Biancaea sappan

Biancaea sappan
Leaves and fruits
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Genus: Biancaea
Species:
B. sappan
Binomial name
Biancaea sappan
(L.) Tod. (1875)
Synonyms
  • Caesalpinia angustifolia Salisb. (1796), nom. illeg. superfl.
  • Caesalpinia sappan L. 1753
  • Caesalpinia sapang Noronha (1790), orth. var.

Biancaea sappan is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is native to tropical Asia. Common names in English include sappan (after Malay sepang), sappanwood and Indian redwood. It was previously ascribed to the genus Caesalpinia. Sappanwood is related to brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata), and was itself called brasilwood in the Middle Ages.

It is native to Nepal and the eastern Himalayas, northeastern India, Bangladesh, and Indochina. It has been introduced to much of the Indian Subcontinent, southern China, Malesia, Papuasia, and parts of tropical Africa.

The species was first described as Caesalpinia sappan by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. In 1875 Agostino Todaro placed the species in genus Biancaea as B. sappan.

Biancaea sappan can be infected by twig dieback (Lasiodiplodia theobromae).

Uses

Its thorniness is utilised as fencing material.

Pigment

This plant has many uses. It has antibacterial and anticoagulant properties.[citation needed] It also produces a valuable reddish dye called brazilin, used for dyeing fabric as well as making red paints and inks. Slivers of heartwood are used for making herbal drinking water in various regions, such as Kerala, Karnataka and Central Java, where it is usually mixed with ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. The heartwood also contains juglone (5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), which has antimicrobial activity. Homoisoflavonoids (sappanol, episappanol, 3'-deoxysappanol, 3'-O-methylsappanol, 3'-O-methylepisappanol and sappanone A) can also be found in B. sappan.

Wood

The wood is somewhat lighter in color than brazilwood and other related trees. Sappanwood was a major trade good as shipbuilding material and dunnage during the 17th century, when it was exported from Southeast Asia (especially regions of Sumbawa south of the Flores Sea, and Siam) aboard red seal ships to Japan; Siamese sappan grown in rainier climates than Sumbawa were thicker thus regarded of higher quality. Siamese sappan trade significantly dropped by 1664 following trade deals between the Dutch East India Company and the Bima Sultanate in 166, which the former party paid with one Spanish real per picul; though payment could be substituted with linen, firearms or lead in exchange.

Notes

  1. ↑ "From the Yoshimua Dye-works archive, we have learned that in 1845, the expensive safflower red was subsitituted or diluted with sappan (Caesalpinia sappan L.) and turmeric (Curcuma longa L.).": 1 

References

  1. ↑ World Conservation Monitoring Centre (2018). "Biancaea sappan". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018 e.T34641A127066650. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T34641A127066650.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Biancaea sappan (L.) Tod". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  3. 1 2 de Jong Boers, Bernice (2022). "The exploitation of sappan trees in the forests of Sumbawa, Indonesia, 1500-1875". In Boomgaard, Peter; Colombijn, Freek; Henley, David E. F. (eds.). Paper Landscapes: Explorations in the Environmental History of Indonesia. BRILL. pp. 264–5. ISBN 978-90-04-45439-2.
  4. ↑ "sanscrit :Patranga:Caesalpinia sappan L." Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved Jul 6, 2016.
  5. ↑ Gagnon E, Bruneau A, Hughes CE, de Queiroz LP, Lewis GP (2016). "A new generic system for the pantropical Caesalpinia group (Leguminosae)". PhytoKeys (71): 1–160. doi:10.3897/phytokeys.71.9203. PMC 5558824. PMID 28814915.
  6. ↑ Von Muralt, Malou (November 2006). "A árvore que se tornou país" [The tree that became a country]. Revista da USP (in Brazilian Portuguese). 71. Translated by Campos, Regina: 171–198. ISSN 0103-9989. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  7. ↑ "CAB Direct".
  8. ↑ de Jong Boers (2022). Ibid. p. 265.
  9. ↑ Arai, Masanao; Iwamoto Wada, Yoshiko (2010). "BENI ITAJIME: CARVED BOARD CLAMP RESIST DYEING IN RED" (PDF). Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021.
  10. ↑ Lim, M.-Y.; Jeon, J.-H.; Jeong, E. Y.; Lee, C. H.; Lee, H.-S. (2007). "Antimicrobial Activity of 5-Hydroxy-1,4-Naphthoquinone Isolated from Caesalpinia sappan toward Intestinal Bacteria". Food Chemistry. 100 (3): 1254–1258. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.12.009.
  11. ↑ Namikoshi, Michio; Nakata, Hiroyuki; Yamada, Hiroyuki; Nagai, Minako; Saitoh, Tamotsu (1987). "Homoisoflavonoids and related compounds. II. Isolation and absolute configurations of 3,4-dihydroxylated homoisoflavans and brazilins from Caesalpinia sappan L". Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 35 (7): 2761. doi:10.1248/cpb.35.2761.
  12. ↑ Chang, T. S.; Chao, S. Y.; Ding, H. Y. (2012). "Melanogenesis Inhibition by Homoisoflavavone Sappanone a from Caesalpinia sappan". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 13 (8): 10359–10367. doi:10.3390/ijms130810359. PMC 3431864. PMID 22949866.
  13. ↑ de Jong Boers (2022). Ibid. pp. 268–9.

Wikisource This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sapan Wood". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.