Dysoxylum
| Dysoxylum | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Meliaceae |
| Genus: |
Dysoxylum Blume |
| Species | |
|
About 80, see text |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
List
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|
About 80, see text
Dysoxylum is a flowering plant genus of trees and shrubs, constituting part of the mahogany family (Meliaceae).
Botanical science has recorded about eighty species in this genus, growing widely across the regions of Malesia, the western Pacific ocean, Australia and south & south-eastern Asia; centred on the tropics between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
They grow naturally in New Guinea, eastern and northern Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, SE Asia, southern China, the Indian subcontinent, the Philippines, Taiwan, and in the western Pacific Ocean their most easterly occurrences, in the Caroline Islands, New Zealand and Niue.
The etymology of its name Dysoxylum derives from the Greek word ‘Dys’ meaning "bad" referring to "ill-smelling" and ‘Xylon’ meaning "wood".
New Guinea has records of twenty eight species growing naturally, sixteen of them endemic. New Caledonia has recorded nine, eight of them endemic. Fiji has recorded nine, seven of them endemic. In northern and eastern coastal regions of Australia fifteen recorded species grow naturally, known as "rosewoods", though they are not closely related to the true rosewoods (Dalbergia) which are legumes.
In Australia, Dysoxylum fraserianum is the original rose wood. The name rosewood was given for the odour of its freshly cut bark like a fragrance of roses. The species was named ‘fraserianum’ after Charles Fraser, the first colonial botanist of New South Wales. Fourteen more species are reported in Australia, distributed from within New South Wales, north through the humid east coast regions to the diversity of species in the wet tropics rainforests region of north eastern Queensland, on to Cape York Peninsula, northern parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
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Wikipedia