The Black Ironwood Tree

    At Windley Key National Park we were shown many species of tree. The one that stood out to me most was the Black Ironwood Tree, due to its interesting history. I wanted to research more into the tree and its involvement in history.

    Krugiodendron ferreum, commonly known as Black Ironwood and Leadwood, is found throughout Southern Florida, the Caribbean, and from Southern Mexico to Honduras. The trees grow to around 16 to 33 feet, and are classified as a long-lived perennial. The plant is widely cultivated, due to it being drought resistant, meaning it does not need to be watered, and it is resistant to storm damage. Physically the tree has black bark, the trunk is extremely hard, the leaves are emarginate shaped and have small greenish flowers when the tree is in bloom, and the tree produces purplish red fruit. The fruit the Black Ironwood Tree produces are edible, and are very sweet. The fruit becomes that purplish red color when ripe, and they are said to look like m&m’s. The fruit are classified as drupes, more commonly known as stone fruit.

    The Black Ironwood is incredibly dense, roughly 62 pound per cubic inch. This makes it the densest tree that is natively found in North America. That density is what makes the Ironwood so hard, in fact the Black Ironwood has a hardness of 22.5 thousand newtons. To put that in perspective, aluminum has a hardness of 15 thousand newtons. That hardness and density makes Black Ironwood extremely troublesome to work with, which does not stop people using it to make furniture due to the beauty of the wood. It is advised to anyone working with Black Ironwood to watch out for their tools overheating when cutting through the wood.

    Black Ironwood was a popular material used by native populations of Florida and the Caribbean for weapons. Bows, arrows, and lances constructed from Black Ironwood wood were incredibly strong and durable thanks to their nature. As mentioned by our tour guide, even pirates would use them to construct makeshift cannon balls when no iron or steel was available. If you want to learn more about Florida’s Native American Population click here.

For more information about the Black Ironwood Tree click here.