How to Identify Lignum Vitae

Start with weight and feel. Genuine lignum vitae (Bulnesia sarmientoi) is startlingly heavy for its size and sinks in water, with an air-dry specific gravity around 1.1 to 1.2. The surface feels waxy or oily rather than dry, and a fingernail or blade barely bites it — the Janka hardness near 4,500 lbf makes it one of the hardest woods you will handle. If a piece feels light or dry, it is not lignum vitae.

Read the color and figure next. The heartwood runs olive to deep golden-brown and frequently shows the bold, regular striping seen on this sample: light golden-tan bands alternating with dark brown to near-black layers. Freshly cut surfaces often carry a distinct greenish cast that fades toward brown with exposure. A narrow, sharply demarcated band of pale yellow sapwood is a good confirming cue where present.

Check the grain and end grain. Texture is very fine and uniform with an interlocked grain that produces the striped or faint ribbon figure. On a clean end-grain cut the pores are small and diffuse-porous — no ring-porous rows — and the surface takes a glassy, waxy polish. A freshly sanded or cut surface releases a mild, sweet, resinous or perfumed scent, another useful marker; the Chaco tree is even locally called palo santo for this aroma.

Distinguish it from look-alikes. True lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale and G. sanctum) is extremely similar — often greener and slightly finer — and the two are hard to separate without provenance; both behave the same in use. Verawood is simply another trade name for the same Bulnesia. Beware confusion with lookalikes like Argentine osage, black locust, or dense rosewoods: those lack the combination of waxy self-lubricating oil, sinking density, and sweet resinous scent all together. Katalox and ebony can rival the dark bands but are not oily and do not carry the greenish freshly cut cast.