''Dalbergia cochinchinensis'', the Thailand rosewood, Siamese rosewood, or tracwood, (: ''Phayung'' ;

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

: Trắc (or Cẩm lai nam bộ); Khmer: ក្រញូង: ''Kranhung'' ; Lao: ກະຍູງ: ''Kayung'' ;

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: 酸枝木: ''Suān zhī mù'' ) is a species of

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. It is a tree yielding valuable

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

found in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. In 2022 its status was re-evaluated as

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

caused by illegal logging and smuggling. Conservationists project that the species could be extinct within 10 years (by 2026). Due to its pioneering characteristics, drought tolerance, and nitrogen-fixing ability, it shows potential for restoring degraded forests and deforested sites. Therefore, sustainable plantation of the tree can serve both goals of conservation and forest landscape restoration.

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

published the transcriptomes of ''Dalbergia cochinchinensis'' and five other ''Dalbergia'' spp. It was found that ''D. cochinchinensis'' had fewer

R gene Resistance genes (R-Genes) are genes in plant genomes that convey plant disease resistance against pathogens by producing R proteins. The main class of R-genes consist of a nucleotide binding domain (NB) and a leucine rich repeat (LRR) dom ...

s than the co-occurring ''

Dalbergia oliveri ''Dalbergia oliveri'' is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae which grows in tree form to 15 – 30 meters in height (up to 100 ft.). The fruit is a green pod containing one to two seeds which turn brown to black when ripe. It is thre ...

''.

Demand side: China

The demand for furniture made from Siamese rosewood, chiefly in China where it is known as '' Hongmu'', has led to an epidemic of illegal logging and trafficking, threatening the species with extinction and resulting in a war with

poacher Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunti ...

s. In 2015 seven Thai forest rangers were killed trying to shut down illegal Siamese rosewood logging. According to the

Environmental Investigation Agency The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an international NGO founded in 1984 in the United Kingdom by environmental activists Dave Currey, Jennifer Lonsdale and Allan Thornton. At present, it has offices in London and Washington, D.C. ...

, "Rosewood prices started to spike with the increase in Chinese millionaires and the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2011, EIA investigators witnessed a rosewood bed for sale in China for one million dollars. Since then black market prices have rocketed, making Siam rosewood more valuable than gold." Siamese rosewood is denser than water, fine grained, and high in oils and resins. These properties make them dimensional stable, hard wearing, rot and insect resistant, and when new, highly fragrant. The density and toughness of the wood also allows furniture to be built without the use of glue and nails, but rather constructed from

joinery Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives ...

and

dowel The dowel is a cylindrical shape made of wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is long and called a ''dowel rod'', which are often cut into shorter ''dowel pins''. Dowels are commonly used as structural reinforceme ...

ing alone.

Supply side: illegal logging

Although officially protected, trees of these species are subject to

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

in the Phu Phan and the Dangrek Mountains. The logs cut on the Cambodian side are usually smuggled into Thailand. Being highly valued in the

wood carving Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...

and

furniture industry Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects ...

, Phayung logs easily find a market. Thailand has urged neighboring countries and China to tighten regulations to curb the illegal Siamese rosewood timber trade. Prasert Sornsathapornkul, director of the Natural World Heritage Office at the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said demand in China for the protected Siamese rosewood is on the rise, leading to illegal logging in Thailand. Sornsathapornkul noted that logging licences issued by Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam make it difficult to determine if the wood originated in those countries or in Thailand. Thai authorities have voiced concern the timber might be shipped from Thailand to neighboring countries to be legalized. He Jinxing, programme officer of the CITES Management Authority of China, said: "We import the Phayung logs from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam with legal licences under CITES regulations."

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

has voiced concern that the enforcement of regulations under the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law ** Convention (political norm), uncodified legal or political tradition * Convention (meeting ...

(CITES) will affect supply to its markets. Thailand is moving to legalize the planting and harvesting of valuable trees such as teak and Siamese rosewood on private land. The Cabinet approved an amendment to the Forest Act in 2018 to make this possible. Heretofore, these trees could not be felled even if they were growing on private land. Owners could then grow commercial crops of the trees for sustainable harvest. It was hoped that this would decrease illegal logging. However, by 2022, assessment indicated that unsustainable harvesting, including illegal logging and smuggling, had continued and brought ''D. cochinchinensis'' to a critically endangered status.

References

External links

Forestry officials have seized more than 200 logs of protected phayungPhayung fight crosses border
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1930232, from2=Q5210248 cochinchinensis Flora of Indo-China Trees of Indo-China Trees of Vietnam Vulnerable plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fabales of Asia

Demand side: China

Supply side: illegal logging

See also

References

External links