Thread: Wood indigenous to both USA and Australia

I've had a look in a couple of books and I don't know how accurate it is but apparantly Northern hemisphere Beech and Southern Hemisphere beech are closely related, both Nothofagus spp. Tasmanian Myrtle is a Nothofagus (can't find the species name) that seems to be as close as it gets.

Tasmanian Myrtle is Nothofagus cunninghamii

Dusty,

Not quite what you asked, but the best I can find is that some of the Araucaria species (monkey puzzle trees, southern hemisphere "pines") are native to South America (Chile, Brazil and Argentina). I suspect they are not the same ones that are native to Australia, but I'm not absolutely sure. This web page (http://www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/conif.../ar/index.html) says that they were once common in the northern hemisphere too.

John

Dusty,

European beech is Fagus sylvatica, and so belongs to a different genus from Tasmanian myrtle (Nothofagus). I suspect they are no more closely related than European Oak (Quercus robur) and Tasmanian oak (Eucalyptus regnans).

It is unlikely that there would be any plant species common to North America and Australia, because Australia, 200 million years ago, was part of the southern super-continent Gondwanaland, which broke up to form Antarctica, Australia, South America, Africa, and India, while North America was part of a northern super-continent consisting of North America, Europe, and Asia. Each of the the super-continents had its own distinct flora, which evolved separately.

Rocker

Australia does have mostly uniqe flora. I think that if you were going to find something in common then you are going to go back to the mossess and liverworts to do it. I do not think we have any of the Prunus group here, definetly not Malus, we do have a couple of native citrus but these are nearly unrelated to the commercial citrus. We do have native cottons ie Gossypium sp and a couple of them form things close to tree height, but again nearly unrelated to the native cotton's of america which are biennial shrubs.

Would something that grows in both places do? If so I know that mesquite does quite happily here, and all the tall trees in Tucson AZ are Eucalypts of one sort or another. I think we have given Florida a weed in one of the Tea trees (Leptospermum). Cottonwood abounds here in Canberra.

Rocker when tas myrtle was orginaly described it was as a Fagus species. I still think they are fairly closely related. In scientific circles they are usually called "antarctic beech". I just checked and the last bit is a bit fuzzy as it refers to several species, at least it got it somewhat right and did not call it a myrtle.

What about MDF? Sorry couldnt help myself.

Thats closely related to pinus chipboardus

Originally Posted by echnidna

Thats closely related to pinus chipboardus

The Australian MDF is pinaus chipboardaus

PAH1,

I think the Mesquite is regarded as a noxious weed, and, even if Cottonwood isn't, it should be - it is a mongrel of a tree with useless timber and branches that are liable to fall off and cause major damage if it grows anywhere near a building. Admittedly, Mesquite is quite good timber, but I wish we had American Cherry, Walnut, Maple, and Red Oak growing here instead.

Rocker

I don't know how closely they are related - probably hardly at all, but apparently Huon pine and Bristlecone pine have many similar characteristics, including argument over which one is the longest-living.

Originally Posted by AlexS

I don't know how closely they are related - probably hardly at all, but apparently Huon pine and Bristlecone pine have many similar characteristics, including argument over which one is the longest-living.

I bet ours smells better.

Love the smell of Huon Pine.

Originally Posted by AlexS

I don't know how closely they are related - probably hardly at all, but apparently Huon pine and Bristlecone pine have many similar characteristics, including argument over which one is the longest-living.

I have seen those growing, interesting tree but would be a real mongrel to get any useable wood out of the ones I saw. The base was small 10-20cm and twisted as anything, multiple branches and very slow growing.

Rocker. I have seen pens made from cottonwood and they are interesting. Not saying that they make a great pen but they are rather nice. I think you will also find that in many parts of the US Mesquite is regarded as a noxious weed, it certainly was around Tucson.

Along these lines Mesquite is regarded as a good timber to finish turn from green because its longitudinal and radial shrinkage rate are the same, so a green turned item retains its shape. Does anybody know of australian timbers that have that same feature?

Eucalypts abound in California though were intro'd in 1905.

There are certainly timbers that grow on both continents, though can't think of any species existing indigeonously on both...... maybe Arukaria, but don't kknow if it was introduced or not ...... We have Elm (some of the last in the world apparently, due the disease) and Oak over here as well as Southern yellow Pine, though all were intro'd

Originally Posted by Ben from Vic.

I bet ours smells better.

Love the smell of Huon Pine.

With you there Ben!

We had a Tasmanian student living with us for a while. Every so often she'd come to the workshop for her Huon pine hit.