What does a rosewood tree look like? Get to know its appearance and features

Rosewood is a general term for several kinds of wood from trees, shrubs or woody vines of the genus Dalbergia in the Fabaceae (papilionaceous) family; it does not refer to a single plant. Depending on the species, it can be divided into black rosewood, red rosewood and white rosewood, among others. The reason it is called rosewood is that when the tree is cut open it gives off a slightly sour fragrance. So what exactly does a rosewood tree look like?

1. What a rosewood tree looks like

The leaves of the rosewood tree are not large and fall early. It blooms small white flowers in autumn, usually mostly arranged in terminal or axillary panicles. The branches are sometimes dichotomously cymose, and the branches are not thick and sturdy, generally about as thick as an arm. The pod does not dehisce, is oblong or strap-shaped, and is samara-like; the part over the seed is more or less thickened and often has a network of veins, while the rest is flat and thin, rarely nearly round or half-moon-shaped and slightly thick, and contains 1 to several seeds.

Rosewood trees are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with Southeast Asia being the main producing area. Some rosewood is also distributed across vast areas of China, where there are 28 species and 1 variety of rosewood, with the main producing areas in the southern regions. Rosewood has a dense structure, a warm and smooth texture, and fine grain, making it a good material for construction and furniture.

2. The value of the rosewood tree

Among the three kinds of rosewood - black rosewood, red rosewood and white rosewood - black rosewood is the most valuable and is relatively rare on the market. What is mostly seen on the market is red rosewood furniture, which is of lower value. In order to obtain greater profits, many unscrupulous merchants dye the lighter-colored red rosewood to “make” it dark in color, so pay extra attention to this when buying rosewood furniture.

In the Qing Dynasty, Jiang Fan wrote in Record of Sights and Sounds from Boats and Carts that rosewood is hard and heavy and can sink in water. The wood ranges from dark brown gradually turning to purplish red, and belongs to the genus Pterocarpus, but rosewood and rosewood (zitan) are two different hardwoods; rosewood is a precious wood that, after polishing, can be as smooth as a mirror, feels fine, smooth and cool to the touch, has beautiful grain, is not easily decayed and is durable.

The above is some related knowledge about rosewood. There are many kinds of rosewood furniture on the market, so pay attention to distinguishing and identifying them when making a purchase.