Lignum Vitae (Bonaventure)
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Lignum vitae (), also called guayacan or guaiacum, and in parts of Europe known as Pockholz or pokhout, is a
wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...
from trees of the genus ''
Guaiacum ''Guaiacum'' (''OED'' 2nd edition, 1989.Entry "guaiacum"
in
strength Strength may refer to: Personal trait *Physical strength, as in people or animals *Character strengths like those listed in the Values in Action Inventory *The exercise of willpower Physics * Mechanical strength, the ability to withstand ...
,
toughness In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing.density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...
. It is also the national tree of
the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...
, and the
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
n national flower. The wood is obtained chiefly from ''
Guaiacum officinale ''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. Description This sm ...
'' and ''
Guaiacum sanctum ''Guaiacum sanctum'', commonly known as holywood, lignum vitae or holywood lignum-vitae, is a species of flowering plant in the Larrea tridentata, creosote bush family, Zygophyllaceae. It is native to the Neotropical realm, from Mexico through Ce ...
'', both small, slow-growing trees. All species of the genus ''Guaiacum'' are now listed in Appendix II of
CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...
(the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) as potentially
endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
. ''G. sanctum'' is listed as
Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...
by the
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological sp ...
. Demand for the wood has been reduced by modern
materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...
, which has led to
polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...
s,
alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...
s and
composite material A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...
s that can take lignum vitae's place. Various other hardwoods may also be called lignum vitae and should not be confused with it. The best-known come from ''
Bulnesia arborea ''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 ''l ...
'' and ''
Bulnesia sarmientoi ''Bulnesia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae. Species in this genus are all native to South America. The wood of some – particularly '' B. arborea'' and '' B. sarmientoi'' – is traded as verawood ( ...
'' (in the same
subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
as ''Guaiacum'') and are known as verawood or
Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
lignum vitae; they are somewhat similar in appearance and working qualities as genuine lignum vitae. Note that these species are now ''
Plectrocarpa arborea ''Plectrocarpa'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Zygophyllaceae. Its native range is Colombia to Venezuela, Bolivia to Western Central Brazil and Northern Argentina. Species: *'' Plectrocarpa arborea'' *'' Plectrocarpa ...
'' and ''
Plectrocarpa sarmientoi ''Plectrocarpa'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Zygophyllaceae. Its native range is Colombia to Venezuela, Bolivia to Western Central Brazil and Northern Argentina. Species: *''Plectrocarpa arborea'' *''Plectrocarpa bo ...
''. Some hardwoods from
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
(e.g., ''
Vitex lignum-vitae ''Vitex lignum-vitae'', known in Australia as yellow hollywood or " lignum-vitae" (also used for other species), is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. The natural range of distribution is in dry, sub-tropical or tropical rainforest from the ...
'' and some species of ''
Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...
'' and ''
Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
'') are also referred to as lignum vitae.


Name

''Lignum vitae'' is
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for "wood of life". The plant derives its name from its medicinal uses; lignum vitae resin has been used to treat a variety of medical conditions from
cough A cough is a sudden expulsion of air through the large breathing passages which can help clear them of fluids, irritants, foreign particles and Microorganism, microbes. As a protective reflex, coughing can be repetitive with the cough reflex fol ...
s to
arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...
. Other names for lignum vitae include palo santo (Spanish for "holy stick"), Aura palo santo and "bastard greenheart" (not to be confused with true greenheart '' Chlorocardium rodiei'', a popular wood in shipbuilding, cabinetry, and
woodturning Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a mechanism that can generate a variety of forms. The operator is kno ...
but a completely different timber). Lignum vitae is also one of the numerous hard, dense woods loosely referred to as "
ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is denser than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in English ma ...
".


Description

The tree is slow-growing and relatively small in stature, even when mature and old. It bears small, purplish-blue flowers which result in paired orange
dehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that op ...
fruits. The bark is
mottled Mottle is a pattern of irregular marks, spots, streaks, blotches or patches of different shades or colours. It is commonly used to describe the surface of plants or the skin of animals. In plants, mottling usually consists of yellowish spots on p ...
.


Wood products

Lignum vitae is hard and durable, and is also the densest wood traded (average dried density: ~79 lb/ft3 or ~1,260 kg/m3); it will easily sink in water. On the Janka scale of hardness, which measures hardness of woods, lignum vitae ranks highest of the trade woods, with a Janka hardness of 4,390 
lbf The pound of force or pound-force (symbol: lbf, sometimes lbf,) is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system. Pound-force should not be confused with pound ...
(compared with
Olneya ''Olneya tesota'' is a perennial flowering tree of the family Fabaceae, legumes (peas, beans, etc.), which is commonly known as ironwood, desert ironwood, or palo fierro in Spanish. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Olneya''. This t ...
at 3,260 lbf,
African blackwood ''Dalbergia melanoxylon'' (African blackwood, grenadilla, or mpingo) in French ''Granadille d'Afrique'' is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea, to southern regions of ...
at 2,940 lbf,
hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''. Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...
at 1,820 lbf,
red oak ''Quercus'' subgenus ''Quercus'' is one of the two subgenera into which the genus ''Quercus'' was divided in a 2017 classification (the other being subgenus ''Cerris''). It contains about 190 species divided among five sections. It may be calle ...
at 1,290 lbf,
yellow pine In ecology and forestry, yellow pine refers to a number of conifer species that tend to grow in similar plant communities and yield similar strong wood. In the Western United States, yellow pine refers to Jeffrey pine or ponderosa pine. In the S ...
at 690 lbf, and
balsa ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as balsa, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma'', and is classified in the subfamily Bombacoideae of the mallow family Malvaceae. The tree is fa ...
at 100 lbf). The densest of all woods is ''
Allocasuarina luehmannii ''Allocasuarina luehmannii'', commonly known as buloke or bull-oak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a dioecious tree, that has its leaves reduced to scales ...
''. Krugiodendron typically has a higher density, among many other woods that vary by sample.


Uses

Because of the density of the wood, cricket bails, in particular "heavy bails" used in windy conditions, are sometimes made of lignum vitae. It is also sometimes used to make
lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
,
croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...
mallets, and skittles balls. The wood also has seen widespread historical usage in
mortars and pestles A mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' () is characteristically a bowl, typ ...
and for wood carvers' mallets. It was the traditional wood used for the British police truncheon until recently because of both its density and its strength, combined with its relative softness compared to metal, thereby tending to bruise rather than cut the skin. The
belaying pin Properly securing a line to a belaying pin starts by leading the line under and behind the base of the pin to begin the figure-8 pattern left, Lines coiled and secured by belaying pins A belaying pin is a solid metal or wooden device used on tr ...
s and
deadeye A deadeye is an item used in the standing and running rigging of traditional sailing ships. It is a smallish round thick wooden (usually lignum vitae) disc with one or more holes through it, perpendicular to the plane of the disc. Single and tri ...
s aboard USS ''Constitution'' and many other sailing ships were made from lignum vitae. Due to its density and natural oils, they rarely require replacement, despite the severity of typical marine weathering conditions, and also resist jamming in their mortise holes. The
sheave Sheave without a rope A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft. A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flan ...
s of
block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...
s on sailing vessels were made of lignum vitae until the introduction of modern synthetics. Lignum vitae's toughness also allows its use as a
lap A lap is a surface (usually horizontal) created between the knee and hips of a biped when it is in a seated or lying down position. The lap of a parent or loved one is seen as a physically and psychologically comfortable place for a child to si ...
in the process of cutting gems. The wood is covered with powdered industrial diamond, attached to a spindle, and used to smooth rough surfaces of gems. Master clockmaker
John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was an English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the History of longitude, problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea. Harrison's sol ...
used lignum vitae in the bearings and gears of his
pendulum clock A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is an approximate harmonic oscillator: It swings back and forth in a precise time interval dep ...
s and his first three
marine chronometer A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and the time at t ...
s (all of which were large clocks rather than watches), for the wood is self-lubricating. The use of lignum vitae eliminates the need for
horological Chronometry or horology () is the science studying the measurement of time and timekeeping. Chronometry enables the establishment of standard measurements of time, which have applications in a broad range of social and scientific areas. ''Hor ...
lubricating oil A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces ...
; 18th-century horological oil would become viscous and reduce the accuracy of a timepiece under unfavourable conditions (including those that prevail at sea). For the same reason it was widely used in water-lubricated shaft bearings for ships and hydro-electric power plants and in the stern-tube bearings of ship propeller shafts until the 1960s saw the introduction of sealed
white metal The white metals are a series of often decorative bright metal alloys used as a base for plated silverware, ornaments or novelties, as well as any of several lead-based or tin-based alloys used for things like bearings, jewellery, miniature f ...
bearings. According to the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association website, the shaft bearings on the WWII submarine were made of this wood. The aft main shaft strut bearings for , the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, were composed of this wood. Also, the bearings in the original 1920s turbines of the Conowingo hydroelectric plant on the lower
Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...
were made from lignum vitae. The shaft bearings on the horizontal turbines at the Pointe du Bois generating station in Manitoba are made from lignum vitae. Other hydroelectric plant turbine bearings, many of them still in service, were fabricated with lignum vitae and are too numerous to be listed here. The
United Railroads of San Francisco United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
(an ancestor of the
San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni ) is the primary public transit system within San Francisco, California. It operates a system of List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines, bus routes (including Trolleybuses in San Franc ...
) began installing insulators made of composite materials to support the heavy 600-volt DC feeder wires for their trolley system in 1904. These lines were damaged, along with most everything else, during the 1906 earthquake and the fires that followed. Rebuilding the trolley system and expanding it to replace cable car routes destroyed in the quake created a huge demand for insulators, a demand manufacturers further east were unable to meet. The properties of lignum vitae, namely its ability to withstand high stress (from heavy cables on long spans and the strain of lines rounding corners) and high temperature (from the feeder cables' becoming very hot during peak operating hours), and its ready availability from the holds of the ships in the harbor (where it served as
dunnage Dunnage is inexpensive or waste material used to load and secure cargo during transportation; more loosely, it refers to miscellaneous baggage, brought along during travel. The term can also refer to low-priority cargo used to fill out transport ...
and
ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...
) made it an ideal "temporary" solution. Many were still in use well into the 1970s, and the final few were replaced with underground feeder systems in the 2000s. It was also used extensively in the manufacture of British Railways Mark 1 rolling stock, as a "bump stop" in the bogies (the frame that carries the wheels).


In popular culture

Pioneering calypsonian/
vaudevillian Vaudeville (; ) is a theatre, theatrical genre of variety show, variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comic ...
Sam Manning recorded a song titled "Lignum Vitae" in the 1920s.
Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the ''Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiography ...
recounts using lignum vitae, presumably decocted, to cure himself of a
venereal disease A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...
, the "French Pox", presumably
syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...
. According to
T. H. White Terence Hanbury "Tim" White (29 May 1906 – 17 January 1964) was an English writer. He is best known for his Arthurian novels, which were published together in 1958 as '' The Once and Future King''. One of his best known is the first of the s ...
's version of the
Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...
, ''
The Once and Future King ''The Once and Future King'' is a collection of fantasy novels by T. H. White about the legend of King Arthur. It is loosely based upon the 1485 work ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory. It was first published in 1958 as a collection o ...
'',
Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
's wand is made of lignum vitae and has magical powers.
Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...
's novel ''
Love in the Time of Cholera ''Love in the Time of Cholera'' () is a novel written in Spanish by Colombian Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez and published in 1985. Edith Grossman's English translation was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1988. Plot summar ...
'' includes a bathtub made of this wood in one of the main characters' homes. His novel ''
Chronicle of a Death Foretold ''Chronicle of a Death Foretold'' () is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1981. It tells, in the form of a pseudo-journalistic reconstruction, the story of the murder of Santiago Nasar by the Vicario twins. Plot The book is a ...
'' also refers to the use of this wood in making a cane for the blind Poncio Vicario. American folksinger
Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...
fashioned the neck of his trademark
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...
from lignum vitae. In
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
' novel ''
Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode Serial (literature), serial between 12 March 1852 and 12 September 1853. The novel has many characters and several subplots, and is told partly by th ...
'', one of the characters, Matthew Bagnet is referred to as lignum vitae, "in compliment to the extreme hardness and toughness of his physiognomy." In
Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. The first volume, ''Northern Lights'' (1995), won the Carnegie Medal
's novel ''
The Secret Commonwealth ''The Secret Commonwealth'' is a 2019 fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, the second volume of his planned trilogy '' The Book of Dust''. The story is set twenty years or so after the events of '' La Belle Sauvage'' and ten years after the conclus ...
'', the heroine
Lyra Belacqua Lyra Belacqua ( ), later known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. In ''His Dark Materials'' Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own. Brought up in the cloistered wo ...
carries a truncheon made from lignum vitae as a weapon. In '' Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers'', lignum vitae logs are a crafting material commonly used by carpenters. Image:LignumVitaePlane.jpg, A
hand plane A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each ...
with a lignum vitae sole, likely not actual ''Guaiacum'' but ''Bulnesia'', and a pearwood body Image:PanamaRR Rail Spike Tie.jpg, Example of the original construction 53 lb/yd (26 kg/m) inverted "U" rail aka "Bridge" rail, "screw" spike, and lignum vitae
tie Tie has two principal meanings: * Tie (draw), a finish to a competition with identical results, particularly sports * Necktie, a long piece of cloth worn around the neck or shoulders Tie or TIE may also refer to: Engineering and technology * T ...
used to build the
Panama Railroad The Panama Canal Railway (PCR, ) is a railway line linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Central America. The route stretches across the Isthmus of Panama from Colón, Panama, Colón (Atlantic) to Balboa, Panama, Balboa (Pacific, ...
from 1851 to 1855


See also

*''
Lignum nephriticum ''Lignum nephriticum'' (Latin for "kidney wood") is a traditional diuretic that was derived from the wood of two tree species, the narra (''Pterocarpus indicus'') and the Mexican kidneywood (''Eysenhardtia polystachya''). The wood is capable of t ...
''


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lignum Vitae Wood Guaiacum