Haematoxylum campechianum L.

Campeche, logwood, bloodwood tree

Campeche is native to Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico, and has become naturalized in other parts of the tropics. In some regions it is considered invasive. The name blood­wood refers to the deep red color of the heartwood. As a colorfast red dye, bloodwood was extremely valuable in the 1600s. It remains relevant today, used as an important histological stain, a stain for medical sutures, and still sometimes as a dye, and for bonsai.

Plants: Trees are 9½–33′ (3–10 m) tall, with weird-looking deeply fluted trunks and thorny. Like ebony, the wood is dense enough to sink in water.

Leaves: Lower leaves are bipinnate. The smaller leaflets occur in 3-5 pairs per pinnae, and these pinnae occur in pairs. Leaflets are obcordate, ⅜–1 ⨉ ⅜–⅞″ (1–3 ⨉ 1–2.5 cm) in size.

Flowers: Inflorescences are showy cylindrical panicles that resemble a bottle brush. Each panicle has with many flowers ⅜–⅝″ (1.2–1.6 cm) in diameter, with yellow or purple-tinged sepals and yellow petals.

Fruits: Seed pods are flat, 1½–2 ⨉ ¼–⅜″ (4–6 cm ⨉ 8–12 mm), with 2-3 seeds. Individual seeds are brown, somewhat kidney-shaped, and ⅛–¼ ⨉ 1/16–⅛″ (5–7 ⨉ 2–3 mm).

Habitats: Old fields, homesteads, and roadsides, often in areas that are ephemeral fresh water wetlands.

Online References:

Haematoxylum campechianum description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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