Dalbergia latifolia Seeds | Indian Rosewood
LATIN NAME: Dalbergia latifolia
COMMON NAME: Indian Rosewood
Plant Profile
Dalbergia latifolia is one of the most valuable timbers of Asia, and the tree that produces it is slow, straight and unremarkable in flower. It reaches thirty metres with a clean trunk and a rounded crown, and the leaves are pinnate with five to seven leaflets. The flowers are small, white and in loose panicles, and the pod is flat, thin and papery.
The species grows in the deciduous forests of southern India, in the Western Ghats and in the Deccan, on deep, well-drained soil. The wood is sold as Indian rosewood, Bombay blackwood or sonokeling, and it is used for furniture, for veneer, for musical instruments and for carving. The heartwood is purple-brown with darker streaks, and it darkens with age.
Science & Biotechnology
The timber is dense, hard and dimensionally stable, with interlocked grain that gives it a figure and makes it difficult to plane. It is one of the rosewoods, and the whole genus Dalbergia was listed on CITES Appendix II in 2017, with a small number of exceptions, which means that international trade now requires a permit and a finding that the trade is legal and sustainable.
The tree is also a host of the lac insect, and it fixes nitrogen. It grows slowly, and a tree of millable size may be sixty years old, which is the core of the conservation problem: the wood is valuable enough to be cut before it matures, and plantations are rare because the tree is difficult to establish and to manage.
Uses & Benefits
The wood is used for high-grade furniture, for veneer, for flooring and for musical instruments, and it is one of the traditional woods of Indian carving. The tree is also used as a shade tree in coffee plantations, and it is planted along roads and in gardens for its crown.
In Ayurveda the bark and the leaf are used for skin complaints and for diarrhoea, and the wood is used for religious carvings. The tree is a host for lac, and the leaf is used as fodder in some districts. It is also used for tool handles.
Growing from Seed
Seed should be scarified and sown fresh, since viability falls quickly. Soak it in water for a day, sow at 25 to 30 degrees, and germination is in two to four weeks. The seedling has a long taproot and should be grown in a deep pot or in a nursery bed.
The tree wants full sun, a deep soil and a distinct dry season, and it is tender below about zero. It is slow and should be planted where it can stay, since it resents disturbance. Protect it from browsing and from fire, and do not expect a harvest for decades: this is a tree for a landowner with patience.
Our Take
The best rosewood of Asia, and a slow tree whose value is exactly why it is scarce. Plant it for the next generation.
Related Reading
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