Guaiacum sanctum


Guaiacum sanctum, commonly known as holywood or holywood lignum-vitae, is a species of flowering plant in the creosote bush family, Zygophyllaceae. It is native to tropical America, from Mexico through Central America, Florida, the Caribbean, and northern South America. It has been introduced to other tropical areas of the world. It's currently threatened by habitat loss in its native region.
Guaiacum sanctum is the national tree of the Bahamas.

Properties

This small tree is slow growing, reaching about in height with a trunk diameter of. The tree is essentially evergreen throughout most of its native range. It is shade tolerant. It fruits between the age for 30 and 70 years over the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere.
The wood is hard, heavy and self-lubricating and has a Janka Hardness Score of 4500, which is one of the hardest in the world. It can sink when placed in water. There are fine ripple marks on the wood.

Leaves

The leaves are compound, in length, and wide. They are dark green in color and occur as three to five pairs of leaflets. They fold together during the hottest parts of the day.

Flower

The purplish blue flowers have five petals each. They can grow individually or in clusters at the ends of branches. The flowers have both male and female parts and yield yellow pods containing black seeds encapsulated separately in a red skin.

Uses

This tree is one of two species which yield the valuable Lignum vitae wood, the other being Guaiacum officinale.
The wood has been used for making specific parts of ships that needed to be self-lubricating so that they would last longer.
The tree is considered to have medicinal value, used mostly for home remedies. The naturalist William Turner noted in 1568 that the plant was already being grown in India, Tamraparni, Java and the Tivu islets of the ocean, and whose broth cured several harsh diseases, including French pox. The bark can be steeped to create tonics.
It is also used as an ornamental plant.

Threats

The type of rainforest that holywood is found in are the most threatened ecosystems in the world.
The plant was exploited until it was endangered due to use for timber and medical resin. Deforestation also occurred to create more human managed areas like farmland, cities, etc. This has caused habitat fragmentation for the species, which reduces the chances of lowering its risk status. Moreover, since this is a slow growing tree, it becomes harder to regrow and maintain sizable forests of it. It can be cultivated to grow faster, but needs to be watered regularly and to have well drained soil.
It has no major pests and though there were cases of illegal trade in 2008, this is no longer a major threat to the species.