This volume on timber trees deals with the most important commercial timbers of South-East Asia. This region produces the major part of the timber on the world market; timber is a major export product and increasingly important domestically. Uncontrolled logging, together with other human activities such as shifting cultivation, leads to destruction of tropical forest. Sustainable management of natural forest and the establishment of timber plantations integrated with land-use programmes (including agriculture) will protect forests from destruction and generate permanent timber production in the future. Reliable and up-to-date information on all aspects of tree species and their wood is a prerequisite for sustainable utilization. Among the 55 timber trade groups described in this volume are meranti, balau, keruing, kapur, white seraya, mersawa, merbau, sepetir, narra, kempas, teak, nyatoh, mengkulang, ramin, ulin, pulai, kauri, pine, mahogany and eucalypt. Brief characteristics of 550 species belonging to those trade groups are included. A glossary explains the terms used.