Logwood

Haematoxylum campechianum

Also known as Logwood tree, Bloodwood tree, Campeachy wood, Palo de tinte, Blackwood

At a glance

Family

Fabaceae (legume family, subfamily Caesalpinioideae)

Type

Small to medium deciduous, thorny tree

Parts used

Heartwood (occasionally bark)

Size

30 to 50 feet, often shorter and gnarled with a twisted, buttressed trunk

Bloom

Small, fragrant yellow flower spikes in late spring to early summer

Habitat

Tropical dry forests, limestone flats, and coastal thickets of Mexico, Belize, and Central America, especially around the Bay of Campeche

Acquisition

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Key benefits

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Traditional astringent for diarrhea

Historic wound and mouth rinse

Source of natural black dye

Base of hematoxylin lab stain

Traditional uses

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Long before it filled European dye vats, logwood's dense red heartwood was already valued by the Maya, who used decoctions of the chips as an astringent wash for wounds and a remedy for digestive upset. When Spanish and later British traders discovered how richly the wood colored cloth, it became one of the most fought-over commodities in the Caribbean, prized for producing deep blacks and purples on wool and silk. Folk healers throughout Mexico and Central America continued to brew the wood chips into a mild tea, traditionally taken in small amounts to settle a troubled stomach or gargled for a sore throat. Today the tree's fame rests mostly with science rather than the kitchen garden, since its extracted compound became the backbone of a stain used in medical laboratories around the world.

How to grow & use it

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Pairs well with

✦Ginger root
✦Cinnamon bark
✦Chamomile

Substitutes

✦Oak bark
✦Blackberry root

Choose it when

“For the old, wine-dark tonic steeped in a wood that once dyed the world's finest black cloth.”

Did you know?

The compound extracted from logwood's heartwood, hematoxylin, became the "H" in the H&E stain, the single most widely used stain in pathology labs today, so nearly every tissue biopsy ever examined under a microscope owes its color to this small, thorny tree from the Bay of Campeche.

Safety

The purified lab-grade hematoxylin extract used for staining should never be ingested or applied to skin. Traditional mild decoctions of the raw wood were taken only in small amounts for short periods, since larger doses can cause stomach upset, nausea, or a laxative effect.