Common name: Indian rosewood

Ⅰndian rosewood is a valuable timber tree and, as its name suggests, originates in India. Its natural range extends over much of the Sub-continent, from the sub-Himalayan tract to the centre, west and south, and with its occurrence widely scattered throughout its range.

In natural forests and the wetter parts of its range, it reaches up to 40 m (130 ft) tall, though it is more typically around half that size and grows at a moderately fast rate, averaging around 1 m (3.3 ft) in height per year. The trunk is straight, clear of branches for more than half its height and supports a dense, rounded crown. The bark is dark grey and peels off in long thin strips.

Leaves are feathery, consisting of five to seven broadly ovate, dark green leaflets, each 3 to 7 cm (1 to 3 in) long, almost as broad and with tips that are either rounded or curiously notched. They remain on the tree in areas with a short dry season but are deciduous where the dry season is long and pronounced, falling off the tree to conserve water.

The flowers are small, creamy-white and borne in clusters that bloom near the end of the dry season to the start of the rainy season, coinciding with new leaf growth. They are followed by flat, narrow seedpods up to 5 cm (2 in) long that become brown when mature and with up to four seed inside. They persist unopened on the tree for a long time.

Use

Indian rosewood is an attractively figured wood with black-streaked, purple-brown to dark-brown heartwood. It averages 750 kilograms per cubic meter (47 lbs per cubic ft) and has high natural resistance to rot and decay, making it a heavy and durable hardwood.

Well-formed logs are sawn into planks used for making fine furniture and cabinets, musical instruments, such as guitars, and decorative wood items, such as fancy wood boxes. Or are sliced into decorative veneer. 

Small diameter logs or roundwood pieces are valued for turnery and hand-carved or sculpted wood pieces, such as woodwind instruments, chess pieces and tool handles. The roundwood and branchwood are also highly suitable for firewood and charcoal production.

Climate

Grows naturally in sub-humid to very humid subtropical and tropical lowland to mid-elevation climates, generally areas with annual lows of 17 to 25°C, annual highs of 26 to 35°C, annual rainfall of 800 to 5000 mm and a dry season of 3 to 8 months. However, it achieves its best development in moist teak forests with at least 1300 mm annual rainfall.

Growing

New plants are usually started from shoot cuttings, root suckers or seed, which remain viable for six months. It performs best on deep, free-draining clay-loam and loam soils of a moderately acid to slightly alkaline nature, generally with a pH of 5.5 to 7.5, and on sites with full to partial sun exposure.

Problem features

It is known for having an irregular fruiting habit, and the seedpods, when produced, remain on the tree and unopened for a long time.

It is listed as a weed in at least one reference publication. Still, there does not appear to be any record of it as a serious weed or as having naturalised anywhere in the world, despite its introduction into areas outside of its native range. Its assessment by the Hawaii Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA) project has not found it to be a high weed risk for Hawaii. However, a reassessment is pending.

The wood dust is known to cause dermatitis in some people. 

Books

• Allen, O. N. & Allen, E. K. 1981, The Leguminosae : a source book of characteristics, uses, and nodulation, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin

• Chudnoff, M. 1984, Tropical timbers of the world, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Washington, D.C.

• Dastur, J. F. 1964, Useful plants of India and Pakistan : a popular handbook of trees and plants of industrial, economic, and commercial utility, 2nd ed., D. B. Taraporevala Sons, Bombay

• Hocking, D. 1993, Trees for drylands, International Science Publisher, New York

• Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (eds). PROTA, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, Volume 7(1) : Timbers 1, PROTA Foundation, Backhuys Publishers, Leiden

• Luna, R. K 1996, Plantation trees, International Book Distributors, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

• National Research Council (Board on Science and Technology for International Development) 1979, Tropical legumes : resources for the future, The National Academies Press, Washington D. C.

• Parrotta, J. A. 2001, Healing plants of peninsular India, CABI Publishing, Wallingford, Oxfordshire

• Porter, T. 2012, Wood : identification & use, Compact edition, Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, Lewes, East Sussex

• Randall, R. P. 2007, The introduced flora of Australia and its weed status, Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management, Glen Osmond, South Australia

• Reyes, G. 1992, Wood densities of tropical tree species, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station, New Orleans, Louisiana

• Scheffer, T. C & Morrell, J. J. 1998, Natural durability of wood : a worldwide checklist of species, Forest Research Laboratory, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

• Streets, R. J. & Troup, R. S. 1962, Exotic forest trees in the British Commonwealth, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England

• Tatken, R. L., & C. A. Browning 1987, Health effects of exposure to wood dust: A summary of the literature. No. PB-87-218251/XAB, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio

Articles, Journals, Reports and Working Papers

• Singh, K. P. & Kushwaha, C. P. 2006, Diversity of flowering and fruiting phenology of trees in a tropical deciduous forest in India, Oxford University Press