HOMESTYLE
Hard, oily tree used in landscape, tools
By Heidi Bornhorst
One of the choicer small-to medium-size trees is the lignum vitae. Its leaves are pinnately arranged (like a feather) and are round with orange highlights.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The flowers are bluish purple and are followed by attractive light-orange fruit capsules. Some flower arrangers and ikebana crafters like the fruit for arrangements.
A lignum vitae graces St. John's Hall on the UH-MAnoa campus.
This tree has very hard and useful wood. Its strength and weight make it ideal for pestles, pulley blocks, mallets, furniture and bowling balls, and it's so heavy and dense that it will sink in water.
Noel Henderson, a knowledgeable garden docent at the Foster and Ho'omaluhia botanical gardens as well as Lyon Arboretum, shared with me this insight about use of the wood during the World War II era: "Submarine propeller shaft seals must be watertight. The main seal is made of graphite and ceramic. (But) if it failed, there was a back-up seal made of lignum vitae wood. They also liked it for ball bearings because the wood is hard, with a high oil content, so they never needed to lubricate because of the oil in the wood."
The resin is pleasantly scented and has medicinal properties. It was very popular for medicine in Europe in the 1500s through the 1700s.
The scientific name is Guiacum officianale. Another name for it is gum guaiacum. It is in the Zygophyllaceae family, and is native to Central America and the West Indies.
Lignum vitae will, with time, grow to heights of 15 to 35 feet, with about a 10-foot spread.
It has an upright form and grows slowly.
Drought-tolerant, it is a less-thirsty plant once established in the ground.
It likes full sun, tolerates partial shade, thrives in well-drained soil, and is quite wind-tolerant and moderately salt-tolerant.
They make pleasing potted plants, and are attractive in courtyard and atrium plantings. The light orange highlights of color can work well in a planned landscape design.
Lignum vitae are used very effectively as demure street trees. There are some in older Hawai'i Kai neighborhoods that are gorgeous.
There are some nice ones near the Kalihi Board of Water Supply facility and many nice, well-tended ones in neighborhoods around Diamond Head.
Clifford Umebayashi and Clark Leavitt of Honolulu's Urban Forestry Division have been planting more of these well-behaved trees around our island. Some healthy young trees grow around the community center at Foster Village.
You'll find huge, pretty ones in front of Sinclair Library at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus, and you can spot this mature planting as you pass on University Avenue.
These trees were very popular at our last Kaulunani/America the Beautiful Arbor Day giveaway. Many happy gardeners got a small tree to grow, and you can look forward to the event again this year.
Of course, that's a long time to wait, and local nurseries need your business, so you can buy a lignum vitae tree from a nursery or your favorite garden shop.
Heidi Bornhorst is director of Honolulu's botanical gardens. Reach her by e-mail at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com.
