G'day mates,

There was recently a request in sci.bio.botany for info on tropical
hardwoods. As the Australian State of Queensland has (or had) an
active Forestry research group (now embedded in the Qld Dept of
Primary Industries), I thought it might be useful to have a squiz at
the DPI home page http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/home/default.html.

Of course, this was somewhat optimistic of me given the modern drive
from science and extension to bureaucracy in DPI, but there was some
stuff there that might be of interest under the "Forestry, timber and
wood" link http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/forestry/.

Mostly advertising books and other saleable items rather than
providing on-line info, and largely aimed at plantation species.
Three of the four "Contents" links are somewhat repetitive, but each
probably does include some items not listed elsewhere.

One of the more unusual items under the "Timber and Uses" link
http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/thematiclists/2722.html is a group of up
to 100 timber samples available for purchase either singly or as boxed
sets http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/qfri/9513.html.

However, the thing that I found most interesting (and it's well hidden
and almost impossible to find unless you know the secret word is
the interactive Qld Tree Selector database at:

http://www.forests.qld.gov.au/qts/welcome.htm

This allows you to enter data on your local environment and details of
what you want the trees and/or shrubs to do for you, and it thing
comes up with a list of recommended species rated according to how
well they fit you selection criteria. You can the click on the
individual species to see more detail about the individuals,
particularly their "uses". While intended for Queenslanders, it could
clearly be useful to others with similar climatic/soil conditions --
but you might have to import the listed species. :-)

There was an earlier edition of this tree selector that had a much
more convenient format if you wanted to print out a list of your
selections and their "uses", but it wasn't so comprehensive for the
individual species. It's a pity it seems to have been discontinued;
but I can see value in the present format too (except for the dreadful
choice of presentation of white text on black background!). It would
be nice to have both output options.

Adendum: Having played around a bit more, I've discovered there is
actually some pretty detailed info on timber species too. (My
apologies to the bureaucracy. :-) To access this, simply go to
http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/hardwoodsqld/7680.html and click on the
species of your choice. For example, for Black Bean (_Castanospermum
australe_) see http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/hardwoodsqld/8230.html.

The info includes name, description, distribution, and masses of
detail on wood characteristics and durability.

Hope this helps someone. ;-)

[ Note followups set to sci.bio.botany and alt.forestry ]

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID