Product Description
Scientific name: Guaiacum officinale or Guaiacum sanctum
Family: Zygophyllaceae
Common name: Guaiacum, Guaiacwood, Guaiaco santo, Lignum vitae.
Guaiac, or wood of life (Lignum vitae), is the wood of Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum, evergreen trees belonging to the Zygophyllaceae family, originating from Central America, in particular Venezuela and the Antilles. Today it is found mainly in southern Mexico, the Antilles, Colombia and Venezuela.
Guaiac is the national plant of the Bahamas and the national flower (emblem) of Jamaica.
It is a slow-growing tree, which can reach 10 m in height; the wood is very dark, heavy (the wood of G. officinale is one of the heaviest existing, having a density which in the anhydrous state can reach approximately 1350 kg/m³) and resinous; the leaves are composed of 4 to 28 leaves; the small flowers, 2 cm wide, are blue-blue in colour. The wood, called guaiac wood, holy wood or simply guaiac, is fragrant, with a strongly aromatic flavour, with thin sapwood (approx. 2 cm) of a light yellow color and fat heartwood, of a dark green or bronze colour. It is the hardest and heaviest wood known: in large pieces (logs, boards) it is used for applications where a material capable of combining mechanical resistance, rigidity and high density is required, as for many lathe and cabinet-making jobs; particularly appreciated in naval construction, for the manufacture of supports as the resin it contains works excellently as a lubricant.
The tree exudes a resin whose most important active ingredient is guaiacol, as well as resins (guaiaconic, guaianetic, guaiac acid), saponins (guaiasaponin), vanillin, terpene substances (guaiaguttin, guaiazulene), essential oil (5-6% ). All these components give the plant balsamic, expectorant, diuretic, sudorific, purifying, laxative, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties.
Due to its properties, guaiac is used for the treatment of rheumatism, intoxication, constipation, respiratory, for hard, soft or medium cellulite, lymphatics, anti-free radicals, rejuvenating, strongly draining.
Guaiac infusions are used in the areas of origin in the treatment of syphilis, although its effectiveness has not yet been demonstrated.
Uncontrolled ingestion of guaiac can cause irritation of the mucous membranes of the digestive system and scarlet-like skin rashes, while the resin that exudes from the wood can cause contact dermatitis. Applied externally, Guaiac preparations act as revulsives, in a more or less active manner depending on the concentration used.
Guaiac is currently little used in therapy.
It has been registered in the French Pharmacopoeia since 1884 and is included in the composition of the “compound syrup of sarsaparilla”. In the Dominican Republic, guaiac wood is a component of an “elixir of youth” called Mama Juana: fragments of various local tree species, left to macerate in a bottle of rum, are believed to have aphrodisiac and anti-rheumatic activity. One of the components of guaiac resin, mesonordihydroguaiaretic acid, is a good antioxidant, but can cause kidney stones, so it should only be used on the basis of a doctor’s prescription.
A curiosity: guaiac became the most widespread panacea after 1520 to cure syphilis.
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