White-beech, also called gray-teak, is a tall tree that grows in the rain forests of New South Wales and Queensland in Australia. White-beech trees grow up to 132 feet (40 meters) high. They have gray, scaly bark and fairly thick leaves. The trees are partly deciduous—that is, they lose and regrow some of their leaves each year. Their flowers are white, fairly large, and grow in clusters. The berries have blue coloring. White-beech trees produce a free-grained, strong, and virtually unshrinkable lumber. The lumber is useful for furniture making, for general fittings, for indoor purposes, and for woodcarving. Even though white-beech wood is scarce, woodcarvers still seek it for fancy carving.
