Dictionary of Malaysian Timbers

A Dictionary of Malaysian Timbers was first published in 1982 under the “Malayan Forest Records No. 30″. As the book contains comprehensive information on most of the timbers and their uses in Malaysia, it has been immensely popular among timber traders, timber consumers, students, wood scientists, etc. As a result, the book went out of stock and in the early 1990s, a reprint of the book became necessary to cater to the continuous demand for the book. However, since the publication of the book in 1982, a lot of new information on timber trees and utilisation has been generated. The need for a revision of the book was felt so as to bring the information up to date. Mr. S. C. Lim, a wood anatomist with more than 28 years of experience working with timber in FRIM, and Dr. R. C. K. Chung, a botanist in FRIM, have volunteered to carry out a revision of the book which took more than a year to complete. Besides the inclusion of an appendix and new information on many timber species, taxonomic changes during the last two decades are also incorporated in all the species mentioned in this book. Exotic plantation timbers such as acacia, teak, yemane, etc. which were excluded in the original book can be found in this new revision. I am confident that this revised edition of the book with its more comprehensive and updated information will, just like the first edition, prove very useful to readers, especially those from the timber industry and having a keen interest on Malaysian timbers. Finally, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Messrs. S. C. Lim and R. C. K. Chung for carrying out the revision, a heavy task that they have ably undertaken in addition to their research.