Wood Reference Collection

The Wood Reference Collection consists of:

  • 21 separate collections of wood-block samples
  • a glass-slide collection of timber microstructure sections.

Together, they provide a comprehensive reference collection for Queensland timbers, some national and international timbers, and their anatomical characteristics. The Wood Reference Collection is the only public collection still in use for the accurate identification wood samples.

The wood collection:

  • includes 12,633 samples
  • represents 200 plant genera.

The microscope-slide collection includes 4,703 slides of stained timber microstructure sections from 108 plant families. Each slide holds a transverse section (TS), a radial longitudinal section (RLS), and a tangential, longitudinal section (TLS) for each species.

The wood collection can support requests to identify wood:

  • under the Illegal logging Prohibition Act 2012, the Illegal Logging Prohibition Regulation 2012, and the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
  • in relation to the Commonwealth Biosecurity Act 2015, and the Queensland Biosecurity Act 2014
  • on behalf of the Queensland Police Service.

Access to the collection

Special arrangements may be made for visiting researchers and students to access the collection for research, teaching and training. Contact our Customer Service Centre to arrange a visit.