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MACACAUBA

Platymiscium spp.
Platymiscium spp. of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family. This seems to be most commonly Platymiscium pinnatum (syn. Platymiscium polystachyum) but also includes at least Platymiscium dimorphandrum, Platymiscium paraense, Platymiscium trifoliatum, Platymiscium trinitatis, Platymiscium ulei, and Platymiscium yucatanum

Among many other common names are: coyote, cristobal, curatinga rosewood, macawood, para rosewood, pink maca, trebol, and then the old catch-all "granadillo", which is a name used by many dozens of unrelated woods and which is therefore one of the most useless and confusing common names in existance.

A dense and very attractive wood that is fairly easy to work and takes a nice polish. I suspect that some of the variability in the colors shown below is due to the fairly large number of species that are all lumped into this one common name and sold as the same wood, mostly from Brazil.

my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of Panama redwood (=macacauba) / Platymiscium pinnatum --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of macacauba / Platymiscium spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of macacauba / Platymiscium dimorphandrum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above


plank and end grain, listed as macacauba / Platymiscium paraense


end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- color is a little too dark; the updated version below has the correct color


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn macacauba / Platymiscium pinnatum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of macacauba / Platymiscium spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was donated by Jim Glynn, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Jim had this as Amazon rosewood and for many years I thought it WAS Amazon rosewood (and I had it on that page) but now that I am studying the end grain with much more detail I see that it is not Amazon rosewood at all but rather it is macacauba.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn macacauba / Platymiscium spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. Note: this sample was sent to me for identification by Andrew James and because it was virtually indistinguishable from the sample piece directly above sent to me by Jim Glynn, I thought that it ALSO was in fact Amazon rosewood and I had it on the Amazon rosewood page, but like that sample, I now realize that this is macacauba.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of another sample plank of macacauba / Platymiscium spp. contributed to the site by Andrew James (see the note with the sample directly above) --- HUGE enlargements are present


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of macacauba / Platymiscium spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. Yet another sample contributed by Andrew James and with the same comments as the two directly above.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


a single piece that has been divided with a shallow groove and then oiled on the right side. This shows up more clearly in the enlargement and in the butt-end pic on the right. This was sold to me as "pink maca"


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


a pair of planks sold to me as macawood. The red color with the slight orange tint is very accurate.


a pair of planks sold to me as macawood. The reddish color is very accruate and the upper one in particular looks a great deal like bubinga --- when I first saw it, I thought it WAS bubinga, but it is not. Barely discernible here (and only slightly more so in the enlargement) is an area of very nice curl on the right side of the upper plank. I expect to make excellent use of this in one of my bowls. There is a view below of a smaller plank cut from this area.


both sides of a plank sold under the name macawood


plank and end grain (this was cut from one of the larger pieces above)


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATEof the piece directly above


plank and end grain. This was cut from the curly section of the piece above noted as HAVING a curly section


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


plank, sold to me as macawood


planks, sold to me as macawood

web pics:

planks just listed as macacauba


planks, all from the same vendor and all with both levels of enlargement


planks listed as macacauba / Platymiscium pinnatatum (which SHOULD be pinnatum), all from the same vendor and all with both levels of enlargement present


plank listed as macacauba / Platymiscium pinnatum


plank listed as macawood / Platymiscium pinnatum


plank listed as macawood / Platymiscium polystachyum (which is a synonym for Platymiscium pinnatum)


planks listed as macacauba / Platymiscium polystachyum


planks listed as coyote / Platymiscium polystachym


plank listed as Platymiscium duckei with the common name macacaube


plank listed as Grandillo platmiscium


plank listed as coyote / Platymiscium pinnatum


planks listed as coyote / curatinga rosewood


planks listed as macaucauba / Platymiscium --- because this pic is from a vendor that I know to often be totally dishonest with their pics, I did a simple "white balance" to their pic (on the left) and got what I believe to be a MUCH more likely representation of the wood (on the right). The difference is that their pic has a highly saturated orange tint that likely is not in the wood


a set of planks all from the same vendor --- most of my own samples are from this vendor


another set of planks, also from the same vendor as the set directly above


planks, all from the same vendor (different than the 2 sets above these)


bookmatched plank pairs from the same vendor


plank listed as curatinga rosewood


planks listed as curatinga rosewood, both from the same vendor and both with oversaturated (=unrealistic) color


planks listed as curatinga rosewood, all from the same vendor


planks listed as macawood, all from the same vendor


plank listed as macawood


plank sold under the name cristobal --- this is from the BogusColorVendor thus making the color accuracy suspect. Also, it appears to have been moistened which would help explain the deepness of the color.


waxed planks from the BogusColorVendor. Since they are waxed, the color is probably only somewhat oversaturated. These were listed as macacuba / granadillo / PLatymiscium pinnatum


scales (knife handle blanks)


pen blanks that have been oiled and waxed and that are from a vendor whose pics tend to make all woods look purple, regardless of what color they actually are.


turning sticks sold under the name cristobal


flooring listed as para rosewood


guitar by Gregory Pizzeck


guitar set listed as curatinga rosewood and then one listed as macacauba / Platymiscium pinnatum