Good Wood Guide

Different types of wood timber by U to Z
30 June 2010

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Different types of wood timber by A to Z

Use this page to help you determine to the best alternative if you can't buy Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber.

The table below contains the following information for each species of tree:

Common and scientific name*
Country of origin
Common uses
Whether it is threatened with extinction (see key below)
Whether reclaimed timber of that tree species is available
How much it is used in the UK

* listed alphabetically by common name and according to type of tree eg. American Cedar is listed under Cedar American

Key to threat classification
CR	Critically Endangered: a very high risk of extinction in the wild
EN	Endangered: a high risk of extinction in the wild
VU	Vulnerable: at risk of extinction
LR (NT)	Lower risk (near threatened): close to qualifying as Vulnerable

Table of different types of wood timber by A to Z

Click on a letter to track down your tree species.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Common name	Scientific name	Origin	Uses	Level of use in the UK	Global threat status	Available as reclaimed?
Utile / sipo	Entandophragma utile	West Africa (Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire)	Furniture, fitments, joinery, construction	Major	VU	Regularly as wood strip and woodblock flooring
Common name	Scientific name	Origin	Uses	Level of use in the UK	Global threat status	Available as reclaimed?
Virola	Virola spp.	South America	Plywood, mouldings, interior joinery	Minor	V. surinamensis EN
Vitex Minor	Vitex confassus	South-east Asia	Boxes and crates, utility furniture, joinery	Minor	-
Common name	Scientific name	Origin	Uses	Level of use in the UK	Global threat status	Available as reclaimed?
Wallaba	Eperua falcata	South America	Heavy construction, poles, industrial flooring	Minor	-
Walnut, African /dibetou	Lovoa trichilioides	West and Central Africa	Furniture and panelling	Minor	VU
Walnut	Juglans spp.	Europe, North America	Furniture, joinery, gun butts	Minor		Regularly as antique panelling and veneered doors
Walnut,	Endiandra palmerstonii	Queensland Australia	Furniture, interior joinery and construction, veneers	Minor	-
Wawa / Samba / Obeche / Ayous	Triplochiton scleroxylon	Africa	Kitchen furniture, mouldings, hidden work, plywood	Major	-
Wenge	Millettia laurentii	Central Africa	Furniture, decorative veneers, speciality uses	Minor	EN	Regularly as woodblock flooring
Willow	Salix spp.	UK, Europe	Cricket bats, basket work, toys and other items	Minor	-
Common name	Scientific name	Origin	Uses	Level of use in the UK	Global threat status	Available as reclaimed?
Yew (softwood)	Taxus baccata	UK, Europe	Decorative veneer	Minor	-