干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Among the characteristic properties of timber from natural tree stands, particularly those in arid and semi-arid zones, variations in colour are decisive in the uses made of the wood as a high added-value visible material, in joinery and cabinet-making for example. This study was conducted to help promote the aesthetic value of a woody species which is common in Algeria but under-researched, the Mt. Atlas mastic tree, Pistacia atlantica Desf. Variations in wood colour were assessed from samples cut from the sapwood and heartwood of mastic trees from two different bioclimatic regions in north-western Algeria. The colour assessments were made at the Forest and Timber Resources Laboratory (LERFoB) in Nancy, France, using a spectrophotometer with measurement and display software. The results indicate variations between the two regions in the colour of Mt. Atlas mastic tree wood (for the three chromatic components L*, a* and b*) and among the different trees (component L*). The colorimetric components of the lighter-coloured sapwood, especially brightness (L*) and the red-green component (a*), are very different to those of the heartwood. From this we infer that environmental factors have an influence on the colorimetric characteristics of the wood in this species, as well as the intrinsic individual characteristics of each tree. Finally, brightness (L*) and the red-green (a*) and blue-yellow (b*) components vary between the different types of mastic tree wood.