Scientific Name : Pterocarpus indicus Willd.
Common Name : Burmese Rosewood
Chinese Name : 紫檀, 印度紫檀, 牛血樹, 青龍木
Family : FABACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origins | Originated from India, hence it given the Chinese name “Indian Rosewood (印度紫檀)”, and the species epithet “indicus” in its scientific name with the meaning of “of India”. The species is distributed throughout Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines and Indonesia. The species is also distributed throughout Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces in China. |
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| Smuggled Pterocarpus | As we all know, the Pterocarpus wood is a precious wood that is sturdy yet fine-grained, with a purplish red colour that contribute to its tremendous values as luxurious raw materials for furniture, musical instruments and construction. However, the Pterocarpus involved in smuggling cases as reported in the news is most of the time the Red Sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus L.f.). The Red Sandalwood is an endemic species of Southeast India and has no distribution within Hong Kong. Due to excessive logging, the Red Sandalwood has been listed as a near-threatened (NT) species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List (hereinafter Red List), and has also been listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The species also receives protection from Chapter 586 of Hong Kong Ordinance, which is “The Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance”. Native populations of Burmese Rosewood are also shrunken because of the threats from excessive logging, and has been listed as an endangered (EN) species by the Red List. Fortunately, because of its easy propagation, strong adaptability, low soil requirements, and attractive appearance, it has become a very popular gardening plant as well as a common street tree, becoming a successful example of ex situ conservation. |
| Flowers of the Burmese Rosewood | The word “rose” in its common name Burmese Rosewood refers to the purplish red colour of its wood which looks like the colour of the rose. However, the wood colour strongly contrasts against its colour of blossoms, which is orange-yellow. They are extraordinarily glorious under full bloom, glimmering in a shower of bright gold. However, their beauty is short-lived since the time for blossoming only consist of a few days each year. After that, you must wait for another year to witness them, which can truly be described as “a flash in the pan”. |
| Growing habit | Deciduous tree. |
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| Height | To 25 m. |
| Roots | Old trees with buttress roots. |
| Stems | Bark of trunk grey, coarse, with longitudinal cracks or peeling off in flakes. Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) of main trunk to 40 cm. |
| Leaves | Odd-pinnately compound. Leaflets 7 to 11, ovate-elliptic, apex shortly acuminate, base rounded, alternate. Leaflets thinly leathery, glossy on both surfaces. Veins slender. |
| Flowers | Yellow. Inflorescences mostly axillary, rarely terminal, many-flowered. Calyx campanulate, slightly curved. Petals long-clawed (narrowed base of petal). Standard (the upper or the outer petal) orbicular. Standard and the wings (the lateral two petals) margin wavy. |
| Fruits | Legumes orbicular, flattened and oblique. With reticulate pattern at the attachment point of seeds. Wings wide and hard on the margin, somewhat like a sunny-side-up egg. With 1 to 2 seed(s). |
| Seeds | Brown, reniform, narrow and oblique. |
| Flowering period | February to August in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | November in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website : https://www.herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=3235
Scientific names from other databases
― Flora of China : Pterocarpus indicus Willdenow
― Plants of the World Online : Pterocarpus indicus Willd.