Rosewood Cultivation

Rosewood, any of several ornamental timbers, products of various tropical trees native to Brazil, Honduras, Jamaica, Africa, and India. The most important commercially are the Honduras rosewood, Dalbergia stevensoni, and the Brazilian rosewood, principally D. nigra,
a leguminous tree up to 125 feet (38 metres) called cabiúna, and jacaranda in Brazil. Jacaranda (q.v.) also refers to several species of Machaerium, also of the Fabaceae (or Leguminosae) family, and a source of commercial rosewood.

Rosewood is a deep, ruddy brown to purplish-brown colour, richly streaked and grained with black resinous layers. It takes a fine polish but because of its resinous nature is difficult to work. The heartwood attains large dimensions, but squared logs or planks are never seen because before the tree arrives at maturity, the heartwood begins to decay, making it faulty and hollow at the centre. Once much in demand by cabinetmakers and piano makers, the wood is still used to fashion xylophone bars, but waning supplies restrict its use. Rosewood earlier was exported in quantity from Brazil, Jamaica, and Honduras.

Rose wood is an important timber yielding tree of South India. It is the costliest timber in the world trade. It varies in size according to locality and attains its maxi mum growth in the southern region of Western Ghats. It reaches to a maximum height of 40 m and a girth of 6.0m. Uncontrolled felling caused the widespread removal of rose wood from our forests Of these,rosewood is endowed with humus-rich soil. It grows at a slow pace and attains a height of 20 metres and a moderate girth of 200 centimetres over three to four decades. Unlike its counterpart Dalbergia sissoo, it grows straight and branches only at the crown. It is an expensive tree and because of this a special Act called the Tamil Nadu Rosewood Trees (Conservation) Act was passed in 1995 and its validity was extended till 2010.

In india famous varities are
1. Dalbergia sissoo (indian Rose wood)
2. Dalbergia latifolia(African Rosewood)
Rosewood puts forth a luxuriant growth in Topslip, Anaimalais , Mudumalai and Gudalur in the Nilgiris, Kanyakumari, Talaimalai and Athikadavu of the Nilgiris bio-sphere of Tamil Nadu. It can be found in fairly larger numbers.
The position of the tree relative to the surrounding forest was the main factor affecting tree growth and essential oil production: trees located close to the surrounding forest were significantly smaller and accumulated less essential oil due to the reduced availability of light. Seed provenance had less effect on dendrometric traits and essential oil yields. In conclusion, although planting practices will need to be adapted to avoid the edge effects of proximity to the forest, short-rotation cultivation of rosewood trees could be the optimum and most economically attractive system for the production of essential oil.

Uses of rosewood

Indian rosewood ranks among the finest woods for furniture and cabinet work. It is also a valuable decorative wood suitable for carving and ornamental ply boards and veneers. It is used for making windows, doors, agricultural implements etc. It is grown in coffee plantations as a shade tree. The bark of the tree contains tannin. Parts of the tree are reported to be useful as stimulant and appetiser and also used for the treatment of dyspepsia, diarrhoea, leprosy, obesity etc. Leaves are used as fodder. It increases the soil nitrogen content. So it is use in agro forestry and social forestry programmes.

Growth and price of the timber

Fertilization, soil moisture conservation and weed control enhance the typically slow growth of this species.A maximum diameter growth of 3 meters has been reported in Karnataka, India. rosewood tree selling price in India may be around 30 to 40 thousand in India @25 years of the tree.