| | CITESwoodID: descriptions, illustrations, identification and information retrieval |
Nomenclature. Family: FABACEAE-FABOIDEAE. Further trade and local names: jiang xiang huang tan (CN). Code according to DIN EN 13556: none.
CITES(EU) status of protection. Listed in Annex II(B).
Similar timbers. Other Dalbergia species with a brown-violet heartwood, for instance Dalbergia cearensis, D. congestiflora, D. latifolia.
Geographic distribution. Temperate Asia (endemic to China).
Growth rings, colour, grain, etc. Growth ring boundaries distinct, or indistinct or absent (occasionally demarcated by a marginal parenchyma band and a dark zone virtually free of vessels). Heartwood basically brown, black, purple; with streaks. Sapwood distinct from heartwood colour. Odour distinct (spicy, similar to incense). Wood heavy and hard (0.93–0.97 g/cm3). Surface not oily. Interlocked grain absent (but the grain is frequently very irregular).
Hardwood vs softwood. Vessels (pores) present (= hardwood).
Vessels (pores). Wood diffuse-porous. Vessels (pores) in multiples; commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows and in radial rows of 4 or more (few). Vessels of rather different size and unevenly distributed over the cross section. Vessels small to medium to large (50–160–280 µm); very few, or few (3–12). Tyloses absent. Other deposits in heartwood vessels (pores) present.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma present; banded and not banded. Parenchyma bands not (only) marginal; narrow; but much wider than rays. Other macroscopically visible types of axial parenchyma: aliform lozenge type and confluent.
Rays. Rays narrow. Large rays commonly less than 1 mm high.
Storied structure. Storied structure present. Tiers regular (horizontal or slightly inclined), or irregular; 5 per axial millimetre.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour shade of water extract colourless to brown. Heartwood extractives not leachable by water. Ethanol extract fluorescent (dull orange (ochre)); colour shade of ethanol extract purple. For the "burning splinter test" sufficient material was not available; therefore these characters are not coded.
Additional information. • Transverse section + wood surface. Transverse section ca. 10x. radial surface, natural size. images by courtesy of Prof. Dr. Yafang YIN, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., Gembruch, K., and Koch, G. 2014 onwards. CITESwoodID: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, and Spanish. Version: 4th April 2023. www.delta-intkey.com’.
