Effects of Growing Sites on the Color Variations in Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) Wood

Abstract

The influence of growing site conditions on the chromatic properties of heartwood in black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) cultivar ‘Nyírségi’ sampled from five regions of Hungary was investigated in this study. A total of 23 boards (average age of trees: 34.5 years) representing four site types were analyzed by instrumental colorimetry using the CIE Lab system. The overall average color coordinates were L* = 69.9 ± 4.0, a* = 4.0 ± 0.8, and b* = 27.4 ± 2.3. Significant chromatic differences were observed among site types proven by statistical analysis; however, no single site type consistently increased within-site color variability. Average total color differences (ΔE*) ranged from 3.94 to 6.31 across site types, corresponding to “noticeable” to “large” visual differences. Regionally, 89.1% of 55 specimen pairs exhibited clearly perceptible color variation (ΔE* > 2), with 61.8% classified as “large” (ΔE* > 5). Within-tree comparisons revealed ΔE* values of 3.72–3.75 under poor site conditions but <2.0 on good growing sites. The a* and b* components appear with measurable variations across all sites, while the characteristic yellow hue remains distinct and stable independent of site origin due to the high b* value.