Dalbergia odorifera is a species of legume in the Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

 family. It is sometimes classified in the Papilionaceae family. Previously known as Dalbergia hainanensis, before 1980, it comes from Guangdong

Guangdong

Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

 and southern Chinese lands such as Hainan Island. Its common name is "fragrant rosewood".

It is used as a wood product and in folk medicine. This valuable wood is known in China as Huali. Most of the higher quality furnitures from the Ming

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 and early Qing

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 dynasties were made of Huali, now known as Huanghuali, to distinguish it from the modern popular wood called xinhuali.

Four compounds isolated from the root of this plant have been shown in a laboratory to have antioxidant properties.

It is threatened by habitat loss.

Source

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. Dalbergia odorifera. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 19 July 2007.