Haematoxylum campechianum: Difference between revisions

'''''Haematoxylum campechianum''''' ('''blackwood''', '''bloodwood tree''', '''bluewood''', '''campeachy tree''', '''campeachy wood''', '''campeche logwood''', '''campeche wood''', '''Jamaica wood''', '''logwood''' or '''logwood tree''')<ref>{{cite book |last=Umberto Quattrocchi |first= |title=CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants. Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms and Etymology (5 Volume Set) |date=2012 |publisher=CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group |location=Boca Raton |isbn=9781420080445 |page=1919}}</ref> is a species of [[Flowering plant|flowering]] [[tree]] in the [[legume]] family, [[Fabaceae]], that is native to southern [[Mexico]], the [[Caribbean]], and northern [[Central America]].<ref>{{GRIN|accessdate=2009-01-27}}</ref> The tree was of great economic importance from the 17th century to the 19th century, when it was commonly logged and exported to Europe for use in [[dyeing]] fabrics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hofenk de Graff |first=Judith H. |title=The Colourful Past: Origins, Chemistry and Identification of Natural Dyestuffs |date=2004 |publisher=Archetype Books |location=London |isbn=1873132131 |page=235}}</ref> The modern nation of [[Belize]] developed from 17th- and 18th-century logging camps established by the [[Kingdom of England|English]]. The tree's scientific name means "bloodwood" (''haima'' being [[Greek language|Greek]] for blood and ''xylon'' for wood).

''Haematoxylum campechianum'' was used for a long time as a natural source of [[natural dye|dye]].<ref name="Ortiz-Hidalgo and Pina-Oviedo, 2019" /> The woodchips are still used as an important source of [[haematoxylin]], which is used in [[histology]] for [[staining]].<ref name="Ortiz-Hidalgo and Pina-Oviedo, 2019">{{cite journal|vauthors=Ortiz-Hidalgo C, Pina-Oviedo S|title=Hematoxylin: Mesoamerica's Gift to Histopathology. Palo de Campeche (Logwood Tree), Pirates' Most Desired Treasure, and Irreplaceable Tissue Stain. |journal=Int J Surg Pathol |year=2019 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=4–14 |pmid=30001639 |doi=10.1177/1066896918787652 |pmc=|s2cid=51622166 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&tool=sumsearch.org/cite&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=30001639 }} </ref>

Logwood also played an important role in the lives of 17th-century [[buccaneers]] and into the [[Golden Age of Piracy]]. Spain claimed all of Central and [[South America]] as its sovereign territory through the 17th and 18th centuries; despite this, English, Dutch, and French sailors recognized the value of logwood and set up camps to cut and collect the trees for shipment back to Europe. Spain periodically sent privateers to capture the logwood cutters – for example, [[Juan Corso]]'s 1680 cruise – sometimes in retaliation for buccaneer raids on Spanish cities.<ref name="Latimer-Buccaneers">{{cite book |last1=Latimer |first1=Jon |title=Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire |date=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=9780674034037 |page=225 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_ouD5zPZL8C |accessdate=12 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Logwood cutters, now out of work, frequently joined onto pirate and buccaneer crews to raid the Spanish in return, as [[Edmund Cooke (pirate)|Edmund Cooke]] did after losing two logwood-hauling ships to the Spanish.<ref name="Marley">{{cite book |last1=Marley |first1=David |title=Daily Life of Pirates |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=9780313395635 |pages=51, 79-82, 180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4DXv4pNi8UC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |accessdate=12 January 2018 |language=en}}</ref> When Spanish forces ejected a great many logwood cutters in 1715, they flocked to [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]] and swelled the already-considerable numbers of pirates gathering there.<ref name="Sanders - If a Pirate I Must Be">{{cite book |last1=Sanders |first1=Richard |title=If a pirate I must be: the true story of Bartholomew Roberts, king of the Caribbean |date=2007 |publisher=Aurum |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iB_AAAAMAAJ |accessdate=18 September 2017 |language=en}}</ref> By the mid-1720s logwood cutters had themselves become targets of pirates such as [[Francis Spriggs]], [[Edward Low]], and [[George Lowther (pirate)|George Lowther]];<ref name="Snow">{{cite book |last1=Snow |first1=Edward Rowe |title=Pirates and buccaneers of the Atlantic coast |date=1944 |publisher=Boston, Yankee Pub. Co |location=Boston MA |url=https://archive.org/details/piratesbuccaneer00snow |accessdate=13 December 2018}}</ref> pirate captains [[Samuel Bellamy]] and [[Blackbeard]] went further, turning captured logwood-hauling [[sloop]]s into pirate vessels.<ref name="Woodard-Republic">{{cite book |last1=Woodard |first1=Colin |title=The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down |date=2008 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Orlando FL |isbn=9780547415758 |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Republic_of_Pirates.html?id=W5sIuoBrFwYC |accessdate=13 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref>