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GUAREA
Guarea spp.
Guarea spp. of the family Meliaceae, the mahogany family
Guarea is a tradename for neotropical species of Guarea and it is also known as American muskwood; it is a mahogany related wood.
Dealers mix in several related species when selling this wood. Several African species of the genus Guarea are sold under the common name bosse and are listed under tha name on this web site. All together, there are easily a dozen species in the genus Guarea that are sold as either bosse or guarea OR BOTH --- primary dealers certainly know whether their wood comes from South America or Africa, but secondary dealers may be less sure and may not even care, so I consider the separation of the Guarea species into guarea and Bosse to be suspect. I certainly have no faith that the separation between the two on this web site it entirely accurate, although I DO pay attention to where I get the pics and what they say (but this relies on the knowledge of the vendors and that ranges from what I believe to be quite reliable, to highly suspect).
my samples --- all of these were cut from the same 2" thick board
a small plank
one side and end grain of a small turning stick
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
a couple of small thins I cut for a project and the same two pieces moistened with water to show how nicely the color comes out
web pics:
planks