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Guaiacum
Guaiacum is a genus of five slow-growing shrubs and trees from the tropical and subtropical Americas, known as lignum-vitae. Its very hard, dense wood is the main reason it is grown and traded, and members are also grown as ornamentals in warm climates.
Guaiacum (), sometimes spelled Guajacum, is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family Zygophyllaceae. It contains five species of slow-growing shrubs and trees, reaching a height of approximately 20 m (66 ft) but usually less than half of that. All are native to subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas and are commonly known as lignum-vitae, guayacán (Spanish), or gaïac (French). The genus name originated in Taíno, the language spoken by the native Taínos of the Bahamas; it was adopted into English in 1533, the first word in that language of American origin.
Members of the genus have a variety of uses, including as lumber, for medicinal purposes, and as ornamentals. The trade of all species of Guaiacum is controlled under CITES Appendix II.
The genus is famous as the supplier of lignum vitae, which is the wood of several species in the genus. It is the fourth-hardest variety of wood as measured by the Janka hardness test, requiring a force of 4,500 lbf (20,000 N) to embed a steel ball 0.444 in (1.13 cm) in diameter half that distance into the wood.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Guaiacum 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.
