Author Topic: Black Ironwood  (Read 2474 times)

Tang Tonic

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Black Ironwood
« on: May 31, 2017, 04:50:56 PM »
Greetings everyone,

Have really been enjoying this forum here.  So much information to digest.

I live on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands.  About two years ago I purchased an 1.5 acre of property at about 100' elevation with very fertile soil.  The raw land was mostly a Genip forest with a nice gut on it.  Guts here are stream beds that flow when it rains heavy. 

My wife an I spent the first year clearing by hand with chainsaw and machete.  Not easy work in the tropics where its hot, lots of difficult vines and thorns to deal with-  don't forget the Jack Spaniard nests you will inevitably slash with the machete and then get swarmed and stung multiple times.  But by clearing by hand we were able to preserve some of the forest and also some really nice trees that were scattered among the genip and tan tan. 

Lignum Vitae is one type of tree that we have in various stages of maturity.  Biggest one is about 12' x 8'.  Lots of slightly smaller ones and tons of babies popping up everywhere.  There are some beautiful mature ones close by so I think the deer eat the seeds and then leave them on our property with their redneck fertilizer (thanks for that lesson on a different thread coconut).

So to finally get to the point of my  thread, there was another type of tree that I had a hell of a time identifying.  Beautiful glossy green leaves that never fade or fall off even in the driest of times, fissured trunk, and this time of year produces a small purple berry that is amazingly good!  I searhced and asked and searched some more but had no luck with a break through trying to identify the tree type.

A friend of mine who runs a survival skills class in the rainforest mentioned that he heard it called ironwood.  With this bit of info, I went back to the interwebs and found a reference to Black Ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum) and had a epiphany!  That's the tree! Densest wood in the USA (I guess Lignum Vitae doesn't count since its not considered native to FL).    Looks like this Black Ironwood does grow in FL so I'm sure someone on here knows about it.

I know this isn't your typical fruit tree people talk about here on the forum.  But the berry it produces is that good!  I picked a bunch and am making some different creations with them.  If you have ever heard of Guavaberry and Guavabery rum, then you know us folks in the Caribbean like berries we can make intoxicating beverages from.  That's one thing I will try with these.

I am also going to see ho difficult they are to sprout.  If anyone is interested in seeds let me know.  If not for the berries, the tree is really an exquisite specimen when mature. 

http://www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.asp?tx=Krugferr















« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 11:27:44 AM by Tang Tonic »

stuartdaly88

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Re: Black Ironwood
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2017, 02:16:03 AM »
Tang I have nothing to contribute except a link
http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Krugiodendron+ferreum

But have to say this looks to be a very beautiful and useful tree thank you for the pics and your experience!

I wonder if this tree could be coppiced succesfully to harvest more wood, does it grow fast?
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Balaman

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Re: Black Ironwood
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2017, 02:59:06 AM »
Hi Tag Tonic

I'm from the Caribbean but have never come across this tree, however, it is written about in Flowering plants of Jamaica (C. D. Adams), which is the bible of plants in Jamaica, as you may already know. I'm very interested in learning more about this tree, in particular you mentioned  'I picked a bunch and am making some different creations with them'. Could you maybe describe the taste and elaborate a little on what you used the fruit to create. I'm trying to gather information on this tree with a view to include it in my plant database at www.iplantz.com Hope you can assist. Thanks in advance

Tang Tonic

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Re: Black Ironwood
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2017, 11:24:47 AM »
Tang I have nothing to contribute except a link
http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Krugiodendron+ferreum

But have to say this looks to be a very beautiful and useful tree thank you for the pics and your experience!

I wonder if this tree could be coppiced succesfully to harvest more wood, does it grow fast?

Unfortunately this tree seems to be quite the slow grower which in my opinion is what adds to its mystique, similar to Lignum Vitae.

 
Hi Tag Tonic

I'm from the Caribbean but have never come across this tree, however, it is written about in Flowering plants of Jamaica (C. D. Adams), which is the bible of plants in Jamaica, as you may already know. I'm very interested in learning more about this tree, in particular you mentioned  'I picked a bunch and am making some different creations with them'. Could you maybe describe the taste and elaborate a little on what you used the fruit to create. I'm trying to gather information on this tree with a view to include it in my plant database at www.iplantz.com Hope you can assist. Thanks in advance

I had not heard of that book.  Will need to add it to my library.   If you don't have:  Tropical and Subtropical Trees: An Encyclopedia (Margaret Barwick) its another awesome one and a great resource!

As for the Black Ironwood, some things I am trying are making a steeped rum kinda like how its done with Guavaberry or Mammmawanna (Mama Juana) here.  I use the local Cruzan rum and add the berries, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, all spice, and honey.  the rum has already changed from a brown to a dark purple and has a lovely fragrance.   Next, I will try to make some jam, maybe this weekend. 

As for the taste of the berries, they are very sweet.  Very strong grape and black berry flavors.  The juice is a dark purple and will color your hands as you eat them.  The local thrushy birds seem to love them and the bees also enjoy their flowers.  The wood is described as strong but brittle.  I can attest to the brittle part.  My son was climbing the smaller one and the branch he was standing on snapped off and he fell to the ground.  Luckily not injured just stunned.  He's like a little Tarzan so he wasn't fazed. 

I'm quite enthralled with this tree, it's really something to behold.  Very pretty with its green foliage and the new growth starts out pink like many other tropical trees.  Knowing that they are slow growers gives me a lot of reverence for the larger ones.

I put some seeds in some soil last night without washing them.  Will see if they sprout.  Also will try washing some and doing the paper towel trick to see how that works.   

By the way, nice website Balaman.  I can see that becoming very useful as the database grows. 

Balaman

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Re: Black Ironwood
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2017, 04:22:48 PM »

I had not heard of that book.  Will need to add it to my library.   If you don't have:  Tropical and Subtropical Trees: An Encyclopedia (Margaret Barwick) its another awesome one and a great resource!

As for the Black Ironwood, some things I am trying are making a steeped rum kinda like how its done with Guavaberry or Mammmawanna (Mama Juana) here.  I use the local Cruzan rum and add the berries, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, all spice, and honey.  the rum has already changed from a brown to a dark purple and has a lovely fragrance.   Next, I will try to make some jam, maybe this weekend. 

As for the taste of the berries, they are very sweet.  Very strong grape and black berry flavors.  The juice is a dark purple and will color your hands as you eat them.  The local thrushy birds seem to love them and the bees also enjoy their flowers.  The wood is described as strong but brittle.  I can attest to the brittle part.  My son was climbing the smaller one and the branch he was standing on snapped off and he fell to the ground.  Luckily not injured just stunned.  He's like a little Tarzan so he wasn't fazed. 

I'm quite enthralled with this tree, it's really something to behold.  Very pretty with its green foliage and the new growth starts out pink like many other tropical trees.  Knowing that they are slow growers gives me a lot of reverence for the larger ones.

I put some seeds in some soil last night without washing them.  Will see if they sprout.  Also will try washing some and doing the paper towel trick to see how that works.   

By the way, nice website Balaman.  I can see that becoming very useful as the database grows.

Thank you for your encouragement on the iplantz website and for the book recommendation.  One of the first books I purchased was 'Tropical and Subtropical Trees: An Encyclopedia (Margaret Barwick)'. Apparently she spent some years living on Grand Cayman and some of the photographs in the book come from there. The J C Adams book 'Flowering plants of Jamaica' has no photographs, just descriptions of the plants, so it more of a botanical work than a gardening book.

Appreciate your description on the flavour of the Black Ironwood fruit. With you permission, I will use this when describing the plant. It would appear from your photographs that the crown is densely leafy, round and the mature leaves dark green. Adams describes the tree in his book as a small tree 5 to 12 meters tall, occasionally (rarely) to 17 meters (56 ft), widely dispersed but nowhere common, from sea level to 3000 (5000) ft in Jamaica, mostly growing at rocky lagoon margins and in woodlands on limestone, flowering Mar-Sep, fruiting May-Jan. Also native to Curacao, which means it can withstand a dry season of up to 8 months and annual rainfall as low as 600 mm (24 in). Quite a tough tree.

Are you familiar with 'Mauby' a.k.a  'Soldierwood'? It is native to your area. Have just finished writing about this tree. The bark is used to make a home brew and beverage popular in Puerto Rico and Trinidad http://www.iplantz.com/plant/1834/colubrina-elliptica. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos it that I can upload to the database.

Good your son was not injured by his fall. Tree climbing is almost a rite of passage in the Caribbean.  In my youth, I harvested many a guava that way. Unfortunately, they were mostly worm infested.

« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 04:33:20 PM by Balaman »

LivingParadise

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Re: Black Ironwood
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2017, 07:34:03 PM »
Excited to see this thread! I was going to start a thread on fruiting South Florida/Caribbean natives, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm growing Black Ironwood (and a few other Ironwoods) but it's not fruiting size yet.

I too have Lignumvitae, although it's medicinal and not edible. I have several, but none of them are big enough to flower yet.

We have a number of other delicious fruiting natives, some of which are rare and classified as endangered or threatened. A number are native only to the Florida Keys here, that no one else is likely to have heard of. But all are very interesting plants, most are beautiful to look at, and most are also medicinally useful. A few others off the top of my head are what we call Pigeon Plum, Cocoplum, Marlberry (good ones taste like a cross between cranberry and blueberry!), and Simpson's Stopper. There's also Maidenberry, which are tiny but pretty, and of which I'm a fan. And Beautyberry, which tastes a bit like flowery soap but oddly I've come to almost crave. Quite a few others are edible, but I have not had a chance to taste them yet because all my plants are still young.

I very much look forward to tasting my Black Ironwood fruit, and if I get a chance to get another tree, I will certainly make it a priority!