tamarisk

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TAMARISK

Tamarix spp.
Tamarix spp. of the family Tamaricaceae

There are at least the following members of the genus Tamarix that have the name tamarisk as all or part of one or more of their common names:

Tamarix aphylla --- tamarisk, athel, salt cedar
Tamarix articulata --- tamarisk, athel, salt cedar
Tamarix chinensis --- Chinese tamarisk, salt cedar
Tamarix gallica --- common tamarisk, salt cedar, salt pine, Mediterranean tamarisk, many other names around the Mediterranean
Tamarix juniperina --- juniper tamarisk
Tamarix mannifera --- European tamarisk
Tamarix nilotica --- Egyptian tamarisk, East African tamarisk
Tamarix parviflora --- Greek tamarisk, small flowered tamarisk
Tamarix pentandra --- tamarisk, salt cedar
Tamarix ramosissima --- tamarisk, salt cedar
Tamarix tetragyna --- tamarisk
Tamarix usneoides --- Egyptian tamarisk, farash (india, pakistan), many other names in India

Except as specifically stated, I have no idea which of those species are shown on this page nor do I know what differences, if any, exist among the species.

In Arizona and Colorado, tamarisk is considered an invasive, noxious weed. There is a form of tamarisk that only grows to the size of a large bush, mainly along riverbeds and it reported uses a great deal of water. This form of Tamarisk is generally called salt cedar as well as tamarisk and I believe it is one of the two species Tamarix articulata and Tamarix gallica.

Other form/species, also called tamarisk or salt cedar, get MUCH bigger, I am told by correspondent Fred Rayworth of Nevada. Fred tells me that he's seen them out there as much as 5 feet DBH and probably 70 feet high and that those are also considered invasive. Thanks for that information, Fred. I've also been told by another person that they grow to at least 4 feet DBH in Las Vegas if they are watered adequately, and that's just the biggest he's seen but he has no reason to doubt that they can get to 5 feet.

The colors have range that includes at least salmon red and shades of brown/tan, sometimes with shades of light orange.

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 small flowered tamarisk / Tamarix parviflora --- HUGE enlargements are present. Notice the strong ray flakes, particularly in the enlargement of the 2nd side

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of small flowered tamarisk / Tamarix parviflora --- 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 small flowered tamarisk / Tamarix parviflora --- 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 Chinese tamarisk / Tamarix chinensis --- HUGE enlargements are present.

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

both of the pieces for the pics below were contributed by Eric Goertz, whom I thank for these nifty pieces of wood. They are semi-crotch pieces and so do not have quite a normal representative grain but the first one in particular is not far off. NOTE: HUGE enlargements are present for these pics

both sides of a small plank

end grains of the piece directly above

end grain closeups of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

face grain closeups of the piece directly above

side grain closeups of the piece directly above

both sides of a small crotch section

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

face grain closeup of the piece directly above

NOT A RAW WOOD COLOR --- both faces of this sample have a light coat of clear paste wax
both sides of a sample plank of tamarisk / Tamarix spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Based on the color I'd say there's a good chance this piece is pure sapwood. As for the color, I don't think the paste wax made any difference in this one at all but I mention it just for the sake of completeness.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of tamarisk / Tamarix spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. As you can see from Mark's writing on the front of the piece, he thinks it might be Tamarix ramosissima or Tamarix chinensis but we are not sure if it's either one.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of tamarisk / Tamarix spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Like the sample directly above, Mark thinks it might be Tamarix ramosissima or Tamarix chinensis but we are not sure if it's either one.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a small slab of tamarisk / Tamarix aphylla --- 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 first face was sanded down to 220 grit and shows some nice ray flakes. The second side was not touched.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a complately unfinished chunk of tamarisk / Tamarix chinensis --- 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

All of the pics in this section are from the two bole sections shown directly below. They were contributed to the site by Dave Pimental who tells me they were harvested along the San Rafael River in south central Utah. Thanks, Dave, these make a great addition to the site. My friend Mark Peet tells me that he heard from a Utah wood specialist that the tamarisk eradication along the San Rafael River was a single species, Tamarix ramosissima, common name salt cedar, so it's almost a certainty that that's what this is.

the two bole sections and the end grains. I forgot to note the dimensions but they were approximately 10" long and 8" long

Both ends of the bigger piece then both ends of the smaller piece. The first pic is of an end from which I did not slice off the finish that Dave put on them to protect them from cracking. The smaller piece is getting ready to split off into two more smaller boles.

end grain closeups of each piece, shown here at 12X. The larger piece, on the left, was sanded to about 300 or 400 grit, the smaller one on the right hardly at all.

the sample pieces that I made from the two bole sections. My goal was to get at least one good flat cut sample and one good quartersawn sample and at least one good IWCS-sized sample for my friend Mark Peet. I got all that and more. I note that these pieces have slightly thinner rays than some of the formal samples up above.

a flat cut sample

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

a quartersawn sample, showing some nice ray flakes on the first face. They are stronger on the wood than what shows up in this pic

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

a sample out of the middle of the larger bole section, deliberately cut to have a boxed pith

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

another flat cut sample

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. Note the large aggregate ray on the right side of the end grain

end of Dave Pimental's set

both sides of a sample plank of tamarisk --- HUGE enlargements are present. I found this laying around in my home office with no indication, and no memory, of where it came from or what it is. It is clearly tamarisk and I apologize to whoever contributed it to the site for having lost track of who you are. Because of the way this piece was cut, both "faces" are actually end grain.

a closeup of one of the faces

both sides of a tamarisk burl which was sent to me for identification. HUGE enlargements are present

side grain and side grain closeup of the piece directly above

two face grain closeups of the piece directly above. This is actually the end grain but the piece was just oriented this way, so the face is showing the end grain. The pic on the left is of an area of fairly normal grain, although there are no growth rings (this IS a burl after all), and the one on the right is of a more burly area and you can see that it has truncated rays which usually occur in crotch areas but can occur in burls.

web pics: