PRADAUK - (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) Other names are Burmese Padauk and Asian Tiger Padauk. There are basical seven species of padauk belonging to the genus Pterocarpus. African Padauk (P. soyauxii), sometimes referred to as vermillion, is the only padauk species readily available today. Others occasionally sold include Andaman padauk (P. dalbergioides), Angola padauk or muniga, kiaat (P. angolensis), Burmese Padauk (P. macrocarpus), narra (P. indicus), and sandalwood padauk (P. santalinus).
Padauk grows in tropical climates, although the geography changes from rain forest to dry, nearly treeless plains with each species. You'll find padauk in India, Indochina, the South Pacific, West Africa, and even southern Florida.
Except for squatty African muninga, most padauk trees look like elms, with large, spreading crowns reaching to a height of 120'. Averaging 7' in girth, their slightly irregular, fluted trunks have smooth, yellow-tinted bark. Trunks often have no branches for the first 65'.
The leaves of some padauk species provide protein in human diets as a substitute for green vegetables. All padauks bear distinctive, round, inedible fruit banded by a flat wing that gives them a flying saucer-like appearance. In fact, pterocarpus means "winged fruit."
Depending on the species, padauk's coarse-grained heartwood varies in color from a lustrous purple-red to orange-red. With age and exposure to sunlight, it turns deep maroon. Quartersawn wood features a pronounced ribbon stripe.
Padauk grows in tropical climates, although the geography changes from rain forest to dry, nearly treeless plains with each species. You'll find padauk in India, Indochina, the South Pacific, West Africa, and even southern Florida.
Except for squatty African muninga, most padauk trees look like elms, with large, spreading crowns reaching to a height of 120'. Averaging 7' in girth, their slightly irregular, fluted trunks have smooth, yellow-tinted bark. Trunks often have no branches for the first 65'.
The leaves of some padauk species provide protein in human diets as a substitute for green vegetables. All padauks bear distinctive, round, inedible fruit banded by a flat wing that gives them a flying saucer-like appearance. In fact, pterocarpus means "winged fruit."
Depending on the species, padauk's coarse-grained heartwood varies in color from a lustrous purple-red to orange-red. With age and exposure to sunlight, it turns deep maroon. Quartersawn wood features a pronounced ribbon stripe.