Chilean beech

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BEECH, CHILEAN

Nothofagus spp.
Nothofagus spp. of the family Nothofagaceae. These species used to be included in the "normal" beech set of genus Fagus, but were moved to not only their own genus (Nothofagus) but also their own family (Nothofagaceae) due to noticeable botanical distinctions between the two sets of wood. There are numerous species in the genus Nothofagus, but the ones called Chilean beech (or sometimes South American beech) seem to be limited to the following. A great many other Nothofagus species are listed on the beech page of this site.

Nothofagus alpina (Chilean beech, rauli)
Nothofagus antarctica (Antarctic beech, Southern beech, false beech)
Nothofagus betuloides (Chilean beech, guindo)
Nothofagus cunninghamii (Antarctic beech)
Nothofagus dombeyi (South American beech, Chilean beech)
Nothofagus procera (Antarctic beech, Chilean beech, rauli)
Nothofagus pumilio (South American beech, lenga)

The most pertinent observation that I have made is that the Nothofagus species do not have the obvious rays that are present in the Fagus species and thus do not exhibit the "spotting" that is characteristic of the Fagus species --- this is discussed and illustrated at the top of the beech page.

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of rauli / Nothofagus procera --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of rauli / Nothofagus alpina --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of rauli / Nothofagus alpina --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The labeled side is mostly sapwood (apparently) thus the slightly lighter color

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of guindo / Nothofagus betuloides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE and quartersawn side grain closeup from directly above. Although even the 2nd enlargement of the end grain update does not seem to show any rays, I did notice that the perfectly quartersawn side grain clearly showed long thin ray flakes even though it had not been cleaned up.

both sides of a sample plank of guindo beech / Nothofagus betuloides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Antarctic beech / Nothofagus antarctica --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Chilean beech (Antarctic beech) / Nothofagus antarctica --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of negrohead beech / Nothofagus moorei --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of negrohead beech / Nothofagus moorei --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The pics have a slightly more reddish tint than the wood

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of silver beech / Nothofagus menziesii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of lenga / Nothofagus pumilio --- HUGE enlargements are present. This species is also called South American beech

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Chilean beech / Nothofagus cunninghamii --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

flooring sample and end grain --- this is called "Chilean Cherry" in the flooring trade and was stated to be Nothofagus dombeyi. ONLY the flooring industry, with their typical lack of interest in any kind of accuracy, calls this Chilean cherry. A fairly common, and accurate, name is Chilean beech. This wood has absolutely no relationship to cherry but since it LOOKS somewhat like cherry in color, the flooring industry feels free to call it cherry. Well, actually I'm exaggerating by implying that the flooring industry needs ANY reason to call a wood by some bogus name that they have made up.