{{Short description|Species of legume}} {{Speciesbox | image = Caesalpinia sappan1.jpg | image_caption = Leaves and fruits | status = LR/lc | status_system = IUCN2.3 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=World Conservation Monitoring Centre |date=2018 |title=''Biancaea sappan'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T34641A127066650 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T34641A127066650.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Biancaea | species = sappan | authority = (L.) Tod. (1875) | synonyms = * ''Caesalpinia angustifolia'' {{small|Salisb. (1796), nom. illeg. superfl.}} * ''Caesalpinia sappan'' <small>L. 1753</small> * ''Caesalpinia sapang'' {{small|Noronha (1790), orth. var.}} | synonyms_ref = <ref name = powo>{{cite web |title=''Biancaea sappan'' (L.) Tod. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:481889-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> }}
'''''Biancaea sappan''''' is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is native to tropical Asia. Common names in English include '''sappanwood''' and '''Indian redwood'''.<ref name=GRIN>{{GRIN | sanscrit :Patranga:''Caesalpinia sappan'' L. | 8309 | accessdate = Jul 6, 2016 }}</ref> It was previously ascribed to the genus ''Caesalpinia''.<ref name="Gagnon">{{cite journal | vauthors = Gagnon E, Bruneau A, Hughes CE, de Queiroz LP, Lewis GP | year = 2016 | title = A new generic system for the pantropical ''Caesalpinia'' group (Leguminosae) | journal = PhytoKeys | issue = 71 | pages = 1–160 | doi = 10.3897/phytokeys.71.9203 | pmid = 28814915 | pmc = 5558824 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Sappanwood is related to brazilwood (''Paubrasilia echinata''), and was itself called ''brasilwood'' in the Middle Ages.<ref name=Muralt>{{cite journal |language=pt-br |last1= Von Muralt |first1= Malou |translator-last= Campos |translator-first= Regina |date= November 2006 |title= A árvore que se tornou país |trans-title= The tree that became a country |url= https://www.revistas.usp.br/revusp/article/view/13560/15378 |journal= Revista da USP |volume= 71 |issue= |pages= 171–198 |issn= 0103-9989 |doi= |access-date=29 January 2023}}</ref>
It is native to Nepal and the eastern Himalayas, northeastern India, Bangladesh, and Indochina. It has been introduced to much of the Indian Subcontinent, southern China, Malesia, Papuasia, and parts of tropical Africa.<ref name = powo/>
''Biancaea sappan'' can be infected by twig dieback (''Lasiodiplodia theobromae'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/20073191731.html|title=CAB Direct}}</ref>
This plant has many uses. It has antibacterial and anticoagulant properties.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}} It also produces a valuable reddish dye called brazilin, used for dyeing fabric as well as making red paints and inks.{{efn|"From the Yoshimua Dye-works archive, we have learned that in 1845, the expensive safflower red was subsitituted or diluted with sappan (Caesalpinia sappan L.) and turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)."<ref name="Beni itajime">{{cite journal |last1=Arai |first1=Masanao |last2=Iwamoto Wada |first2=Yoshiko |date=2010 |title=BENI ITAJIME: CARVED BOARD CLAMP RESIST DYEING IN RED |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=tsaconf |format=PDF |journal=Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings |publisher=University of Nebraska - Lincoln |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102105415/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=tsaconf |archive-date=2 November 2021}}</ref>{{rp|1}}}} Slivers of heartwood are used for making herbal drinking water in various regions, such as Kerala, Karnataka and Central Java, where it is usually mixed with ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. The heartwood also contains juglone (5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), which has antimicrobial activity.<ref name="lim">{{cite journal |author1=Lim, M.-Y. |author2=Jeon, J.-H. |author3=Jeong, E. Y. |author4=Lee, C. H. |author5=Lee, H.-S. | title = Antimicrobial Activity of 5-Hydroxy-1,4-Naphthoquinone Isolated from ''Caesalpinia sappan'' toward Intestinal Bacteria | journal = Food Chemistry | year = 2007 | volume = 100 | issue = 3 | pages = 1254–1258 | doi = 10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.12.009 }}</ref> Homoisoflavonoids (sappanol, episappanol, 3'-deoxysappanol, 3'-O-methylsappanol, 3'-O-methylepisappanol<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1248/cpb.35.2761|url=http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110006281320/|title=Homoisoflavonoids and related compounds. II. Isolation and absolute configurations of 3,4-dihydroxylated homoisoflavans and brazilins from Caesalpinia sappan L|journal=Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin|volume=35|issue=7|page=2761|year=1987|last1=Namikoshi|first1=Michio|last2=Nakata|first2=Hiroyuki|last3=Yamada|first3=Hiroyuki|last4=Nagai|first4=Minako|last5=Saitoh|first5=Tamotsu|doi-access=free}}</ref> and sappanone A<ref>{{Cite journal|pmc=3431864|year=2012|last1=Chang|first1=T. S.|title=Melanogenesis Inhibition by Homoisoflavavone Sappanone a from Caesalpinia sappan|journal=International Journal of Molecular Sciences|volume=13|issue=8|pages=10359–10367|last2=Chao|first2=S. Y.|last3=Ding|first3=H. Y.|doi=10.3390/ijms130810359|pmid=22949866|doi-access=free}}</ref>) can also be found in ''B. sappan''.
The wood is somewhat lighter in color than brazilwood and other related trees. Sappanwood was a major trade good during the 17th century, when it was exported from Southeast Asian nations (especially Thailand) aboard red seal ships to Japan.
The species was first described as ''Caesalpinia sappan'' by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. In 1875 Agostino Todaro placed the species in genus ''Biancaea'' as ''B. sappan''.<ref name = powo/>
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Biancaea sappan leaves flower buds.jpg|Leaves, flower buds File:Biancaea sappan fruits.jpg|Fruits File:Caesalpinia sappan2.jpg|Bark File:Caesalpinia sappan (sappanwood).jpg|Plantlings </gallery>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}} {{EB1911|wstitle=Sapan Wood|volume=24}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Biancaea sappan}} *{{Wikispecies-inline|Caesalpinia sappan|''Biancaea sappan''}}
{{Taxonbar}}
Category:Caesalpinieae Category:Flora of Assam Category:Flora of Bangladesh Category:Flora of Cambodia Category:Flora of East Himalaya Category:Flora of Laos Category:Flora of Myanmar Category:Flora of Nepal Category:Flora of Thailand Category:Flora of Vietnam Category:Trees of China Category:Least concern flora of Asia Category:Plant dyes Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Caesalpinioideae-stub}}