Rosewood

Rio rosewood wood

Colored table top made of sheesham wood

Saburana rosewood

Cocobolo, coral-rosewood from Dalbergia retusa

Santos rosewood

Royal wood of Dalbergia cearensis

Rosewood is the trade name for various wood species of trees of the genus of dalbergia (Dalbergia) from the sub-family of papilionaceous plants . Rosewood has been a highly valued precious wood for centuries .

Word origin

The name rosewood probably comes from the Spanish expression palo santo , which literally means something like "holy stake, holy wood". In French is palissandre , in English rosewood and in Portuguese Jacarandá common.

Instead of the trade name rosewood is often Rosewood as a direct German translation of the English rosewood for Dalbergia TYPES used. This also includes woods of other types, for example that of Aniba rosaeodora . The genus Jacaranda , which also includes a so-called rosewood tree (blue-flowering jacaranda), is different from the genus Dalbergia and therefore has nothing to do with rosewood.

Some types of rosewood

Grenadilla ( Dalbergia melanoxylon ) grows in southern East Africa, with the largest occurrences in Mozambique and Tanzania . The wood is very dark brown to almost black, very hard and heavy and is mainly used for woodwind instruments due to its insensitivity to moisture .

Burma rosewood, Chingchan ( Dalbergia oliveri )

Granadillo rosewood, cocobolo ( Dalbergia granadillo )

Guatemala rosewood ( Dalbergia tucurensis )

Honduras rosewood, Saburana or San Domingo rosewood ( Dalbergia stevensonii ) grows into trees of large diameter in Central America and has a rather atypical light pink-red color.

Coral rosewood, salamander wood; Cocobolo (rosewood) ( Dalbergia retusa ) and ( Dalbergia tucurensis ), ( Dalbergia cubilquitzensis )

Madagascar rosewood Dalbergia spp., All species in the Madagascar population

East Indian rosewood or Java rosewood and Indonesian, Indian rosewood, as well as "Sonokeling" ( Dalbergia latifolia ) is widespread in Sri Lanka , Pakistan, India and Indonesia and is a hard wood that is known and valued for its good properties.

Para rosewood, Amazon rosewood ( Dalbergia spruceana )

Rio rosewood or Brazilian rosewood ( Dalbergia nigra ) occurs exclusively in Brazil and is therefore also called Brazilian Rosewood in English-speaking countries. In Brazil there has been an export ban on round wood of this type since 1968. In 1992, Rio rosewood was listed in the Washington Convention on Endangered Species and is subject to the highest level of protection there (Appendix I).

Pink rosewood, Bahia rosewood ( Dalbergia decipularis ) is a type of rosewood that is native to eastern Brazil and has an intense reddish color. The name rosewood is probably due to the red color and the rose-like, sweet scent of freshly cut wood. Also for ( Dalbergia frutescens ).

Sheesham , Sissoo ( Dalbergia sissoo ) is a species originally native to India, which is also called Thali there. Today this wood is grown on huge plantations, especially in Pakistan and Bangladesh , since the great demand for the wood can only be satisfied by plantations of this fast-growing tree. These planted trees rarely get older than 20-30 years, which is why the furniture made from this plantation wood and exported to Europe usually only consists of around 30% of the heartwood of this wood. The largest part of such furniture consists of inferior pale yellow sapwood around a small portion of heartwood, which is only given the appearance of more valuable dark heartwood by the application of strongly pigmented stains.

Thai rosewood ( Dalbergia cochinchinensis )

Violet rosewood, royal wood or violet wood ( Dalbergia cearensis )

Other types of wood called rosewood that do not come from Dalbergia.

Santos rosewood or Kayenne, Cayenne rosewood ( Machaerium scleroxylon ) occurs in tropical South America. Since it does not belong to the Dalbergia genus , the Santos rosewood is not real rosewood, but is sold under this trade name and also belongs to the legume family .

Rio-Grande or Mexico Rosewood; Bocote wood from different types of Cordia .

African rosewood or Senegal rosewood ( Pterocarpus erinaceus ), ( Pterocarpus angolensis ), Congo rosewood (wenge) ( Millettia laurentii )

use

Depending on the variety, rosewood usually has a light brown-black to almost completely dark brown (Rio rosewood) or dark purple-brown (East Indian rosewood) color. It is therefore preferably used for veneers , knife handles and in turnery .

Rosewood is of great importance in musical instrument making . It is used for marimbaphones and xylophones because of its density , hardness and sound properties . In guitar construction, these properties are used for fingerboards , sides and backs. Even recorders are turned rosewood. It has also been used to design console tables for large pipe organs since the early 20th century.

Protection status and threat

Since January 2017, all subject Dalbergia TYPES the Washington Convention and with the exception of the ingredients listed in Annex I Rio rosewood in Appendix II listed.

In November 2019, the environmental protection organization " Save the Rainforest " pointed out that since 2012, more than 401,500 cubic meters of wood - equivalent to 23,500 standard containers or around 6 million trees - have been illegally felled and exported to China in Ghana . There it is processed into semi-antique luxury furniture. The Chinese government knew about it and even published statistics on the illegal imports of rosewood. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) names "Rainforest Rescue" as a source . The fine wood forests of Senegal are also affected by the deforestation, although the felling and export of the trees is officially prohibited there. The timber that is illegally felled there is smuggled into neighboring Gambia , where there are numerous timber depots. The Gambia has also officially banned exports. However, the export ban is lifted at irregular intervals and the wood - declared as felled in Gambia - is exported, with Chinese traders playing a key role in particular. The EIA released covert footage to prove that the timber exporters are in direct contact with the highest political authorities in The Gambia. The Gambian Environment Minister Lamin B. Dibba was named, who denied the allegations made against him. According to the official Chinese import statistics, around 600,000 t of rosewood wood, corresponding to at least around 1 million felled trees, worth over US $ 300 million were exported from Gambia to China between 2014 and 2020, although the country has long had its own Has largely cut down precious wood stocks. This makes rosewood "one of the most traded wild natural products in the world in terms of size and value".