None known

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Emetic

The root bark is emetic[739 ].

Fibre  Paper  Pioneer  String  Stuffing  Wood

Public open space. Botanic collection. Curiosity. Agroforestry Uses: A typical pioneer species, fast-growing and rapidly colonizing clearings[303 , 378 ]. Other Uses: The woolly fibre contained in the seedpods has sometimes been used like kapok as a stuffing material in pillows and mattresses[299 , 303 , 307 , 378 , 521 ]. The fibre obtained from the bark has been used to make ropes[299 , 303 ]. The heartwood is white to grey-white, sometimes with a pinkish tinge near the heart in older trees; it is not demarcated from the sapwood. The grain is straight; texture coarse and even; the lustre silky. The heartwood is too heavy to be of economic importance and most of the commercially used stock is sapwood. The wood is extremely light in weight - it is the lightest known commercial timber, being even lighter than cork. High-grade timber weighs less than 150 kg/m_ at 12% moisture content and is generally produced by young trees 8 - 9 years old, whereas older trees produce heartwood, which is heavier and is considered of secondary quality. Large differences exist between the outermost sapwood and that from nearer the centre - the new wood in the outer 3cm being on average 2.2 times heavier than the old wood in the inner 3cm. The wood is very soft and weak, but with good strength to weight ratio, and that from old trees tends to be brittle. It is non-durable and prone to attack by Anobium and Lyctus borers, termites and longhorn beetles. The rates of shrinkage from green to oven dry are small to medium, kiln drying is preferable to air drying, to minimize splitting and warping. Movement in service is small. The wood is very easy to work with hand and machine tools, but sharp tools are needed to prevent crumbling. It takes nails and screws readily, but is too soft to hold them well. Planing is almost impossible; glueing properties are good, and the wood stains, polishes and paints satisfactorily, but it is very absorbent. Bending properties are poor. Balsa possesses an unusually high degree of buoyancy and is very efficient insulation against heat and sound, it can be used at very low temperatures (down to -250°c). Some older trees develop a pink heartwood that tends to be brittle and is much inferior to the sapwood. The wood is suitable for pulping by chemical and semi-chemical processes, yielding 45 - 50% pulp with good strength characteristics. The pulp can be easily bleached without loss of strength, making it suitable for printing and writing papers. The extremely lightweight wood is used for floats, buoys, lifejackets and life-belts, surfboards, aircraft construction, ship and boat building, lightweight boxes, toys, model making, laboratory mounting boards, core stock in sandwich construction, surgical splints, packaging of fragile articles and as insulation for temperature, vibration, sound and formerly also for electricity. Slightly heavier wood is suitable for matches, popsicle sticks and toothpicks, and for the production of pulp and paper[299 , 303 , 307 , 378 , 848 ].

Special Uses