Rosewood

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Rosewood

Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Lumber, i.e. wood materials* Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Oregon* Timber , a 1984 arcade game by Bally Midway...
s, often brownish with darker veining but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for flooring

Parquetry

Parquetry is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect. The two main uses of parquetry are as veneer patterns on furniture and block patterns for floors....
, furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body , provide storage, or hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground....
, turnery

Woodturning

Woodturning is a form of woodworking that is used to create wooden objects on a Lathe . Woodturning differs from most other forms of woodworking in that the wood is moving while a stationary tool is used to cut and shape it....
, musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
s, billiard cues

John Parris

John Parris , of Forest Hill, London, England, is one of the most renowned manufacturer of handmade snooker Cue stick in the world.A large number of professional players use John Parris' cues, including Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis, Tony Drago, Terry Griffiths, Dominic Dale, and Stephen Maguire....
, and chess sets

Chess piece

Chess pieces vary in both value and abilities. A Rules_of_chess#Initial_setup consists of each player having the following equipment:* 1 King ...
(the black pieces). In general, supplies are poor through overexploitation. Some species become canopy

Canopy

Canopy may refer to:*Canopy , an overhead roof or structure that provides shade or other shelter*Baldachin, a cloth or permanent architectural feature that hangs over an altar or throne as a symbol of authority...
trees (up to 30 m high), and large pieces can occasionally be found in the trade.

genuine rosewoods belong to the genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
Dalbergia
Dalbergia

Dalbergia is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. The genus has a wide distribution, native to the tropical regions of Central America and South America, Africa, Madagascar and southern Asia....
.

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Encyclopedia

Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timber

Timber

Parquetry

Parquetry is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect. The two main uses of parquetry are as veneer patterns on furniture and block patterns for floors....
, furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body , provide storage, or hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground....
, turnery

Woodturning

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
s, billiard cues

John Parris

Chess piece

Canopy

True rosewoods

All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus

Genus

Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna

File:CITES logo.gifCITES is an international agreement between governments, drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1973 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature ....
-listed endangered species. It is also known as Rio rosewood or Bahia rosewood. This wood has a strong sweet smell, which persists over the years, explaining the name "rosewood".

Another classic rosewood is Dalbergia latifolia known as (East) Indian rosewood or sonokeling. Note that not all species in the large genus Dalbergia
Dalbergia

Dalbergia is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. The genus has a wide distribution, native to the tropical regions of Central America and South America, Africa, Madagascar and southern Asia....
yield rosewoods, but only about a dozen species. They can be found in tropical America

Neotropic

In biogeography, Neotropic or Neotropical refers to one of the world's eight terrestrial ecozones.This ecozone includes South and Central America, the Mexico lowlands, the Caribbean islands, and southern Florida, because these regions share a large number of plant and animal groups....
, Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
, and Madagascar

Madagascar

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
. The woods of some other species in the genus Dalbergia are notable, even famous, woods in their own right: African Blackwood

African Blackwood

African Blackwood or Mpingo is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea and south to the Transvaal in South Africa....
, cocobolo

Cocobolo

Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood from Central America. Cocobolo is known to change color after being cut, lending to its appeal. The heartwood is typically orange or reddish-brown in color, often with a figuring of darker irregular traces weaving through the wood, while the sapwood is a creamy yellow, contrasting sharply with the heartwood....
, kingwood

Kingwood (wood)

Kingwood is a classic furniture wood, almost exclusively used for inlays on very fine furniture. Occasionally it is used in the solid for small items and turned work, including parts of billiard cues, e.g., those made by John Parris....
, and tulipwood

Tulipwood

Most commonly, Tulipwood is the yellowish greenish wood yielded from the Liriodendron tulipifera, found on the Eastern side of North America and also in some parts of China....
. The Indian souvenir trade tries to sell objects made of Dalbergia sissoo
Dalbergia sissoo

Shisham , is an erect deciduous tree, native to India, Pakistan and Nepal. It is also called Sissoo, Sisu, Sheesham and Indian Rosewood....
(sometimes stained purple) as if they were rosewood. The wood of some other species is usable for toolhandles at best.

Other "rosewoods"

The timber trade will sell many timbers under the name "rosewood" (usually with an adjective) due to some (outward) similarity. A fair number of these timbers come from other legume

Legume

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a Fruit#Simple fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually Dehiscence on two sides....
genera; one such species that is often mentioned is Machaerium scleroxylon. The Australian Rosewood, or Rose Mahogany, Dysoxylum fraserianum

Dysoxylum fraserianum

Dysoxylum fraserianum is a large tree species native to NSW and Queensland, Australia.Mature trees can grow up to 57 m in height, with a trunk up to 3.5 metres in diameter....
is a highly regarded rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750?2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests....
tree in eastern Australia.

Rosewood

True rosewoods

Other "rosewoods"

See also