Copaifera salikounda Heckel

Copaifera salikounda Heckel

Standard trade name: Bubinga

Local name: Entedua (Ghana)

The tree grows to a height of about 140 ft and has a 9 ft girth; bark fibrous and wrinkled, leaves pinnate, leaflets 12–14, elliptic, sides unequal, emarginate at tip, shining surfaces, slender lateral nerves numerous. Flowers conspicuous and in simply branched panicles. Fruits are brownish, woody, flat and oval shaped.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.—The wood is very hard and heavy. The heartwood is light reddish brown or darker in color veined with pink or red stripes. The sapwood is paler. The grain is often interlocked or wavy producing fine figures. The seed after the removal of the wavy red aril has an aromatic odor, especially when dry. The bark and the wood also give off a similar odor.

SEASONING.—The wood seasons slowly and would require mild drying conditions.

DURABILITY.—Durable, but sapwood is susceptible to attack by insect borers. Little is known about its preservative qualities.

WORKING QUALITIES.—Works well with hand and machine tools though it has a tendency to chip off and to blunt their cutting edges. Glues and polishes well. It is advisable to prebore before nailing and screwing.

USES.—Copaifera produces beautiful veneer for paneling, fine furniture and cabinets.

XYLEM ANATOMY.—Growth rings marked by bands of parenchyma. Wood diffuse-porous. Vessels: about half solitary, half radial multiples, of 2 to 5 pores, but mostly 2; frequency about 2–4 per mm2. Average pore diameter 202μm, range 142μm–265μm, average vessel wall thickness about 4μm–8μm; perforation plates simple. Intervascular pitting alternate, pit aperture slit-like, included. Intervascular spaces filled with gum. Vascular rays: homogeneous multiseriate, generally 2 or 3 cells wide, average length about 427μm, range 258μm–727μm. Axial parenchyma: paratracheal, vasicentric, rarely aliform, terminal bands about 5 to 10 cells wide concurring with intercellular canals. Fiber cells radially arranged; crystals present; chambered cells containing about 4 to 10 diamond-shaped crystals.

Copaifera salikounda is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Copafera is an alternative spelling that was adopted by American guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars when the wood was introduced as a new material component on a series of the company's layered wood acoustic guitar models. The wood was chosen as an alternative to Indian rosewood after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) adopted a regulation that heightens the worldwide protection of all rosewood species under the genus Dalbergia. The CITES regulations took effect January 2, 2017.