How to Identify Shorea
Spot Shorea (meranti/lauan) by its light tan to reddish ground, coarse straight grain, darker vessel lines, low weight, and white resin streaks.
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Start with color and grain. Light Shorea grades — lauan and light meranti — are a pale tan to pinkish light-brown, with the color deepening toward reddish-brown in dark red meranti. On our sample the ground is light tan crossed by distinct reddish-brown vessel lines that run with the grain, a very typical meranti look. The grain is straight to shallowly interlocked, giving a soft ribbon stripe on quartersawn faces, and radial surfaces show visible rays and a subtle figure. Texture is noticeably coarse with large open pores — coarser than mahogany or sapele.
Work the end grain and pores. Shorea is diffuse-porous with large, well-spaced vessels that are easy to see without a lens, often appearing as open pits or as the darker reddish lines on longitudinal faces. A strong tell is the presence of white resin or gum streaks and the concentric or wavy bands of light-colored parenchyma tissue that dipterocarps show on the end grain. Sapwood is only weakly separated from the heartwood, unlike the sharp pale sapwood of many other tropicals.
Judge weight and hardness. The light grades feel distinctly light and soft in the hand for a tropical wood — you can dent them with a thumbnail — which alone rules out dense look-alikes; only balau and the darkest meranti feel genuinely heavy. There is little characteristic odor when cut, so a strongly scented board is probably something else.
Separating it from look-alikes is the main challenge. Because it is sold as 'Philippine mahogany,' it is most confused with genuine mahogany (Swietenia/Khaya): true mahogany is finer-textured, more uniformly reddish, and lacks meranti's coarse open pores and white resin streaks. Sapele and utile are finer and often show more pronounced ribbon figure and a cedary scent. Keruing (Dipterocarpus) is a close dipterocarp relative — similar coarse texture — but is usually heavier, more gray-brown, and often oozes sticky resin. Within the genus itself, tell the grades apart by weight and color: pale, light, easily dented = lauan/light meranti; deeper red and heavier = dark red meranti; hard, heavy, brown = balau.
Frequently asked questions
What's the quickest way to recognize meranti/Shorea?
A light tan to reddish, coarse-textured board that feels fairly light for a tropical wood, with straight grain, darker reddish vessel lines, and occasional white resin streaks. That combination of coarse open pores plus low weight is the fast tell.
How do I tell Shorea from true mahogany?
Texture and pores. True mahogany is finer and more uniform with tighter pores and a warmer, even red-brown; meranti is coarser with large open pores, visible reddish vessel lines, and white resin streaks. Meranti is often the lighter, cheaper board sold as 'Philippine mahogany.'
Can I tell the meranti grades apart by eye?
Mostly by weight and color. Pale, soft, easily dented material is lauan or light meranti; a deeper red and clearly heavier board is dark red meranti; and a hard, heavy, brown board is balau. The lighter grades are non-durable, so weight matters for choosing use.
Does Shorea have a distinctive smell?
Not really — it has little characteristic odor when cut. A strongly aromatic or cedary scent points to another wood such as sapele or a true cedar, so rely on the coarse texture, light weight, vessel lines, and resin streaks instead.
Shorea identified by the community
Recent Shorea samples identified with Wood Identifier.
