Batai

Color/Appearance: Younger planation-grown wood tends to be very pale in color, with only a slight reddish or brownish cast and very little differentiation between heartwood and softwood. Older and/or wild trees can have a slightly more pronounced reddish brown heartwood that has more contrast with the lighter sapwood.

Grain/Texture: Grain ranges from straight to interlocked and can vary depending on the source (and if each plantation has selectively bred stock with straighter grain). Overall, the wood texture can be rather coarse, but uniform, and with good natural luster.

Rot Resistance: Perishable; poor resistance to decay or insect attack. Indeed, in-ground durability tests in Indonesia showed an average lifespan ranging from as little as six months to two years.^[1]Soerianegara, I., & Lemmens, R. H. M. J. (1993). Plant resources of southeast Asia. No. 5 (1). Timber Trees: Major Commercial Timbers, p. 320.

Workability: Generally easy to work with both hand and machine tools, though planing and surfacing may result in fuzzy surfaces on account of its low density and interlocked grain. Batai dulls cutters much faster than would be anticipated of a wood with such a low density. While the wood contains ~0.2% silica,^[2]Soerianegara, I., & Lemmens, R. H. M. J. (1993). Plant resources of southeast Asia. No. 5 (1). Timber Trees: Major Commercial Timbers, p. 321. it’s not really enough to account for the blunting, and another source^[3]Kukachka, B. F. (1970). Properties of imported tropical woods (Vol. 125). US Forest Products Laboratory. attributes the blunting effect to pinching and heat buildup on the saw blade as tension is released during cutting. Glues, stains, and finishes well.

Odor: Has a distinctive odor when green, subsiding when fully dried.

Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, batai has been reported to cause eye irritation, sneezing, and in at least one instance, occupational asthma.^[4]Tomioka, K., Kumagai, S., Kameda, M., & Kataoka, Y. (2006). A case of occupational asthma induced by falcata wood (Albizia falcataria). Journal of occupational health, 48(5), 392-395. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.

Pricing/Availability: Although a commercial plantation-grown species, lumber and veneer products are generally selectively exported where demand is highest. As a result, batai isn’t seen very often in North America, though demand is higher (and transportation costs are presumably lower) in Asia—Japan in particular has been a notable importer^[5]Soerianegara, I., & Lemmens, R. H. M. J. (1993). Plant resources of southeast Asia. No. 5 (1). Timber Trees: Major Commercial Timbers, p. 320. as they value lightweight furniture species like batai (usually called ファルカタ or falcata) and paulownia.

Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, and is reported by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.

Common Uses: Match sticks, light construction, boxes, crates, pallets, veneer, plywood, lightweight furniture, drawer sides, and interior millwork.

Comments: The botanical classification of batai has been rather circuitous, and many older texts from the 1960s and 1970s place this tree in the Albizia genus as A. falcata. In the early 1980s, the species was moved to the new Paraserianthes genus as P. falcataria.^[6]Nielsen, I., Guinet, P., & Baretta-Kuipers, T. (1983). Studies in the Malesian, Australian and Pacific Ingeae (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae): the genera Archidendropsis, Wallaceodendron, … Continue reading However, one competing 1996 classification placed batai in the Falcataria genus as F. moluccana,^[7]Barneby, R.C., Grimes, J.W., 1996. Silk tree, Guanacaste, Monkey’s earring: a generic system for the synandrous Mimoseae of the Americas. Part I. Abarema, Albizia and allies. Mem. Mem. N. Y. … Continue reading though it wasn’t until genetic testing of all species of the Paraserianthes genus was done in 2011^[8]Brown, G.K., Murphy, D.J. and Ladiges, P.Y. (2011), Relationships of the Australo-Malesian genus Paraserianthes (Mimosoideae: Leguminosae) identifies the sister group of Acacia sensu stricto and … Continue reading that batai was conclusively moved to the Falcataria genus. It was originally included as F. moluccana according to the initial 1996 classification, but later the species name falcata took precedence as being older,^[9]Greuter, W., & Rankin, R. (2016). Espermatófitos de Cuba Inventario preliminar. Botanischer Garten & Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Jardín Botánico Nacional, Universidad de La Habana … Continue reading hence Falcataria falcata.

One of the fastest-growing tree species in the world (Guinness World Records lists one such tree—under the older name Albizia falcata—as the fastest growing tree^[10]Fastest growing individual  tree. (1999, February 2). Guinness World Records.) it’s no surprise that batai is widely grown in tropical regions worldwide. As a result of it’s wide distribution, it also has a lot of common names depending on the geography. Batai is primarily a Malaysian name, though it’s also sometimes marketed in English (e.g., Hawaii) simply as “albizia” or by the slightly more specific white albizia or Moluccan albizia, the latter in reference to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia where the wood is grown commercially. (Though locally the wood is referred to as jeungjing by Indonesians.)