Scientific Name : Dalbergia odorifera T. C. Chen
Common Name : Fragrant Rosewood
Chinese Name : 降香黃檀
Family : FABACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origin | Southeast China and Hainan. |
|---|---|
| Meanings of names | The generic name Dalbergia commemorates Swedish brothers Nicholas Dalberg (1736-1820) and Carl Gustav (1721-1781). The later one was well-known for his engagement in the exploration of the West Indies. The specific epithet odorifera refers to its fragrant wood when chopped. By the same reason, the tree is also named as ‘Fragrant Rosewood’. |
| Application |
Fragrant Rosewood has been yearned for its unsurpassed economical and medicinal values. That is why everyone dreams of it. Its heartwood is named as Hualimu or Huanghuli in China. Hualimu is an excellent timber for making furniture and crafts by virtue of its glamorous colour and pattern, aromatic smell, respectable durability and stability. By reason of its sluggish growing rate which requires 50 years for attaining the mature size, the heartwood of Fragrant Rosewood is regarded as an extravagant wood and the cost is generally unaffordable. The heartwood is also the primary source of a traditional Chinese medicine, known as Jiangxiang. Jiangxiang contains profuse secondary products such as flavonoid and phenolic. The medicinal effects have been well-studied for relieving blood disorders, cancer, ischemia and rheumatic pain. |
| Vulnerable species | In respect of its values, the wild Fragrant Rosewood has been rampantly chopped and the wild population has been declined by storm. The genetic variation of the wild Fragrant Rosewood is far lower than expected and could be extremely fragile to any environmental change. From the perspective of conservation biology, the tree can easily drift to extinction without any proper conservative strategy. As a result, Fragrant Rosewood is rated as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) while the timber trading is regulated by the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586) in Hong Kong. Without permit, any trading of the tree is forbidden. |
| Growing habit | Semi-deciduous tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 15 m. |
| Stem | Bark brown to pale brown, rough, longitudinally splitting. Branchlets lenticellate. |
| Leaves | Imparipinnately compound, alternate, leaflets 7-13, alternate. Pulvinus swelling at the proximal end of petioles, petiolules short. Blade subleathery, ovate or elliptic, base rounded or broadly cuneate, apex obtuse to acuminate. |
| Flower | Hermaphroditic. Panicles axillary. Flowers small, white or pale yellowish, calyx campanulate, petals clawed. |
| Fruit | Legumes oblong, apex obtuse or acute, base abruptly narrowed to slender, notably reticulated when dried, 1 or 2 seeded. |
| Seeds | Reniform, compressed. |
| Flowering period | April to June in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | July to December in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website : https://herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=9078
Scientific names from other databases:
― Flora of China: Dalbergia odorifera. T. C. Chen.
― Plant of the World Online: Dalbergia odorifera T.C.Chen