Cogwood (Chlorocardium rodiei, also called Demerara Greenheart) is an evergreen forest tree from Guyana and Suriname, prized for its extremely hard, marine-durable timber. It is grown in the open only in warm wet tropical forest or large plantations, and is not a practical garden or houseplant.
Family
Lauraceae (Laurel family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Part shade, Full sun
Water
Needs regular rainfall or irrigation in its native wet tropical climate; keep soil moist while establishing.
Soil
Deep, well-drained, fertile loamy soil.
Temperature
22-32 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Hard
Native range
Guyana, Suriname
Climate
wet tropical
About
Chlorocardium rodiei (greenheart) is a species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae. It is one of three species in the genus Chlorocardium. It is native to Guyana and Suriname, both in South America. Other common names include cogwood, demerara greenheart, greenhart, ispingo moena, sipiri, bebeeru and bibiru.
It is an evergreen tree growing 15 to 30 m tall, with a trunk diameter of 35 to 60 cm. Its leaves are oppositely arranged and simple with smooth edges. Its fruit is a drupe containing a single seed.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chlorocardium rodiei by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.