Lysiphyllum carronii

[Runge]

Hi Folks,

I am intrigued by "Red Bauhinia" or "Queensland Ebony." It looks like the tree is fairly common in parts of Queensland. The the only picture I have seen of the full tree/timber showed a small portion of heartwood and a large portion of sapwood. It reminded me of snakewood (Brosimum guianense). Is it possible to get anything reasonably big out of the this tree which is all heartwood?

Thanks

[artme]

Difficult question to answer Runge. The tree is the floral emblem of Isis shire in Queensland.

I acquired a pen blank that was supposed to be Bauhinia but came to the conclusion that it was one of the Gidgees.

Its one of those trees/shrubs that few people take notice of.

[IanW]

Bit of helpful info on this bloke's web page:

Red Bauhinia (http://www.ttit.id.au/treepages/bauhinia.htm)

(Doesn't look like you get a big yield of coloured wood, even from a largish tree)
Cheers,

[Runge]

Thanks, IanW!

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Thanks for the link, Ian! :2tsup:

I've had a few pieces of it lying around here for years. In the past I've usually just gotten blank stares when I ask anyone about it - until, co-incidentally enough - just last month when I brought it up in conversation with KenW and .

FWIW, my pieces are medium sized turning blanks - maybe 8" sq. by 2" thick - and looking at the end-grain I'd guesstimate the heart to be approx 6" diameter. I've no idea what the diameter of the tree they came from was, though.

[John Elliott]

I am also interested in this unusual and attractive timber. I am not sure how big the tree (and heartwood) can get but according to Queensland Forestry it is the second heaviest commercial timber in Queensland, at 1390 kg/m3.
First comes Acacia peuce/Waddywood at 1425 kg/m3.

Also know as Carron's Bauhinia, Pegunny, and Thalmera. If anyone knows the origin of any of these names I would love to know.

John Elliott.

[Runge]

Also know as Carron's Bauhinia, Pegunny, and Thalmera. If anyone knows the origin of any of these names I would love to know.


ABRS Flora of Australia Online Search Results (http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=1863)

Here are a few thoughts. Lysiphyllum was originally a section within the genus
Bauhinia according to Bentham. More recently it was elevated to the status of a
genus. The word Lysi - phyllum is from greek and means "loosing - leaf." The genus
is composed of eight species. Carronii comes from the name of an Australian
botanist, William Carron

Carron, William (1821 - 1876) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online (http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030336b.htm)

"Red Bauhinia" probably comes from the old genus name and the color of the stamens.

"Queensland Ebony" probably comes from the color of the heartwood and the fact
that the tree is found principally in Queensland.

As to the native names, I have no idea:

Customary Medicinal Knowledgebase (CMKb) (http://biolinfo.org/cmkb/speciesView.php?comname=cmkb_public&scid=501)

Incidentally, The name Bauhinia comes from two Swiss brothers; Johann and Caspar Bauhin.

[TTIT]

Hi Folks,

I am intrigued by "Red Bauhinia" or "Queensland Ebony." It looks like the tree is fairly common in parts of Queensland. The the only picture I have seen of the full tree/timber showed a small portion of heartwood and a large portion of sapwood. It reminded me of snakewood (Brosimum guianense). Is it possible to get anything reasonably big out of the this tree which is all heartwood?

ThanksThought it might be worth mentioning here but this is not an issue of 'heartwood vs sapwood'. The 'coloured' wood in Red and White Bauhinia, Australian Ebony, Boonaree, Whitewood, Wilga and many other desert timbers would be better described as an 'altered state' of PART of the heartwood. If you look closely at a cross-section of any of these logs you will see that the 'coloured' area does not follow the growth rings but spreads through the log like a disease. The amount of heartwood that has changed state can vary from 0 to 100% from one tree to the next in the same area. In almost all of them, once a significant amount of the heartwood has 'coloured', the first sections to have changed will start to decay which would indicate the colouring is simply the first stage of the decay. While this process might start from water/bacteria entering the log through damaged areas of the tree like the Taswegians Black-heart sassafrass, I do have a couple of other theories but they are simply observations with absolutely no scientific grounding.

Back to my dark little corner again......

[IanW]

That's an interesting comment, TTIT. I have made similar observations about the black heart we get here in the river oak. My guess for the oak was that it's a physical or chemical change in some extractives in the old wood, brought about when other chemicals are moved up the trunk by diffusion of water (a la chromatography). In this case, I don't think it's pigments associated with fungi, either, because you don't see any decay consistently associated with it. Also it doesn't form the lines of precipitation the way spalting does.

However, that's all pure speculation - do we have any plant pathologists here who can give a truly educated opinion?
:;

[Runge]

Thought it might be worth mentioning here but this is not an issue of 'heartwood vs sapwood'. The 'coloured' wood in Red and White Bauhinia, Australian Ebony, Boonaree, Whitewood, Wilga and many other desert timbers would be better described as an 'altered state' of PART of the heartwood. If you look closely at a cross-section of any of these logs you will see that the 'coloured' area does not follow the growth rings but spreads through the log like a disease. The amount of heartwood that has changed state can vary from 0 to 100% from one tree to the next in the same area. In almost all of them, once a significant amount of the heartwood has 'coloured', the first sections to have changed will start to decay which would indicate the colouring is simply the first stage of the decay. While this process might start from water/bacteria entering the log through damaged areas of the tree like the Taswegians Black-heart sassafrass, I do have a couple of other theories but they are simply observations with absolutely no scientific grounding.

Back to my dark little corner again......

I asked around and one person said that the culprit here is one of many possible brown rot fungi. I believe fungi love water. These may be the guilty characters:

http://mic.sgmjournals.org/cgi/reprint/103/1/77.pdf

[IanW]

I asked around and one person said that the culprit here is one of many possible brown rot fungi. I believe fungi love water. These may be the guilty characters:

http://mic.sgmjournals.org/cgi/reprint/103/1/77.pdf

Runge - from that paper I get the impression these particular beasties like fresh, moist tucker, i.e. fruit & twigs rather than old wood. As TTIT points out, there is no obvious decay associated with the colour changes we're talking about. I guess it's quite possible that fungi are still the culprits - species that can only utilise the more easily catabolised carbohydrates in the old cells but can't handle the lignins? Dunno - although I often see bits of plant material in animal tissues, I know absolutely nothing about plant pathology in general!

Cheers,

[Runge]

Hi Folks,

Any Lysiphyllum carronii heartwood for sale anywhere out there ... ???

[Runge]

Hi Folks,

Any Lysiphyllum carronii heartwood for sale anywhere out there ... ???

echo ... echo ...

[artme]

It appears not!

[Runge]

It appears not!

Yeah, it's looking grim.

[artme]

Want some Camphor Laurel instead!?:rolleyes:

[Runge]

Want some Camphor Laurel instead!?:rolleyes:

:no:

[JB]

I believe this is bauhinia, from central Queensland. So it is sometimes available in large sections.

[Runge]

Interesting! Thanks.