Database of wood properties from specimens of the French Guiana wood collection

The wood collection (Xylotheque or Xylarium) of Kourou (French Guiana) was created in 1976 by Jean Thiel and has since been augmented by many contributors. It is a child collection of the Xylotheque of Montpellier. A Xylarium, like the one in Kourou, is a unique collection of wood assembled over many years that represents high interspecific diversity. In addition to the standard use of such collections for systematic anatomy, a technological database can be created using duplicates of reference plates. We performed physical, mechanical and durability tests on wood planks measuring 10x60x100L mm3 from 445 woody species in French Guiana belonging to 63 families. Wood densities ranged from 250 to 1300 kg/m3, with an average of 0.786 kg/dm3. The other properties also covered a wide range of values, as did the longitudinal modulus of elasticity, since we tested samples from lianas and palm stipes as well as from very stiff woods. More information about the file “Xylarium Kourou” Data fields The file provides information for 446 specimens of the Cirad Kourou’s wood collection: Kourou Xylarium Identifier : historical index Scientific Name Genera Species Family * indicates an introduced species (not local species) L*: clarity, black = 0 and white = 100 a*: red (positive) and green (negative) components b*: yellow (positive) and blue (negative) components Hue angle: H* = atan (b*/a*) C*: Chroma = square (a*² + b*²) BD: basic density (kg/m3) D12: dry density (kg/m3) CF: conversion factor for basic density from air dry density: CF=BD/ D12 VS: volumetric shrinkage (%) SM: specific modulus (Mm²/s²) E: longitudinal modulus of elasticity (Gpa) Tand: damping coefficient (%) DSd: relative deviation from standard damping: DSδ= (tanδ-tanδs)/ tanδ ML: mass loss (%) after a 6-month bed test (fugus resistance)