Spatholobus suberectus of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family. This is not actually a wood, it is a large vine. I do not normally include such curiosities on this site but this one is so far out that I just had to.
my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions
This remarkable set of "wood" pics was submitted by Richard Furrer who assures me that while it LOOKS like a painted design, it is in fact the grain of the wood. I thought it might be a burl of some kind and I had it on the Mystery Wood page for years as Mystery Wood 136.
Al Brown from NZ, informed me that this isn't quite a "wood", it's a VINE, which explains how it has such a strange figure. Al says "... a vine that grows on the China Myamar border area only found where it is hottest and wet wet wet. The vine is known as chicken blood wood. The huge vines are cut into section [as seen in your photo] then boiled to get the redness out [ie the sap] dried and made into teapot stands, small serving trays, bowls etc. Al was given a teapot stand of it once, and the last time he was in China he asked a friend to look in the library for the botanical name but he did'n't have any luck with that.
I have since been told by three different correspondents (John Smith, TimberTurners, and Bruce Pratt) that the botanical name is Spatholobus suberectus of the family Fabaceae. I have been able to independently confirm that via English language translations of Chinese medical studies involving the plant. It is widely used as a home-remedy (aka non-traditional medicine) in China for all sorts of ailments.
three pieces of "chrysanthemum" contributed to the site by Byron Barker who is also the owner of the pieces shown in the "web pics" down below. My thanks to Byron for this and other contributions to the site (and see the notes about the name in the comments with those pieces). On the left is as they arrived from Byron and on the right is after I sanded down one end of each. Byron's designation of "chrysanthemum" is because that's the local English language name used in Twaiwan, where he lives and although it may not be Spatholobus suberectus, it certainly looks identical and I belive that it is identical.
closeups of the largest of the pieces directly above.
web pics:
these cookies were listed as being from a vine (maybe a small tree) that is called "crysanthamum" but is NOT of the plant that produced the the flower by that name. It is, rather, a vine (maybe a small tree) that grows in China and although it may not be Spatholobus suberectus, it certainly looks identical and I belive that it is identical.
three views of some end grain of the vine (possible a log) that is, as the two pics directly above, listed as being from a vine (maybe a small tree) that is called "crysanthamum" but is NOT of the plant that produced the the flower by that name. It is, rather, a vine (maybe a small tree) that grows in China and although it may not be Spatholobus suberectus, it certainly looks identical.
a small turned pot made from one of the pieces directly above. Both levels of enlargement are present.
Byron Barker, a member on the Wood Barter forum who gave me some of my own samples shown near the top of this page told us that a Taiwanese artisan had been commissioned to create furniture highlighting Taiwanese woods. He added that because of the climate in Taiwan (VERY moist) cracking is often an issue in furniture, so the artisan had to use butterflies and plugs to hide flaws. He used Chrysanthemum plugs for these two, the first of which is a chair of Taiwanese sumac and the second is a table of Taiwanese fir. They show up better in the enlargements.
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