Common Name(s): Pink gidgee, purple gidgee
Scientific Name: Acacia crombiei
Distribution: Australia (Queensland)
Average Dried Weight: 86.5 lbs/ft3 (1,385 kg/m3)*
*Density based on a single sample tested
Janka Hardness: 3,880 lbf (17,260 N)
Comments: A very heavy hardwood sharing some characteristics with Waddywood (Acacia peuce), the tree is listed as vulnerable under Australia’s 1999 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Being a small tree or shrub, the wood is usually used for turned objects or small decorative items. The wood can have a pinkish or purplish hue right at the boundary between the sapwood and heartwood.
Note: This is a truncated profile page. If you have any helpful info or experience with this wood species, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to integrate any relevant data when I expand the page. ~Eric
Images: Drag the slider up/down to toggle between raw and finished wood.
[caption id="attachment_22055" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pink gidgee (Acacia crombiei)[/caption]
Related Content:
I have a sample of acacia labeled “purple gidgee.” I initially assumed it was pink gidgee (A. crombiei), but I’m not seeing any evidence of the purplish cast even after exposing the freshly planed face to UV (sunlight). I’m wondering if perhaps it could be something else like gidgee or waddywood. The sample’s heartwood fluoresces as expected with all of these species, but there is a distinct stripe of very strong fluorescence between the heartwood and sapwood. Can this characteristic be used to distinguish these species, or do they all fluoresce the same way?
Freshly cut/polished pink gidgee heartwood shows brown colour which is similar to gidgee, while exposed to sunlight or UV light, the wood will soon change to lovely dark purplish colour.