Rosewood myths

[Guest guest]

As we know, Aniba Roseodora is on the verge of extinction in areas

where it was once common, particularly around Manous and Silves which

were the traditional Rosewood oil production areas in Brazil.

Most still stock/buy rosewood oil because of confusion - for want of a

better word - many know those *confusions* well, I'm sure :-) but for

those who dont the following may be of interest :

 

Common misunderstandings about rosewood essential oil.

 

*Its produced from chipping left over from musical instrument and

furniture production*

 

1) No its not - The tree used to make furniture & musical instruments

is Dalbergia nigra, common name Brazilian Rosewood. It is also

endangered, but not used in essential oil production.

2) Chippings would produce very little essential oil in any case - its

the heartwood and roots that contain the highest % of oil - hence the

reasons to fell and uproot the whole tree and why leaf and twig

production has not proved commercially viable (yet, although it is

high on the research agenda, see below).

 

*I use Plantation grown Indian Rosewood not Brazilian*

 

3) In that case you are using Dalbergia latifolia (which is also used

for musical instruments) and known commonly as Indian rosewood. I've

personally never seen an EO labeled Dalbergia latifolia, so its hard

to say just whats in the bottle if the label says Indian Rosewood with

a botanical name of Aniba roseodora....

 

*My oil is IBAMA Certified*

 

4) Yes - it will be. All Rosewood coming out of Brazil has to have

IBAMA (The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural

Resources) Certification. Unfortunately that is no guarantee that the

wood was legally harvested......

IBAMA is active in trying to catch illegal loggers, and some

indigenous people now have the help of Google in monitoring their

forests.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3290684

Unfortunately by the time logging activity is noted and acted on, the

trees are already down, into the portable still and being turned into

essential oil. So what can IBAMA do with the illegally felled trees

and already produced essential oil when they catch loggers with them?

Pour the oil away and let the remaining logs rot? Hardly practical. So

they confiscate both oil and logs. Sometimes, confiscated logs/oil are

donated to local community projects so they can either use it to make

products to sell, or for them to process the logs & sell the oil

direct, in either case they need a Certificate to sell Rosewood

oil/products, so IBAMA certifies the wood/oil at the same time as it's

donated. That - illegally originated - oil can then legitimately go on

the open market, complete with relevant *certification*. Then again it

can also *skip* the donation stage and go right on the EO market.....

Illegally gathered wood - made *legal* by a swift certification.

 

*My Rosewood come from Sustainable Plantations...*

 

5) No it does not, because there are no Rosewood plantations producing

trees for oil extraction. In 5 years searching I have not found

details of a single Rosewood " plantation " ready to go into production

cutting and processing heartwood. Neither the Brazilian embassy,

IBAMA, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or various University

conservation departments could point me in the direction of one. There

are many trials attempting to grow RW but non have succeeded (yet). RW

is difficult to propagate and needs the shade and mix species provided

by the forest canopy to thrive. There are some mixed species

plantations/nursery's which are used for propagation renewal, they

provide seedlings and young trees to conservation/forest renewal

projects, but they dont provide trees for oil production.

 

" For every tree cut down 8 new ones are planted "

 

Nice try, but Rosewood wont grow in open (newly cleared) land. So the

seedling (all 8 of them - if planted, and no one checks that) obtained

from the above mentioned forest renewal nurseries simply die. Also,

only licenced loggers are bound by this 8 for 1 - so called - rule.

The illegally logged (confiscated and legalised) oil bypasses this

completely.

There are now only 6/8 legal RW oil distilleries allowed to produce RW

oil. There used to be more than 50.

 

http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/webview/pageview.jsp?pageId=36678 & geoId=-1 & lan\

gId=1 & 85915381#P261_25962

 

Quote:

" legal rosewood oil production in Brazil today is barely one-tenth of

its peak in the late 1960's, when annual output was 300 tons. The

number of registered mills, which turn rosewood tree trunks into oil

through an inefficient process that seems to devour trees, has also

fallen drastically, from more than 50 in the 1940's to fewer than 8

now. "

 

Two interesting articles on development of RW leaf and twig oil as a

commercial product:

http://www.perfumerflavorist.com/newsletter/6845957.html

http://www.revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/?art=1478 & bd=1 & pg=1 & lg=en

 

You will note on page one of the second article the sentence :

 

" ....In relation to aroma, the oil from the leaves lost a little in

its maturity. This can be corrected in the laboratory. " All that is

needed is a physical-chemical treatment for one not to notice any

difference between them " , Barata explains "

 

So we are still quite a distance from a wholly *natural leaf* Rosewood oil.

 

Aniba roseodora (from Brazil) is taken exclusively for essential oil

production which involves the destruction of the whole tree - roots an all.

Plain and simple.

 

I'm not attempting to push an agenda; if you still want to use

Rosewood essential oil then do - but use it with honesty - dont fool

yourself with an ecological lullaby.

LLx

[Guest guest]

Just to back this up for those that don't know, there are articles on

my web site going back years on this issue. They prove that

aromatherapy suppliers in particular have been lying for years over

their sources of roswood oil and aromatherapy teachers have been

making up fairy tales on its use for even longer.

 

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com

 

ATFE2 , Liz <liztams wrote:

>

> As we know, Aniba Roseodora is on the verge of extinction in areas

> where it was once common, particularly around Manous and Silves which

> were the traditional Rosewood oil production areas in Brazil.

> Most still stock/buy rosewood oil because of confusion - for want of a

> better word - many know those *confusions* well, I'm sure :-) but for

> those who dont the following may be of interest :

>

> Common misunderstandings about rosewood essential oil.