Angelim Vermelho, Andira (Andira coriacea) is the wood of a tree growing in South America and on the Caribbean islands, it is also known there as Red Cabbage, rode Kabbes, Batseed or Koraro. The very hard and heavy wood of the tree, which grows into mighty specimens, is dark red-brown, rather coarse-pored and is characterized by a striking longitudinal structure, which results from the alternation of hard wood fibers and soft parenchyma bands. This makes it look a bit like red palm wood, but it has a more uniform density and is therefore easier to work with than red palm wood. This very special wood comes from an underwater forest that was not cleared before the flooding when the Brokopondo reservoir was built in Suriname (South America) in the 1960s - the value of the approx. 10 million cubic metres of wood had simply not been recognised. The trees were under water for about 40 years, since 2004 the valuable trees have been felled with air-operated chainsaws and the wood, which after cutting in local sawmills and careful drying is better in its properties than freshly cut wood, is successfully marketed.
