In the recent years, interest in wild cherry has grown dramatically on the world’s market. It is widely used for furniture, millwork, parquet, souvenirs, finish of musical instruments, sports articles. Wild cherry wood is valued high on the world’s market owing to its technological and mechanical properties such as elasticity, not too high hardness, easy processability, similar mechanical properties of both the heartwood and sapwood parts of the stem. It has a rich red-brown colour, which enhances with age. In Latvia, black alder and grey alder grow; now and then a hybrid of both the species – alder hybrid is found in wild-growing stands. It is an early-maturing, with different leaf vein number. Attempts have been made to acclimatise artificially the alder hybrid owing to its great increment, although its physico-mechanical properties are not investigated. In the present study, the anatomical elements and physical properties of wild cherry and grey alder hybrid wood are presented. Alders are of genus Alnus, family Betulaceae; they are deciduous, fast-growing trees and bushes. In the Northern hemisphere’s moderate zone and in the forest-tundra zone, there grow about 25 species of this genus. . There are two wild-growing alder species in Latvia, namely, grey alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench.) and black alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.), and now and then a hybrid of both species occurs. Alder wood is of low density, soft and easy-to-process. Alder belongs to wood species that do not form heartwood, therefore, the wood in the whole stem’s transverse-section has even pink-brownish colour, wich darkens somewhat on exposure to light and differs from freshly felled wood colour. In Latvia, grey alder and black alder occupies.
Keywords: Wild cherry, physical characteristics, alders grey wood, alders hybrid wood, alders black wood, anatomical and physical characteristics
Authors
Pavlovičs G.
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, LATVIA
Daugavietis M.
Latvian State Forestry Research Institute “Silava”, Salaspils, LATVIA
Daugaviete M.
Latvia Forestry Research Institute Silava, Salaspils
Antons A.
Latvia Forestry Research Institute Silava, Salaspils
Dolacis J.
Latvia Forestry Research Institute Silava, Salaspils
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