Abstract

The radial and longitudinal variations in wood basic density along the stem were determined in trees from a plantation of Eucalyptus regnans (16 year old) grown at the coast of the Arauco Province, Chile. The weighted stem basic density was estimated and correlated to the basic density at different sampling heights. Nine dominant and/or codominant trees were selected. Discs were obtained each 10% of the total height until a height of 70%. From the discs, small cubic samples of 1 cm edge from the pith to the bark and in the north and south directions were extracted, and in these small samples the basic density was determined. Three radial variation patterns for the basic density along the stem were found. In the longitudinal direction, basic density decreased from the base of the tree to 4.5% of the height, and then increased linearly until 70% of the total tree height. The best sampling heights for estimating the weigthed basic density of the stem were to 10 and 20% of the total tree height.