Camwood
African sandalwood (Baphia nitida).jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Fabales
Family:
Fabaceae
Genus:
Baphia
Species:
B. nitida
Binomial name
Baphia nitida
Lodd.
Baphia nitida distribution.svg
The distribution of Baphia nitida.
Synonyms
  • Baphia angolensis sensu Lester-Garland
  • Baphia barombiensis Taub.
  • Baphia haematoxylon (Schum. & Thonn.) Hooker f.
  • Carpolobia versicolor G. Don
  • Delaria pyrifolia Desv.
  • Podalyria haematoxylon Schum. & Thonn.

Baphia nitida (camwood, also barwood), also known as African sandalwood, is a shrubby, leguminous, hard-wooded tree from central west Africa. This wood is of a very fine colour, and is used in woodturning for making knife handles and similar articles.

The tree's bark and heartwood are commonly used to make a brilliant but non-permanent red dye, which is soluble in alkali.

Camwood is known as "osun" in Yoruba.

Pterocarpin is a pterocarpan found in B. nitida.

Osun (camwood) extract is also used in some soaps and skin treatments, although there aren't published studies about its efficacy or safety.


This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Baphia nitida, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.