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JUCARO

Bucida buceras
(syn. Terminalia buceras)

NOTE: There is no agreement as to which of those two names is the accepted name and which is the synonym. The Plant List says Terminalia buceras is the accepted name and the GRIN Taxonomy list says Bucida buceras is the accepted name.

Bucida buceras (syn. Terminalia buceras) of the family Combretaceae

This is one of those woods where even the most die-hard common name fan has to admit that bontanical names CAN be more useful. Here's the story: a very reputable vendor obtained some of this wood under the name bullet wood, which is one of the common names used for both this wood and for other woods as well, and found that name to correspond to a botanical name of Manikara bidendata, which it does. BUT ... the wood he had was NOT Manikara bidendata but rather Bucida buceras, but he didn't realize that at the time. Later he got more of the wood and found it to be Bucida buceras but maintained the same common name of bullet wood. Later, he decided to use the common name oxhorn, which as it turns out is ALSO, like bullet wood, a common name used for BOTH Bucida buceras Manikara bidendata, although he was now using the correct botanical name of Bucida buceras. It's enough to make your head hurt.

Because of the confusion among common names, I am using the common name jucaro because (1) it is listed as the "trade name" for Bucida buceras, and (2) unlike oxhorn and bullet tree, it is NOT also a common name for Manikara bidendata.

This wood grows in Southern Florida, where it is more commonly called black olive and often goes by the synonym Terminalia buceras.

Anyway, the wood doesn't look very attractive raw but works very nicely and turns to a nice natural finish which makes it look a lot better than it does raw.

my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of black olive / Bucida buceras --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of black olive / Terminalia buceras --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of black olive / Terminalia buceras --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Black olive is a fairly common name for this species in the USA


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a piece of oxhorn / Bucida buceras --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note that the first face was sanded to 240 grit and the second face was not and this accounts for minor differences in color between the two (the second face still has a very slight patina)


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of oxhorn / Bucida buceras cut from the larger piece shown directly above --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of black olive / Terminalia buceras --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Terminalia buceras is now a synonym of Bucida buceras


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of black olive / Terminalia buceras --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Terminalia buceras is now a synonym of Bucida buceras


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of jucarillo / Bucida spinosa (syn. of bucida molinetii) --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


two planks and a closeup of oxhorn. The top plank has a curly figure and the bottom one has a mottle figure. The gray-green color is quite accurate. These planks were purchased from the vendor who pics are show in the "web-pics" below. The lots from which these samples were taken are listed separately and you can see the difference between mine and his in color. This is a very reputable vendor, so there is no intent to deceive --- he sells a LOT of lots and doesn't have time for extensive color correction of his pics.


two smaller planks cut from those above and medium sanded


end grain closeups of the two planks directly above


END GRAIN UPDATES of both pieces directly above


plank and end grain


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


slab sold to me as oxhorn


both sides of a plank cut from a larger piece sold to me as oxhorn


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


two little chunks of jucaro / Bucida buceras contributed to the site by Les Carr who has it as "black olive" which is another of its many common names. Thanks Les. HUGE enlargements are present for these pics and all the ones that follow for these pieces. The yellow is sapwood.


end grain of the two pieces


end grain closeups of the two pieces directly above


END GRAIN UPDATES of the two pieces directly above


I had cleaned up one of faces particularly well to show the ray flakes. Because of the particular angle of the face cut relative to the rays, the flakes show as long thin lines. I found this very confusing at first but finally figured out the geometry.


both sides and the end grain of a sample plank of jucaro / Bucida buceras --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was sent to me for ID. As often happens with curly wood, the curl does not show up well in the face grain shots but it does show up well when the wood is at an angle, as in the end grain shot


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

web pics:

a very well-photographed, 3" long, piece listed as black olive / Bucida buceras with both levels of enlargement, the 2nd of which shows the face grain very nicely


planks


curly planks


very nicely figured planks listed as pucte / Bucida buceras

---

these are the web-pics of the lots that most of my own samples are taken from


plank listed as Bullet Wood / Pucte / Bucida buceras



both sides of each of two pieces of burl listed as oxhorn bucida which is another common name for this wood


piece of jucaro (at the lower left of center) sold to me as oxhorn and used in one of my segmented bowls. This is a lightly curly piece and the grain shows up really well in the enlargement.