Elm wood is used in many Chinese furniture pieces for its durability and wide grain.  Light yellow to brown color. 
 

Camphor is used in Chinese furnishings not only for its beautiful grain, but also because it acts similar to cedar in deterring moths (hence its wide use in storage trunks.) 

One of the oldest spices, Chinese cinnamon (cassia), is produced in the bark of C. cassia. Another species is used medicinally and in the manufacture of explosives!

Southern Elm was a popular furniture-making wood in the Suzhou region. It is distinguished from its northern counterpart by a more refined ring porous structure that is apparent in the tangential surface, and by small medullary rays that are visible as fine reflective flecks across the radial surface. Southern Elm is also comparatively denser and stronger. 

Southern Elm is widely distributed throughout China with concentrations found in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces as well as Korea and Japan, where it is commonly known as keyaki. The arbor reaches 30 meters in height and the trunk, 1.5 meter in diameter. 

The sapwood is distinguished from the slightly darker heartwood, which varies in tonality from yellowish brown to coffee-brown. Jiangsu craftsmen traditionally divide jumu into three types: yellow ju (huangju), red ju (hongju), and blood ju (xueju). Factors including the age of the tree are thought to account for these variations in color as well as ranging densities (63-.79 g/cm3). Blood ju, with a reddish-brown coffee color as well as some feathery like figure in the tangential surface, is the most highly prized.

Light and soft with low strength, shock resistance, and decay resistance. 

Works fairly easily with hand or machine tools. Glues, screws, nails, stains, paints, and varnishes well. 

Used primarily for general construction, as well as boxes, crates, sash, doors, trim, plywood, and pulpwood. 

This tree grows at the edges of swamps or streams, and its roots form natural crooks above the water. The crooks are frequently used in the construction of wooden boats. 

The wood is light yellow to light brown, and is very resistant to rot and decay.

China has several species of walnut that produce timber suited for high-quality furniture-making. True Walnut (J. regia L.) is generally cultivated in the north and northwestern regions, but also extends into the southwestern provinces. It is a deciduous tree reaching 20 meters in height that produces an edible nut that can be pressed into a high-quality vegetable oil. The light-colored sapwood is clearly distinguishable from the heartwood, the latter being reddish-brown too chestnut-brown in color, and sometimes even purplish, or with darker striated patterning. It dries very slowly, but is quite stable afterwards. It is of medium density (±62 g/cm3) and has a relatively fine texture. 

Because True Walnut is generally cultivated for its fruit rather than timber, Manchurian Walnut (J. mandsharica M.) is often used in its place. It is distributed throughout the northern to northeastern forests of China. It is somewhat lower in density (±.53 g/cm3) than True Walnut, and somewhat lighter in color. Wild Walnut (J. cathayensis) is distributed throughout central-to-eastern China, with noted concentrations in Yunnan province. 

The dark, fine-grained wood of English and black walnuts is used for furniture, panelling, and gunstocks.  It's tough wood has a medium density and straight grain.

It was employed by the ancient kings of India for sceptres and images and, because of its supposed antagonism to poison, for drinking cups.Herodotus states that the Ethiopians every three years sent a tribute of 200 logs of ebony to Persia. 

Its closeness of grain, great hardness, and fine hazel-brown colour, mottled and striped with black, render it valuable for veneering and furniture making.

It is one of the toughest American woods, with fine grain and pleasing light tone similar to maple. Birch can offer a variety of grain patterns (straight, curly, and wavy) and can be stained to resemble walnut or mahogany. 

Birch trees of the family's representative genus produce close-grained wood of uniform texture that is used in furniture, flooring, plywood, and veneers. It has a medium brown heartwood with a light cream colored sapwood.

The finest huanghuali has a translucent shimmering surface with abstractly figured patterns that delight the eye--those appearing like ghost faces were highly prized. The color can range from reddish-brown to golden-yellow. Historical references point to Hainan Island as the main source of huali. However, variations in the color, figure, and density suggest similar species sourced throughout North Vietnam, Guangxi, Indochina and the other isles of the South China Sea. 

Nanmu is a large, slow growing tree of the evergreen laurel family that develops with a long straight trunk ranging from 10-40 meters in height, and 50 to 100 cm in diameter. While sharing some characteristics with the coniferous cedar, it bears no botanical relationship. More than thirty varieties are found south of the Yangzi River with concentrations in the southwest; varieties are also indigenous to Hainan Island and Vietnam. 

Zhennan (True Nanmu) from Sichuan and Guizhou, zinan (Purple Nanmu) from the southeastern and south-central regions, and hongmaoshan nan (Hongmao Mountain Nanmu) from Hainan Island are generally considered to produce the finest timber. These wood ranges in color from a warm olive-brown color to a reddish-brown color. Other species of nanmu with a coarse, loosely structured grain and lighter color are considered inferior. 

Because it is highly resistant to decay, nanmu was frequently used for architectural woodworking and boat-building. The wood dries well with minimal warping or splitting after which it is dimensionally stable and of medium density (zhennan .61 g/cm3). Nanmu also emits a pungent fragrance when freshly worked. And because it polishes to a shimmering surface and has fine smooth texture, it was also prized as furniture-making wood. Shimmering characteristics also qualify that which is termed 'jinsi' (golden-thread) nanmu. The burl of nanmu (douban nan) was also commonly featured in table and cabinet door.

Just to be cautious, some people regard hongmu as a broad range of wood types, including even rosewood, while certain retailers say that hongmu is a type of wood inferior to rosewood and blackwood, so always ask for the specific meaning when they use the term "hongmu". 

Mahogany is also called Hongmu in China which  is one of the most popular wood types for furniture making and panelling in the US for its color and grain, and is also used in Chinese cabinets and desks for it's beauty and durability. 

Once much in demand by cabinetmakers and piano makers, the wood is still used to fashion xylophone bars, but waning supplies restrict its use in contemporary furniture making. 

Sandalwood trees have been cultivated since antiquity for their yellowish heartwood, which plays a major role in many Oriental funeral ceremonies and religious rites. 

The trees are slow growing, usually taking about 30 years for the heartwood to reach an economically useful thickness. 

Zitan is an extremely dense wood which sinks in water. It is a member of the rosewood family and is botanically classified in the Pterocarpus genus. The wood is blackish-purple to blackish-red in color, and its fibers are laden with deep red pigments which have been used for dye since ancient times. The fine texture of the wood grain is especially suitable for intricate carving. 

Early records indicate that zitan was sourced in tropical forests of southern China, throughout Indochina, and from Hainan Island. The tree grows quite slowly. Few pieces are known to be greater than one foot in width. While the tree has been considered to be extinct, new sources have been discovered in Indo-China as well as Southeast Asia over the recent years.

Teakwood is used for shipbuilding, fine furniture, door and window frames, wharves, bridges, cooling-tower louvres, flooring, panelling, railway cars, and venetian blinds. An important property of teak is its extremely good dimensional stability. It is strong, of medium weight, and of average hardness. Termites eat the sapwood but rarely attack the heartwood; it is not, however, completely resistant to marine borers.

The common catalpa is C. bignonioides, which yields a durable timber and is one of the most widely planted ornamental species.

Light and soft with low strength and shock resistance, moderately low stiffness, low decay resistance, poor steam bending, and good stability in service. 

Works fairly well with machine or hand tools although resin can gum-up cutters. Planes, turns, moulds, routs, bores, and mortises very well. Glues, nails and screws easily with a low tendency to split. Paints and finishes fairly well although a sealer coat may be needed to handle resin bleed-out, especially near knots. 

The Blue Japanese Oak (C. glauca) is widely distributed from Japan to India and commonly reaches heights of 20 meters with trunk diameters of one meter. The sapwood and heartwood are not clearly distinguished and range from grayish-yellow to grayish-brown with streaks of brown or red. The material is difficult to dry and not easy to work, however, it is extremely dense (±.90 g/cm3) and hard. Distinctive medullary rays appear in the tangential surface as short dark lines; in the radial surface, they appear as lustrous flecks woven through the longitudinal grain. The Sawtooth Oak (Q. acutissima) is also broadly distributed throughout China. With the exception of its reddish-brown heartwood, other characteristics are similar to the Blue Japanese Oak. 

The somewhat less dense (.67-.75 g/cm3) Mongolian Oak (Q. mongolica) grows throughout north central and northeastern China, and is found from stretching westward through Japan , Korea, Mongolia, and Siberia. A similar species of growing in the Xing'anling region of Mongolia has been related to that commonly termed gaoli mu---Gaoli being a Chinese reference to ancient Korea.