Plant · P-954

Logwood

Haematoxylum campechianum

Logwood is a thorny nitrogen-fixing legume tree once logged intensively for the dark red-to-black dye extracted from its heartwood - historically one of the most valuable dye woods traded from the American tropics. It wants full sun and tolerates both seasonally flooded ground and dry limestone hillsides once established; it succeeds in most soils. Left to grow it can reach around 15 m though it is usually smaller and often multi-stemmed and gnarled; it also produces a valued honey crop and has minor traditional medicinal use as an astringent.