The tree producing this dye-wood is a native of Yucatan in South America, the principal town of which, Campeachy, situated on the river San Francisco in the bay of Campeachy, was formerly the mart for logwood, but it is now extensively cultivated in Jamaica, and the chief trade is removed to Belize, a British settlement in the Bay of Honduras, whence immense quantities are annually exported.

The coloring matter of the logwood tree depends upon a peculiar principle called haematin or haematoxylin, a red crystalline substance which is so abundant in some samples as to exist in distinct blood-red crystals. The stems are cut into large logs, and the bark and alburnum or white wood is chopped off, the dark red inner wood being the only valuable portion. The color of a decoction of logwood is of a brownish blood-red. Acids change it to the bright color of red ink, which is often made of an infusion of logwood chips to which acetic acid is added. The alkalies strike a purple or violet, and the salts of iron a dark violet approaching- a black color.