the tree grows as far north as about the 25th parallel in most of this area but to the 32nd parallel in the Punjab. The tree is not found near the coast; the most valuable forests are on low hills up to about 900 metres (3,000 feet). Stands are also found in the Philippines and in Java and elsewhere in the Malay Archipelago. Teak is also planted in Africa, Central America, and South America.
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During the dry season the tree is leafless; in hot localities the leaves fall in January, but in moist places the tree remains green until March. At the end of the dry season, when the first monsoon rains fall, the new foliage emerges. Although the tree flowers freely, few seeds are produced because many of the flowers are sterile. The forest fires of the dry season, which in India usually occur in March and April after the seeds have ripened and have partly fallen, impede the spread of the tree by self-sown seed. In Burmese plantations, teak trees on good soil have attained an average height of 18 metres (59 feet) in 15 years, with a girth, breast high, of 0.5 metre (1.5 feet). In the natural forests of Myanmar and India, teak timber with a girth of about 2 metres (6.5 feet) and a diameter of 0.6 metre (2 feet) is never less than 100 and often more than 200 years old. Mature trees are usually not more than 46 metres (150 feet) high.
Teak timber is valued in warm countries principally for its extraordinary durability. In India and Myanmar, beams of the wood in good preservation are often found in buildings many centuries old, and teak beams have lasted in palaces and temples more than 1,000 years. The timber is practically imperishable under cover.
Teakwood is used for shipbuilding, fine furniture, door and window frames, wharves, bridges, cooling-tower louvres, flooring, paneling, railway cars, and venetian blinds. An important property of teak is its extremely good dimensional stability. It is strong, of medium weight, and of average hardness. Termites eat the sapwood but rarely attack the heartwood; it is not, however, completely resistant to marine borers.
Myanmar produces most of the world’s supply, with Indonesia, India, and Thailand ranking next in production. Since the mid-1980s, numerous countries have restricted teak logging to control deforestation.
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