A wood id quiz, just for fun

[IanW]

so what did I learn Ian ? And how is it related to oranutangs ?

Jake, I don't know what you learned, only you know that, but the object of the exercise was simply to make the point that it is difficult to impossible to identify a wood accurately with limited information.

I don't think orangutans live in Leucaenas, so they probably have no interest whatever, in the tree or how you might identify it....

Botanical names are not everyone's cup of tea, but they do have the value of being unique to each species, unlike 'common' names, that get applied to many, often completely unrelated, species. In one locality where everyone knows what's what, no problem, but confusion soon sets in when you go outside your own base.

And yep, there's nothing like personal experience to tell you what you need to know about a wood.

Cheers,

[Xanthorrhoeas]

I agree, Ian, that pattern recognition plays a strong part in the gifted identification from poor information. However, my use of the term intuition is because the human brain can make great leaps based on few clues, and some pepole make those leaps over chasms of ignorance and arrive safe and secure on the other side. Botanically I know of a few with those skills, and as I said, the forums seem to have many with similar skills with timber.

My scientific studies on grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) required me to immerse myself in the subject for 12 years before the patterns in rhese cryptic species emerged. Then, I was ready to make the leaps, although based on poor information.

Best wishes to those who are able to make the leaps on such inadequate information.

David


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