It is a quite versatile, very durable because hardly affected by insect attacks, moderately hard and heavy wood. The compact fibres allow good levels of workability and treatability, especially the light.
It has a sober and pleasant clear colour, almost white; it assumes the well-known rosy tone through steaming and kilning processes. With the sunlight, the colour varies till the pale-yellow. Medullar rays are well visible on the entire cutting surfaces and they make the design unique, especially on the tangential cuts, where they appear particularly tapered.