Description

(From Wikipedia) In the US, Philippine mahogany, aka lauan, is the common name for a wood yielded by some species of the genus Shorea, or perhaps more accurately the name for a group of woods. These are medium density woods, with rather favorable properties, but they are not a mahogany, nor are they comparable in quality. It is not necessarily imported from the Philippines, nor is it limited to species which occur in the Philippines. The US name of lauan is derived from a Philippine name, which refers to dipterocarp timbers in general. The import into the US is properly known as "red lauan", but the adjective tends to be dropped. The name lauan is sometimes also used for plywood, although strictly speaking this tends to consist of a mixture of woods of any species from the same general area. Such plywood is more properly known as Mixed Hardwood Ply.