| | CITESwoodID: descriptions, illustrations, identification and information retrieval |
Nomenclature. Family: FABACEAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE. Other trade relevant species: Guibourtia demeusei, G. pellegriniana, G. tessmannii. Synonym(s): G. demeusei: Copaifera demeusei; G. pellegriniana: Copaifera pellegriniana; G. tessmannii: Copaifera tessmannii. Further trade and local names: essingang, noméle, okweni, owogn, simingan (CM); ovang (GA); oveng (GQ); waka, lianu (CF, CD); ebana (GA); Afrikanisches "Rosenholz" (DE); African "rosewood" (GB); akume (US). Code according to DIN EN 13556: GUXX.
CITES(EU) status of protection. Listed in Annex II(B) (2017).
Similar timbers. Similarity exists externally with timbers of several genera of the family FABACEAE, for instance Copaifera, Dalbergia, Pterocarpus, Hymenaea, and others; hence the misleading trade name "African rosewood".
Geographic distribution. Tropical Africa. Equatorial Africa (Cameroon to Angola).
Growth rings, colour, grain, etc. Growth ring boundaries distinct (demarcated by fine marginal parenchyma bands). Heartwood basically brown, red, purple (pink, ruby colored or reddish purple); frequently with streaks, or without streaks. Sapwood distinct from heartwood colour. Odour indistinct or absent. Wood heavy and hard (0.75–0.83–0.95 g/cm3). Interlocked grain present.
Hardwood vs softwood. Vessels (pores) present (= hardwood).
Vessels (pores). Wood diffuse-porous. Vessels (pores) in multiples; commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows. Vessels large (140–220 µm); very few (1–3–5). Tyloses absent. Other deposits in heartwood vessels (pores) present (organic contents of light to dark reddish brown colour).
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma present; banded and not banded. Parenchyma bands exclusively marginal (or seemingly marginal); narrow. Other macroscopically visible types of axial parenchyma: vasicentric, aliform lozenge type, confluent.
Rays. Rays mostly narrow. Large rays commonly less than 1 mm high.
Storied structure. Storied structure absent.
Resin canals. Normal resin canals absent (traumatic resin canals may occur occasionaly, forming short tagential bandlets).
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour shade of water extract red. Heartwood extractives not leachable by water. Ethanol extract fluorescent (light yellow); colour shade of ethanol extract colourless to brown. Froth test positive. Splinter burns to partial ash; colour of ash bright white.
Additional information. See also: Informationsdienst Holz: Merkblatt 54. • Transverse section + wood surface. Transverse section ca. 10x. Tangential surface, natural size. • Comparison Guibourtia spp. vs Hymenaea spp.. Guibourtia sp. (Bubinga) - CITES II. Hymenaea sp. (Jatobá). Guibourtia spp. and Hymenaea spp. differ very little in wood structure (transverse section and wood surface). Useful differences for their separation are heartwood colour (pinkish to violet brown for Bubinga, yellowish to copper brown for Jatobá) and surface fluorescence (yellow for Jatobá, non fluorescent for Bubinga).
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., Gembruch, K., and Koch, G. 2014 onwards. CITESwoodID: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, and Spanish. Version: 4th April 2023. www.delta-intkey.com’.
