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Introduction
As the understanding of the redwood industry deepens, many wood friends will ask these two questions:
1. Many rosewood identification agencies only identify the "type" in the identification reports they issue. Why don't they identify the specific tree species?
2. Some tree species are not included in the national standard for rosewood, but they meet the standards of a certain "category" of rosewood specified in the national standard "Rosewood" in terms of family, density, pores, and color. Can they be considered rosewood?
These two issues have not only been controversial in academia, but are also problems that rosewood merchants and consumers often encounter.
For example, the first question:
Both are red rosewood types included in the national standard for red wood. The price of big red rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) is more than 300,000 yuan per ton, and the price of flower rosewood (Dalbergia bariensis) is about 50,000 yuan per ton.
If an unscrupulous merchant sells Dalbergia bariensis to consumers as Dalbergia cochinchinensis, even if consumers and experts discover the material is incorrect and take it for identification, the identification agency will only identify it as rosewood based on the identification method of wood cell structure. If the merchant uses this identification report to file a lawsuit, he or she may not lose.
Extension of the national standard for redwood to be implemented on July 1, 2018
According to the existing identification methods based on the wood cell structure, redwood can only be identified by type, not by species. This situation has been criticized by redwood furniture manufacturers and consumers, and has also caused a lot of trouble for consumers.
how so?
The second question also caused numerous controversies:
The national standard "Rosewood" formulated in 2000 clearly states that there are 33 species of rosewood in five genera, eight categories, and 33 species (which will be changed to 29 species on July 1, 2018).
There is no problem identifying these 33 materials as rosewood. The problem is that the national standard for rosewood species specifies: "In addition, the heartwood of other species in the five genera mentioned above that are not included in this standard can also be called rosewood if its density, structure and color meet this standard."
So, if we encounter "heartwood of tree species from the five genera whose density, structure and color meet the requirements of this standard", is it considered to be rosewood?
If not, why not? If so, is there a requirement for an organization to issue a "rosewood certificate" for these materials? Or can merchants simply determine whether they are rosewood based on density, structure, and color?
In fact, these two issues not only often cause controversy among rosewood practitioners, but also have been debated in the academic community, and no unified opinion has been formed.
Below, we will share with wood lovers the interview record of Mr. Yang Jiaju, the first drafter of the national standard for rosewood, when he answered reporters' questions about wood identification, which was originally published in the "Chinese Rosewood Classical Furniture" magazine.
Although these are just Mr. Yang’s personal opinions, he hopes that through his discussion, everyone will have a deeper understanding of the identification of rosewood species and the national standard for rosewood. Perhaps, we can also find the root causes and answers to these two problems.
Reporter: Mr. Yang, with the current level of technology, is it possible to accurately identify wood to its species?
Mr. Yang: It’s impossible. It’s impossible now and it will be difficult in the future.
Reporter: Why are you so sure?
Mr. Yang: The reason is simple. Trees are plants. Their natural growth is not subject to human control and they are constantly evolving. Classifying trees into species is actually an act of human intervention. Humans cannot accurately track the complex evolutionary processes of nature. Plants are not like our industrial products, where you can artificially manipulate their composition, proportions, weight, and color. Plants have cells and are influenced to varying degrees by nature. Forcing trees to be classified into species is as ridiculous as turning plants into industrial products.
Reporter: Why can Dalbergia louvelii in the national standard of "Redwood" determine its tree species?
Mr. Yang: That's because Dalbergia louversii has very distinct characteristics, so it was possible to identify it back then. But it would be impossible now because other similar species have been discovered.
Reporter: How should we understand the so-called categories and species?
Mr. Yang: Timber in commercial circulation is called commercial timber or commercial timber. The names of commercial timber or timber are distinct from, yet also related or consistent with, tree species names. In dendrology, species are the unit of measurement, while commercial timber is grouped into categories based on genera or families. Timber names are broad in scope, referring to a single species within a genus, several species, all species within a genus, several genera, or even all species within a family. Tree names, on the other hand, are narrower, referring to a specific species.
Reporter: If I can provide all the information about a tree, from its leaves, fruits to wood samples, can I identify its species?
Mr. Yang: If we can do that, then why would we need identification? This would be like collecting specimens in botanical science. But is it possible for our merchants to do that? We import logs and boards, not leaves or fruit. Even if we did, how could we prove that this fruit or leaf came from this board?
Reporter: Then why do some identification agencies claim that they can identify wood to its species?
Mr. Yang: (laughs) You should ask them yourself!
Reporter: Is there any existing identification technology that can be close to the species level?
Mr. Yang: This is exactly the scientific research topic that botanists and wood researchers around the world are working together to tackle.
Reporter: Is it really so difficult to identify the species?
Professor Yang: As the old saying goes, science cannot tolerate the slightest bit of falsehood. Plant evolution determines the error rate of human intervention. Our standards for identifying wood are based on relevant data from international herbariums and botanical theoretical foundations. However, these botanical foundations can sometimes be wrong or change. How can your identification still be accurate? For example, in botanical texts, you often see a tree species name with another name written in parentheses. This name in parentheses is a name that was previously used, but it may be wrong or inaccurate. Why is it wrong and why is it inaccurate? It is because the tree species evolve, which leads to numerous loopholes in human intervention. For example, before 1963, there was no species called Dalbergia odorifera; there was only Dalbergia hainanensis. However, subsequent research revealed that Dalbergia hainanensis is not a single species, but rather many species. This is why we singled out Dalbergia odorifera as one of them.
Reporter: Identification of rosewood should be based on four standards, right?
Mr. Yang: That's right. First, we look at its family, second, the size of its pores, third, its density, and fourth, its color. We classify rosewood based on these four criteria.
Reporter: Everyone in the industry knows that the prices of different species of rosewood can vary greatly on the market, with rosewood being a typical example. If our appraisal agency can only identify the species, wouldn't that be a loss for some companies?
Mr. Yang: Even a 30-year-old white person can be tall or short, strong or weak. The same is true for wood. Different growing environments lead to different development and quality. Wood from the plains and high mountains, though belonging to the same category, can have vastly different qualities. This is a principle everyone understands: manufacturers understand it, and now consumers understand it too. Some issues still need to be addressed through market forces.
Reporter: Why can't the national standard for "rosewood" be further refined to avoid such market conflicts?
Mr. Yang: It is impossible to break it down further, because I can’t list how much money a material with a certain size of pores costs, or how much a material with a certain size of pores is considered high-quality wood. This is because the internal structure of the same tree may change when wood is taken from different parts. The national standard for “Redwood” cannot be so detailed. The more detailed it is, the less scientific it becomes, and it goes against the principles of science.
Reporter: What do you think about the issue of different origins, quality and prices of the same type of wood?
Mr. Yang: Actually, it is still the same problem. The quality of trees cannot be divided based on their place of origin. Wood has no national boundaries. This is again human intervention. Some people say that Laotian rosewood is good, but Laos also has weak rosewood. Even the same tree can have good and bad wood. It can be said that there are high-quality and bad wood everywhere. The industry uses the place of origin to divide wood, which is just to use nationality to grade the same type of wood.
Reporter: Are the tree species collected in the national standard of "Redwood" the most suitable materials for making furniture in the plant kingdom?
Mr. Yang: No, we cannot say that all the wood species in the national standard of "Rosewood" are the best in the world, nor can we say that there are no better wood species than those in the national standard of "Rosewood" that are more suitable for making furniture.
Reporter: Why don’t you introduce more qualified wood into the National Standard according to the four standards?
Mr. Yang: The national standard "Redwood" was produced in a certain historical period. One of its biggest features is to restore history. The collected wood species are based on slices of traditional furniture materials in my country's history and are compiled in comparison with international standard tree species specimens.
Except for Dalbergia louvelii, the wood species in the "National Standard" reflect the types and standards of traditional wood used in my country during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. If a new wood species is to be included, it must provide evidence that it is a historical traditional wood and must also meet the four criteria of the rosewood identification standard before it can be considered.
Reporter: Do you think it is possible for us to overcome the difficulty of wood identification one day?
Dr. Yang: It's hard to give you a precise answer. This is the conflicting relationship between humans and nature. I can only say that our future research will strive to be able to identify wood species to the nearest possible degree.