This study aims to estimate the age of segregation of young and mature wood of Luehea divaricata Mart., using the radial variation of specific gravity. To the development of this study were collected ten trees from two regions of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Discs with thickness of 2cm at 0.1m of height from the base of the trunk were used. From each disk, with the aid of a band saw, a central ribbon 2.0cm wide, and oriented in the radial direction was taken, including the pith, then splitted into two samples "A" and "B". The specific gravity was calculated as ratio between dry weight and wet volume. The wet volume was determined according to ASTM D 2395 - 93, 1997. The age of segregation was found by simple linear regression of the data of variation of specific gravity from pith to bark. The intersection of extrapolated lines was adopted as the age of segregation. The results showed that the wood segregates in 26 year for the region of Central Depression and in 23 years for the Northeast Upper Hillside. Was made a multifactorial analysis of variance in the specific gravity data, showing that there are statistical difference between regions and woods. However, there are no statistical difference between samples.
density; Luehea divaricata; wood quality
