Rosids: Other: Pretty, but a bit dense

Sakura, Japanese Cherry

Prunus serrulata

Height: 20-40ft

Range: Japan, China, Korea

The wood is just as beautiful as the spring Cherry Blossoms. It is a solid wood with a warm coloration and subtle figure. The reason the blooms of many cultivars are so large and showy are because they are double or triple flowers. This increases the number of petals and size, but also makes most of the trees sterile. 

Crepe Myrtle, Pyinma, Asian Satinwood

Lagerstroemia indica

Height: 10-100ft

Range: South Asia, cultivated and naturalized worldwide

An underutilized wood. For the amount of crape-murder that happens every spring as people coppice their ornamental trees- you'd think this wood would be more commonly utilized. It is heavy and dense and has some of the best chatoyancy to be found. Also, let them grow-  wh

Blue Mahoe

Talipariti elatum

Height: 40-70ft

Range: Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, USVI

One of the only woods on the planet that can be blue without being dyed. BUT only a small percentage of the trees get this coloration. Similar to rainbow poplar, the coloration comes from minerals in the groundwater. Very rare to get, this wood is a joy to have in my collection. Luckily there are a few plantations tha

Black Cherry. Capolcuahuitl

Prunus serotina

Height: 50-80ft

Range: North America

A great wood that is solid and durable with nice color and fine figure. It has been historically important to the Indigenous peoples of North America for food and wood and has been cultivated by those peoples for centuries before European contact. 

Osage Orange, Hedge Apple, Horse Apple, Bois d'arc, Bodark

Maclura pomifera

Height: 30-50ft

Range: South-central US

It's not an apple, an orange, or a horse- but is an ecological anachronism! The large fruit is thought to have evolved for the megafauna of North America like mastodons and giant ground sloths. But now all of its friends are dead. The wood is a deep yellow and has chatoyancy on the endgr

Mansonia, African Walnut

Mansonia altissima

Height: 100-130ft

Range: Western Africa

A rare find in the North American wood market. Similar to walnut in color and working properties. Wide limb growth patterns allow it to be a common tree for species of weaver/bower birds to utilize it's branches for nest building. Commonly has large buttressed roots which provide habitat for many ground animals.