Why Is Purple Heart Wood Purple?

Why Is Purple Heart Wood Purple?

Purple heart wood is purple because of it's heartwood extractives. Specific cells within the wood conduct sap and store nutrients and over a period of many years, the purple heart tree no longer requires the entire trunk to conduct sap and the central part of the stem begins to die. Beginning at the core or pith, this central dead wood is called heartwood. Transitioning from sapwood to heartwood is followed by a buildup of many deposits and materials that is commonly called extractives. These extractives give purple heart it's very distinctive purple color.

The same process occurs in other woods such as Ebony with it's very black color heartwood and also the beautiful brown of black walnut is caused by it's extractives as well. The sapwood of almost all tree species is pale without extractives.

We are proud to present one of the most beautiful additions to our wood inlay tungsten ring collection, the Mauve. Real purple heart wood is inlaid into the center channel of this bevel edged tungsten ring. A protective coating is protecting the rare wood in the center of the ring. The Mauve along with an array of many other exotic wood inlay rings such as Ebony wood inlay or Redwood inlay, can be found on our wood inlay rings collection.

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