Manna Gum is another one of those Victorian hardwoods that just seemed to get swallowed up under the vague title of 'green hardwood'.

It's as if, in the licensing of mineral exploration, we allowed a would-be miner to go digging for anything he liked - gold, uranium, tin, copper, diamonds, opals - it's all the same to us. And if we just wanted the tin? - well, we'd tip the whole lot in the smelter anyway. This has been the fate of the Manna Gum. It just got absorbed into building frames, fences, pallets - anything.

Like Messmate, this is a timber with a pretty face. Ranging in colour from pale pinks to browns this has got to become one of the delights for cabinet makers and architects.

Not much is on the market, but if you keep asking for it, more and more sawmillers with kilns will be prepared to bring this gentle wood into the market place.