The Pilang Tree is renowned for its white bark color tone and its wide spreading limbs of large proportions. These two characteristics are the basis behind the Pilang’s English name, which is White-Bark Acacia. The Pilang is a species native to the southeastern areas of Asia. In these regions, the pilang tree has been used predominantly as a shade for livestock and as a source of dry-season fodder. The Pilang is a large tree, numerous in thorns, which can reach to the maximum height of 115 feet and a trunk width of 3.3 feet. The Pilang tree has also a very long life span and can live up to 100 years or more!
Botanical Name: Acacia leucophloea Pilang
Wood Origin Country: Southeast Asia, in countries such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
Species and Names: Pilang (Indonesian), White-Bark Acacia (English), Safed Kikkar (Hindi), Safed Babul (Bengali), Goira (Oriya) and Sarai, Velvelam (Tamil).
Look and Color: The Pilang Tree has a wide variety of colors and pattern variation. Usually, the bark has a white to yellowish gray color tint that is very smooth and exfoliates in long strips. The heartwood of the Pilang tree has a strong reddish-brown color and is considered to be one of the nicest looking Hardwood species. The Pilang sapwood has a yellowish-white color, which is much brighter than the pilang heartwood. The color variation between the heartwood and sapwood make the Pilang species an excellent choice for those who enjoy a versatile and diverse color pattern.
Grain Texture: The Pilang Hardwood species has an irregular interlocked grain, with a very rough texture. The Pilang is a very hard wood to work with from an installers prospective, since it is so hard and heavy.
Hardness and Strength: The Pilang wood is a very strong species of Hardwood. Pilang is a very hard and heavy wood, much heavier than the benchmark Hardwood comparison, the Red Oak species. On the Janka Hardness Test, the Pilang species received a score of 2400, which is 47% stronger than the Red Oak species.
Uses in the Wood Industry: Due to its magnificent colors, great strength and unsurpassed durability, the pilang hardwood has been used predominantly for decorative furniture. Although it is not the most popular Hardwood on the market, it’s possible to find Pilang wood used in a wide variety of places within the wood industry. There are Pilang poles, farming implements, carts, wheels, turnery, construction timbers and of course gorgeous Pilang Hardwood Floors.