Bauhinia

Voucher: Bauhinia gilva (F.M.Bailey)A.S.George  JAB138  Previously known as Lysiphyllum gilvum .

Family:  Caesalpiniaceae  Common name(s):  Beantree

Habit:  Deciduous? tree to 10m tall.   Distribution:  South-east Northern Territory, north-east South Australia and south-west Queensland.

General features: Density 900 kg/m3 .   Heartwood absent or visually indiscernible from sapwood.  Maiden (1889) describes the wood as "light-brown, but becoming much darker towards the centre."

Microscopic features:

Vessels  Tangential vessel diameter: range 25-157 µm; mean 77 µm; SD 37 µm; average maximum 100-133 µm; n =   62 vessels.  Vessels per square millimetre: range 6-8 vessels per mm2;  n =   3 sampled areas.  Vessels predominantly solitary with smaller pores in radial multiples usually of 2-3.  Perforation plates simple without prominent rim.   

Axial parenchyma  Axial parenchyma paratracheal and vasicentric.   Banded parenchyma present.  Banded parenchyma unbroken and with a radial bandwidth greater than tangential ray width.  Banded parenchyma further apart than rays and narrower than pores.  Parenchyma seem to be in horizontal rows (storied) when observed on tangential surface.

Rays Rays 1-3 cells wide with uniseriate rays present (n = 214 rays).  Rays of uniform width and not wider than vessels.  Rays 12-20 per tangential mm (n =   8 sampled areas).  Ray height: range 81-233 µm; mean 159 µm; SD 29 µm; n =   198 rays.   Rays homocellular.  Rays storied (in horizontal rows). 

Helical thickenings  Absent.

Physical and chemical tests:  Chrome azurol-s test negative.  

Uses: 

Aboriginal  Shield (Johnston & Cleland 1943)

Notes:  Heartwood-dependent characters are not assessed for wood where heartwood is absent or visually indiscernible from sapwood until such time it can be reliably determined that heartwood is present.