What’s Peltogyne?
Peltogyne, also known as Violet wood, Amarnath, purple heart due to its color, belongs to the family of Fabaceae with a genus of 23 flowering plants.
These are medium-sized and long trees where the species of genus range from southeastern Brazil through Northern SouthAmerica.
The Magic of Purpleheart!
The trees are prioritized for their beautiful heartwood that quickly turns to a rich purple color from a light brown color when cut!
The wood gets darkened to a brown color with a slight shade of original purple when the wood is exposed to the UV (Ultra Violet) light.
Characteristics of the Purpleheart wood:
Color: A brownish-purple to eggplant
Hardness: The hardness of the wood has a rating of 1860 out of 4000 on the Janka Scale ( Janka Scale is a test that measures the resistivity of sample wood concerning wear or dent on the wood.)
Odor: It changes due to species, but most of them are odorless, while some of them give a pungent scent.
Maintenance: It possesses low maintenance.
Drying: Purpleheart wood can dry fast when obliged, but air drying is unhurried.
Required growth density: There are no specific growth requirements.
Sustainability: The woods are very primarily found in the tropical regions of South and Central America and Brazil. Some of the countries forbid commercial exploitation of the woods. Purple heartwoods are endangered species even though they aren’t on the IUCN Red List of Threatened species.
Are purple wood trees on the verge of extinction?
Unfortunately, yes. Purplewood trees are usually found in rainforests and are among the endangered and rare species.
Applications of purpleheart wood:
While Purpleheart woods can be easily used for strenuous industrial construction works, some countries have imposed strict rules on cutting and processing purplewood trees. Nevertheless, for construction works such as flooring, paneling, scaffolding, purpleheart wood are used.
One must clean the tools regularly used for prolonged cutting of purplewood trees as the wood is solid and dense, which causes heating up of the cutting tools!
Purpleheart woods are used for industrial purposes to construct columns, boats, arches, industrial flooring, and other heavy constructions.
Purpleheart wood as a sustainable product!
Although purplewood seems rare, endangered, and exotic, it is the most durable, long-lasting, stable, and sustainable wood species. In addition, it can withstand abrupt and radical changes in climate and humidity. Finally, it is the strongest and durable wood.
Purpleheart wood is one of the most powerful and the hardest woods in the world. However, due to its highly dense and water-tightness feature, it is also resistant to decay to attack fungi, termites, and other insects. Most of us might think of building our homes using purpleheart wood with this prominent feature and being sustainable, but they are unfortunately endangered.