East Indian or Ceylon Satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia) comes from Sri Lanka island and is a very appreciated wood throughout the last centuries. The tree reaches no spectacular size, a length of 10 m for the stem and 50 cm diameter seem to be the maximum. The colour of the heartwood is of a delightful light to golden yellow, it is not distinctly demarcated from the sapwood. The texture is fine and even, highly lustrous, the grain is narrowly interlocked and often shows an attractive mottled figure. This appears like the shiny look of an expensive satin fabric and has given name to the wood. Although the name Citronnier or Zitronenholz sounds as if the wood is related to citrus trees, it has nothing at all to do with this species, they just refer to the colour.
