Myrtle, Nothofagus cunninghamii, is the dominant tree in Tasmania’s cool temperate rainforests and in the understorey of mixed wet eucalypt forests.
Myrtle wood colour varies from pink to light red with some striped colours.
The most spectacular ‘tiger myrtle’ in quarter sawn timber is caused by fungal discoloration causing dark brown or black stripes in pink-red wood.
Most trees contain straight grained wood but some contain fiddle-back grain near the butt and old trees often have many surface burls.
Air dry density is about 700 kg / m3, (Bootle 1985).
Availability:
Myrtle is available from IST Geeveston and IST Smithton as tender logs while IST Geeveston processes and sells air and kiln-dried sawn timber including slabs, waxed turning blanks and tiger myrtle veneer.
