Description

Black Rosewood is predominantly a single-stemmed deciduous tree with a dome shaped crown of lush green foliage. The tree can become 20-40 m tall, with a trunk diameter of 1.5-2 m. The bark is gray, thin with irregular short cracks, peeling in fibrous longitudinal flakes. Alternately arranged leaves are odd-pinnate with 5-7 unequal sized leaflets originating from the same rachis. Leaflets are broadly blunt-tipped, dark green above and pale below. White flowers are borne in panicles, 0.5-1 cm long, in leaf axils. The brown pods are oblong-lancelike, and pointed at both ends. They contain 1-4 smooth brown seeds and do not open at maturity. The species name latifolia means broad-leaved.

Characteristics:

Deciduous trees, to 25 m high, bark 10-15 mm thick, grey, smooth with short irregular cracks, exfoliating in thin fibrous longitudinal flakes; blaze yellow, turning to yellow-brown. Leaves imparipinnate, rarely 1-foliate, alternate; stipules small, lateral, deciduous; rachis 7.5-20.5 cm, slender, pulvinate, glabrous; leaflets 3-9, alternate, exstipe llate; petiolule upto 10 mm, stout, grooved above, glabrous; lamina 2.5-10 x 2.5-10 cm, orbicular, base acute or very rarely truncate, apex obtuse or emarginate, margin entire, glabrous, glaucous beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 5-10 pairs, pinnate, slender, ascending, prominent, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers bisexual, 5-6 mm long, white, in short corymbose panicles from the axils of fallen leaves of previous years shoot; bracteoles small, deciduous; calyx tube campanulate; lobes 5, subequal, upper 2 connate, lateral obtuse, lower acute; petals 5, standard petal obovate, cuneate at base, reflexed, wings 6 x 2.5 mm, clawed, base auricled, keel 6 mm long, hastate, united, clawed; stamens 9, monadelphous; staminal tube 4 mm, split open one side; ovary stipitate, inferior, 5-7 mm, glabrous, 1-celled, ovules 1-few; style slender, incurved, glabrous; stigma capitate. Fruit a pod, 5-7.5 x 1.5-1.8 cm, oblong-lanceolate, tip obtuse, distinctly marked in the place of seeds, but not wrinkled, indehiscent; seeds 1-4, reniform, brown.

Medicinal Uses:

All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars(the fretboards on electric and acoustic guitars often being made of rosewood), marimbas, recorders , turnery  handles, furniture, and luxury flooring, etc. Rosewood oil is used in perfume, is extracted from the wood of Aniba rosaeodra, which is not related to the rosewoods used for lumber. Rosewood is also used for bracelets and necklaces.