Australia and Oceania, including Papua New Guinea.
Annual rainfall: 1000-4000mm.
Normal temp range: 17.5-31°C
Altitude range: 0-720m.
Seasonal adaptability: poor drought tolerance.
Soils: pH from 4.5-8.0, grows well on red-yellow podsols, even if heavily eroded. Can tolerate some waterlogging.
Light requirement: strong, as it is a pioneer species.
Other site limitations: performs poorly with less than 1200 mm annual rainfall; does not tolerate strong wind.
Height at maturity: 25-30m.
Diameter at breast height (1.3m) at maturity: 40-60cm.
Form: good, self pruning, straight bole without knots, especially when grown in plantation.
Coppicing ability: only in young stems, poor in old trees.
Growth: in a 13-year old plantation, can reach 23-25m height, 27-30cm diameter at breast height (1.3m).
Other: fixes nitrogen.
Provides timber and other wood products; can quickly suppress imperata grass (Imperata cylindrica) on degraded acid soils.
Some damage has been reported in young stands due to pinhole borers; some damage in nursery due to mildew and molds; wood has a high degree of 'spring' in milling test, a potential defect; heart rot can be a problem in older stands.
Wood products: timber, pulp, plywood, particle board. Yields range from 14m3/ha/yr at 4 years to 44m3/ha/yr at 10 years. Its timber has nice close grain.
Fuelwood: 4800-4900 kcal/kg, produces high quality charcoal.
Fodder: generally considered a poor fodder tree.
Other: shade and ornamental planting.
By seed.
Pour boiling water over seed, 1 part seed to 10 parts water. After 30 seconds to 1 minute remove seeds and place in cold water, then soak overnight, remove, and dry.
Commonly planted at 3x3m spacing. For timber, prune every 6 months, up to the age of 2 years, and thin stands at ages 2, 6 and 10 years. To avoid heart rot, harvest at 5-7 years.
Use in taungya systems. Closes canopy quickly, however, and must be planted at wide spacing (greater then 3x3m) to allow more than one year of annual inter crop.