Select Language:  

CAVIUNA (Machaerium scleroxylon)

Trade Name

Caviuna

Scientific Name

Machaerium scleroxylon Tul.

Family

LEGUMINOSAE

Common Names

Ysapy`y guasu (Paraguay); Sapy`y (Brazil); Sapuy-morotí (Brazil); Isapuí (Brazil); Sapuva (Argentina); Cipó (Argentina); Caviuna (Bolivia); Palo Morado (Bolivia); Moradillo (Bolivia); Morado (Bolivia); Cabiana (Brazil); Palisander; Striped Caviuna; Caviúna (Brazil); Jacarandá Caviúna (Brazil); Jacarandá (Brazil); Brazilian Rosewood

Description Of The Tree

Botanical Description

It is a medium sized tree, it attains heights of 15 to 25 m, with a diameter at breast height of 50 to 90 cm. The bole is fluted until half of its length.

Natural Habitat

Machaerium scleroxylon is found in primary and secondary forests on well drained areas. It prefers stony, fertile clayey soils. In Bolivia it is reported in subtropical forests, up to 400 m of altitude.

Natural Distribution

It grows in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. It is abundant in the Parana basin.

Wood Identification

Anatomic Description Of Wood

Wood diffuse porous. Vessels solitary and in short radial multiples. Tangential diameter of vessel lumina 100 micras or less (very small). Colored deposits in heartwood vessels. Vessels per mm2 more than 20 (very abundant). Simple perforation plates. Vessel-ray Axial parenchyma in marginal or in seemingly marginal bands. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse and/or diffuse in aggregates. Axial parenchyma storied. Prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells and/or in fibers. Two cells per parenchyma strand. Rays more than 10 per mm (abundant). Rays storied. Rays 1 to 2 seriate. Rays exclusively uniseriate. Homogeneous rays and/or sub-homogeneous rays (all ray cells procumbent). Fibers with simple to minutely bordered pits.

  • Wood Macro Photo Tangential Plane

Availability

Cites Status

Unrestricted

General Wood Description

Odor

It is reported to have a pleasant smell.

Color

The sapwood is clearly differentiated, it is white color, the heartwood reddish brown with darker stripes.

COLOR INDEX (1=Black, 7=Light yellow,white)

2

Grain

The grain is frequently interlocked.

Texture

This species is usually reported to have a fine texture.

Luster

Timber of this species is moderate in luster.

Natural durability index (1= Very high durability, 7=Vey low durability)

1

Wood Physical Properties

Basic Density or Specific Gravity (O.D. weight/vol. green) (g/cm³)

0.77

Air-dry Density (Weight and volume at 12%MC) (g/cm³)

0.88

Total shrinkage Tangential (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)

6.7

Total shrinkage Radial (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)

2.9

Dimensional stability ratio (Total Tangential Shrinkage %/Total Radial Shrinkage %)

2.3

Wood Chemical Properties

Wood Mechanical Properties

Bending Strength (MOR),12%MC (kgf/cm²)

1244

Compression parallel to fiber 12%MC (kgf/cm²)

614

Workability

Machining

Machining operations are rated as easy to fair.

Turning

30

REFERENCED USES

End Uses Summary

HOUSING GENERAL, beams, joists, boards, flooring, frames, steps, FURNITURE AND CABINETS, PLYWOOD AND VENEER, Decorative veneer, TURNING, ornaments, turned furniture, cutlery, BENDING, chairs, TOOLS, tool handles, agricultural tools, CONTAINERS, cooperage, truck bodies, truck flooring, NAVAL CONSTRUCTION, boat deck, OTHER AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, guitar, yoke

General Housing
  • 10 - Silica in Timbers
Beams
  • 11 - Prospect: The wood database
Joists
  • 12 - Tropical timbers of the world. Part I-Tropical American Species
Boards
  • 13 - Dry kiln schedules for commercial woods. Temperate and tropical. Section III. Latin American (Mexico, Central, and South America) Woods–Conventional Temperatures
Flooring
  • 14 - Handbook of Hardwoods
Frames
  • 16 - Woods of the World
Steps
  • 17 - Tree Conservation Database
Furniture Cabinets
  • 21 - Tropical timbers of the world. Part III-Southeast Asian and Oceanian Species.
Panels, Veneers
  • 25 - Directory of Timber Trade Malaysia
Decorative veneer
  • 28 - Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forest of Fiji
Turning
  • 30 - Embassy of Honduras in Japan
Ornaments
  • 31 - Embassy of Colombia in Japan
Turned Articles
  • 32 - Embassy of Cote d`Ivoire in Japan
Knife Handles
  • 33 - Embassy of Gabon in Japan
Bending
  • 35 - Embassy of Myanmar in Japan
Chairs
  • 36 - Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente, Panama
Tools
  • 42 - Utilización Industrial de Nuevas Especies Forestales en el Perú.
Tool Handles
  • 43 - Maderas de Bolivia (Características y Usos de 55 Maderas Tropicales)
Agricultural Tools
  • 44 - Atlas of Peruvian Woods
Containers
  • 50 - Properties of imported tropical woods
Cooperage
  • 51 - Recopilacion de propiedades mecanicas de maderas creciendo en Chile
Truck Body
  • 53 - Timbers of the New World
Truck Flooring
  • 54 - Bulletin of the Government Forest Experiment Station N.157: Identification of Tropical Woods
Shipbuilding
  • 55 - Tropical Timber Atlas of Latin America
Boat Decking
  • 59 - Programa Nacional de uso Sostenible de los Bosques e Incremento a las Exportaciones.
Other & Musical Instruments
  • 63 - Madeiras do Brazil II
Guitar
  • 65 - Maderas latinoamericanas VI. Bursera simaruba. Poulsenia armata, Pterocarpus officinalis y Ficus werckleana
Yokes
  • 74 - World Timbers, Vol.2, North and South America

Please Provide Information To View Producer Information

* Or, continue as guest