Lignum vitae is a wood, also called guayacan or guaiacum, and in parts of Europe known as Pockholz or pokhout, from trees of the genus Guaiacum. The trees are indigenous to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America and have been an important export crop to Europe since the beginning of the 16th century. The wood was once very important for applications requiring a material with its extraordinary combination of strength, toughness, and density. It is also the national tree of the Bahamas, and the Jamaican national flower.
Zygophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants that contains the bean-caper and caltrop. The family includes around 285 species in 22 genera.
Guaiacum, sometimes spelled Guajacum, is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family Zygophyllaceae. It contains five species of slow-growing shrubs and trees, reaching a height of approximately 20 m (66 ft) but usually less than half of that. All are native to subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas and are commonly known as lignum-vitae, guayacán (Spanish), or gaïac (French). The genus name originated in Taíno, the language spoken by the native Taínos of the Bahamas; it was adopted into English in 1533, the first word in that language of American origin.
Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water, although usage of the name ironwood in English may or may not indicate a tree that yields such heavy wood.
Mayaguana is the easternmost island and district of The Bahamas. Its population was 277 in the 2010 census. It has an area of about 280 km2 (110 sq mi).
The Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden is a frost-free arboretum and botanical garden containing a collection of trees, shrubs, and palms, including several "champion tree" specimens. It is located on Stock Island in the municipality of Key West, Florida, United States. It is open daily. There is a nominal fee for admission, with free admission for locals on the first Sunday of every month.
Bulnesia sarmientoi is a tree that inhabits a part of the Gran Chaco area in South America, around the Argentina-Bolivia-Paraguay border. Its wood is often traded as "Paraguay lignum vitae", since it has properties and uses similar to the "true" lignum vitae trees of genus Guaiacum, which are close relatives. Another trade name is "vera" or "verawood", which may also refer to the even more closely related B. arborea. Another common but rather ambiguous name is palo santo, which it shares with the species Bursera graveolens.
Bulnesia arborea is a species of flowering plant in the creosote subfamily (Larreoideae) of family Zygophyllaceae. It is native to Colombia and Venezuela. Related to the true lignum vitae trees (Guaiacum), it is known as Maracaibo lignum vitae or as "verawood".
Guaiacum officinale, commonly known as roughbark lignum-vitae, guaiacwood or gaïacwood, is a species of tree in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae, that is native to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America.
Bulnesia is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae. The wood of some – particularly B. arborea and B. sarmientoi – is traded as verawood or "lignum vitae". They are close relatives of the "true" lignum vitae trees of genus Guaiacum.
Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park is a Florida State Park consisting of Lignumvitae Key, Shell Key, surrounding submerged lands, and a parcel at the northern end of Lower Matecumbe Key. The islands are located one mile west of U.S. 1 at mile marker 78.5, and can be reached only by private boat or tour boat.
Lignumvitae Key is an island in the upper Florida Keys.
Guaiacum coulteri is a species of flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae, that is native to western Mexico and Guatemala.
Zanthoxylum flavum is a medium-sized tree in the family Rutaceae. Common names include noyer, West Indian satinwood, yellow sanders, tembetaria, and yellow sandalwood. It is native to Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the Florida Keys, exclusive of Key West where it has been extirpated. It is threatened by habitat loss and harvesting for its dense, durable wood used in fine woodworking.
Guaiacum angustifolium is a species of flowering plant in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae. Common names include Texas guaiacum, Texas lignum-vitae, soapbush and huayacán. It is native to southern and western Texas in the United States and northern Mexico. The specific name is derived from the Latin angustus, meaning "narrow," and -folius, meaning "-leaved".
Piscidia piscipula, commonly named Florida fishpoison tree, Jamaican dogwood, or fishfuddle, is a medium-sized, deciduous, tropical tree in the Fabaceae family. It is native to the Greater Antilles, extreme southern Florida and the Bahamas, and the coastal region from Panama northward to the vicinity of Ocampo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The native Taino of the West Indies discovered that extracts from the tree could sedate fish, allowing them to be caught by hand. This practice led to the tree's common names—fishpoison and fishfuddle. The tree has medicinal value as an analgesic and sedative.
Lignum is Latin for wood and may refer to:
Clusia rosea, the autograph tree, copey, cupey, balsam apple, pitch-apple, and Scotch attorney, is a tropical and sub-tropical flowering plant species in the family Clusiaceae. The name Clusia major is sometimes misapplied to this species.
The Taíno ritual seat is a Pre-Columbian wooden seat made in the form of a man on all fours. It was made by the Taino people and found in a cave near the city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The seat was made before Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean and is an important remnant of the Taino culture and civilisation that existed before the arrival of Europeans.
