Geographic Variation in Specific Gravity and Three Fiber Characteristics of Sweetgum

In mid-1964, at the Annual Advisory Committee Meeting of the North Carolina State-Industry Cooperative Hardwood Research Program, participants in the Program endorsed plans for a major seed source study involving sweetgum over that part of its range from northeastern North Carolina to eastern Texas. Such a study has been established. It includes as one of its component parts the use of seed trees whose individuality is described and maintained throughout the life of the study from the the nursery phases of the work through the outplantings and on to final results at some time in the future. No study of this breadth and complexity is undertaken lightly. Sweetgum, in terms of where and how it grows, its uses, and the quantities consumed, is the most important single hardwood species in the United States. Its uses cover the range of quality aesthetics from fine face veneer through box lumber and dunnage to pulpwood. It grows almost everywhere, though not necessarily well. Furthermore, it appears to be amenable to management and manipulation, both genetically and silviculturally. In short, sweetgum is a tree species and a timber commodity very much worth studying from the standpoint of variation, whatever may be its cause. The investigation reported here covers possible provenencial variations in certain wood characteristics that bear importantly on its utilization.

Download this file:

Download this file

Details

Author(s): John W. Johnson, Robert L. McElwee

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 1967

Section: Technical Session