Dalbergia latifolia
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Dalbergia latifolia growing as a street tree in Peravoor, India. | |
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D. latifolia
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Binomial name | |
Dalbergia latifolia |
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Dalbergia latifolia (synonym Dalbergia emarginata) is a premier timber species, also known as the Indian Rosewood. It is native to low-elevation tropical monsoon forests of south east India.[2][3] Some common names in English include Rosewood, Bombay blackwood, Roseta rosewood, East Indian rosewood, Reddish-brown rosewood, Indian palisandre, and Java palisandre.[2][3] Its Indian common names are beete, and satisal.[2] The tree grows to 40 metres in height and is evergreen, but locally deciduous in drier subpopulations.[2][3]
Description and biology
The tree has grey bark that peels in long fibres, pinnately compound leaves, and bunches of small white flowers.[2] It grows as both an evergreen and a deciduous tree in the deciduous monsoon forests of India making the tree very drought hardy.
Haematonectria haematococca is a fungal pest of the tree, causing damage to the leaves and the heartwood in Javanese plantations.[4] In India, trees may be subject to serious damage from a species of Phytophthora, a water mold genus.[4]
Germplasm resources for D. latifolia are maintained by the Kerala Forest Research Institute in Thrissur, Kerala, India.[4]
Uses
The tree produces a hard, durable, heavy wood that, when properly cured, is durable and resistant to rot and insects.[4] It is grown as a plantation wood in both India and Java, often in dense, single species groves, to produce its highly desirable long straight bore.[4] Wood from the tree is used in premium furniture making and cabinetry, in guitar bodies, as furniture, exotic veneer, carvings, boats, skis, and for reforestation.[2][4]
Under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 the exportation of lumber products from wild harvested D. latifolia is illegal.[3] There exists an international high demand and price for the wood due to its excellent qualities of having a long straight bore, its strength, and its high density.[4] However, the tree is slow-growing; Javanese plantations were started in the late nineteenth century, but, due to its slow growth, plantations have not expanded beyond Java and India.[4] Many once popular uses for D. latifolia wood have now been replaced with Dalbergia sissoo wood and engineered rosewood's, for economic purposes in cottage industries.
See also
References
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