Pterocarpus

Quality 0.50 · 4 views · Updated 2 months ago

Genus of legumes

title: "Pterocarpus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["pterocarpus", "fabaceae-genera", "medicinal-plants", "pantropical-flora", "taxa-named-by-nikolaus-joseph-von-jacquin", "plant-dyes"] description: "Genus of legumes" topic_path: "general/pterocarpus" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterocarpus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of legumes ::

|image = "+arya+" Pterocarpus santalinus ꦕꦼꦤ꧀ꦢꦤ ꦲꦧꦁ cendana janggi - krucuk 2020 04.jpg |image_caption = Pterocarpus santalinus seed pods |taxon = Pterocarpus |authority = Jacq. (1763), nom. cons. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text |synonyms =

  • Amphymenium Kunth (1824)
  • Ancylocalyx Tul. (1843)
  • Echinodiscus Benth. (1837)
  • Etaballia Benth. (1840)
  • Griselinia Scop. (1777), nom. superfl.
  • Lingoum Adans. (1763), nom. superfl.
  • Malaparius Rumph. ex Bosc (1803)
  • Moutouchi Aubl. (1775)
  • Nephraea Hassk. (1844)
  • Nephrea Noronha (1790), nom. nud.
  • Phellocarpus Benth. (1837)
  • Pterocarpos St.-Lag. (1880)
  • Pterocarpus L. (1754), nom. rej.
  • Weinreichia Rchb. (1828) |synonyms_ref = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Pterocarpus_officinalis_MHNT.BOT.2010.6.39.jpg" caption="Wood of ''P. officinalis''"] ::

Pterocarpus is a pantropical tree genus in the Fabaceae family. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Pterocarpus clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of Pterocarpus yield valuable timber traded as padauk (or padouk), usually pronounced or ; other common names are mukwa or narra.

The west African species may be traded as African rosewood. P. santalinus also yields the most precious red sandalwood in China known as Zitan. The wood from the narra tree (P. indicus) and the Burmese padauk tree (P. macrocarpus) is marketed as amboyna when it has grown in the burl form. The scientific name is Latinized Ancient Greek and means "wing fruit", referring to the unusual shape of the seed pods in this genus.

Uses

Padauk wood is obtained from several species of Pterocarpus. All padauks are of African or Asian origin. Padauks are valued for their toughness, stability in use, and decorativeness, most having a reddish wood. Most Pterocarpus woods contain either water- or alcohol-soluble substances and can be used as dyes.

The padauk found most often is African padauk from P. soyauxii which, when freshly cut, is a very bright red/orange but when exposed to sunlight fades over time to a warm brown. Its colour makes it a favourite among woodworkers. Burmese padauk (ပိတောက်) is P. macrocarpus while Andaman padauk is P. dalbergioides. Padauks can be confused with true rosewoods to which they are somewhat related, but as a general rule padauks are coarser and less decorative in figure. Like rosewood, padauk is sometimes used to make xylophone, organ and marimba keys, and guitars. It is an important material in traditional Chinese furniture.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/African_Padauk_wood.jpg" caption="African padauk wood"] ::

Some padauks, e.g. P. soyauxii, are used as herbal medicines, for example to treat skin parasites and fungal infections. Padauk wood is also used as a spice, for example in Swedish soused herring.

Chemistry

Pterocarpin is a pterocarpan found in Pterocarpus spp.

Species

A total of 35 species is currently accepted:

Notes

: Some sources treat P. echinatus as a synonym of P. indicus.

References

References

  1. [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331884-2 ''Pterocarpus'' Jacq.] ''[[Plants of the World Online]]''. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  2. "African Padauk {{!}} The Wood Database (Hardwood)".
  3. The Rosewood Trade: An Illicit Trail from Forest to Furniture Authors: Sandy Ong / Andy Carver, Date: 29 January 2019, URL: https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-rosewood-trade-the-illicit-trail-from-forest-to-furniture (Yale School of Environment)
  4. "Zitan {{!}} The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood)".
  5. (3 July 2024). "Chinese National Standard for Rosewood Furniture - QB/T 2385-2008".
  6. Meier E.. "The Wood Database".
  7. "Narra".
  8. . ["AgroForestryTree Database entry for ''Pterocarpus soyauxii''"](http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/Sea/Products/AFDbases/AF/asp/SpeciesInfo.asp?SpID=17977). *World Agroforestry Centre (WAC)*.
  9. "Bohusmatjes".
  10. "Pterocarpin at knapsack_jsp".
  11. . ["ILDIS LegumeWeb entry for ''Pterocarpus''"](http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb?version~10.01&genus~Pterocarpus&species~). *Cardiff School of Computer Science & Informatics*.
  12. USDA. "GRIN species records of ''Pterocarpus''". [[Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.
  13. (2001). "The dalbergioid legumes (Fabaceae): delimitation of a pantropical monophyletic clade". [[American Journal of Botany.
  14. (2013). "Reconstructing the deep-branching relationships of the papilionoid legumes". [[South African Journal of Botany.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

pterocarpusfabaceae-generamedicinal-plantspantropical-florataxa-named-by-nikolaus-joseph-von-jacquinplant-dyes