the.com/rosewood
A wood so coveted that guitars now smuggle better than some narcotics.
means A dense, fragrant, reddish-brown hardwood from various tropical trees (notably Dalbergia species), prized for fine furniture and musical instruments — and now heavily restricted under international trade law.
from A plain English compound of 'rose' and 'wood,' named not for the rose flower but for the sweet, rose-like scent the freshly cut timber gives off. The naming dates to around the 17th–18th century as European traders encountered the aromatic woods of the tropics. The 'rose' here is the nose's verdict, not the eye's.
- global ban
- All rosewood species protected under CITES since 2017
- named for
- Cut wood smells faintly of roses
- guitar gold
- Prized for fretboards and rich tonal warmth
- slow grower
- Trees take decades to reach harvestable size
- poaching crisis
- World's most trafficked wild product by volume
for instance
gibson les paul guitar — iconic electric guitar with rosewood fretboard, used by jimmy page, eric clapton, and thousands of musicians since 1952