Grouping of Tectona grandis (L.f.) clones using wood color and stiffness Ro ´ger Moya • Juan Diego Marı ´n Received: 9 March 2010 / Accepted: 13 February 2011 / Published online: 23 February 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract Commercial Tectona grandis plantations using clones have attracted consid- erable interest for lumber production in tropical regions where small areas are frequent. However, studies on wood properties are limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to group clones with similar wood color characteristics using the CIELab system, and mechanical resistance by dynamic stiffness (Ed) in order to obtain different types of clones for different climate and edaphic conditions. It was found that lightness (L*), yellowness (b*), redness (a*), and Ed are similar to those found for other plantation trees. These wood characteristics are signiﬁcantly inﬂuenced by clone and site. Variance due to clone and site went from 31 to 53% and from 2.95 to 24.22%, respectively. Another source of variance was distance from pith, with the exception of parameter b*, which was not affected. Finally, clones were grouped (using multivariate analysis) according to color and mechanical resistance. This analysis established 4 groups by color and 5 groups by Ed. Clone clustering will allow us to choose or use clones with similar wood properties according to site and environmental conditions increasing area production and wood quality uniformity. Keywords Environment  CIELab color system  Hierarchical clustering  Tropical wood Introduction Teak (Tectona grandis) has become one of the most important tropical species in inter- national markets because of the physical, mechanical, and aesthetic properties of its wood R. Moya (&) Instituto Tecnolo ´gico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Ingenierı ´a Forestal, Apartado 159-7050, Cartago, Costa Rica e-mail: rmoya@itcr.ac.cr J. D. Marı ´n Universidad del Tolima, Facultad de Ingenierı ´a Forestal, B. Santa Helena A.A. 546, Ibague ´, Colombia e-mail: jdmm086@hotmail.com 123 New Forests (2011) 42:329–345 DOI 10.1007/s11056-011-9255-y