diffuse porous page


DIFFUSE POROUS SHOREA SPP.

NOTE: unless otherwise specifically stated, all of the images shown on this
page are of 1/4" square end grain cross sections shown at 12X with the top
of the image towards the bark and the bottom towards the pith so that
earlywood is towards the bottom of the growth rings and latewood is towards the top

to see all species with links to their anatomy page go here: species links


The genus Shorea contains and most of them are sold as either meranti or luan (Philippine mahogany). I have main site pages for both meranti and luan, but in reality the two seem to be inextricably intertwined whether they, technically, should be or not. As nearly as I can tell, many species which are probably luan are sold as meranti and pretty much all of them regardless of common name are either not listed with any botanical name at all or are listed as just Shorea spp.

There are at the very least 250 Shorea speices that are listed in the literature as being wood-producing plants and once the wood is separated from the three I'm not convinced that anyone short of a wood DNA expert could spearate them from each other reliable and most vendors make no effort at all.

I have lumped luan / meranti / Philippine mahogany / Shore spp. wood on this anatomy page even though their characteristics vary considerably. Many of the woods on this page were presented to me as just "meranti" or "luan" or "Philippine mahogany" with no botanical name attached and I am just ASSUMING that they are Shorea spp. I do not consider an identification of a wood as "meranti" or "luan" or "Philippine mahogany" as particularly meaningful or helpful.

General characteristics of Shorea spp.