Hymenaea courbaril is a tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 common to the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, Central

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

, and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. It is a hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

 that is used for furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

, flooring

Flooring

Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface...

 and decorative purposes.

Although Jatoba is sometimes referred to as Brazilian Cherry or South American Cherry, it is not a cherry tree

Cerasus

- Plants and fruits :* Cherry, aka Cerasus, subgenus of the genus Prunus* Cerasus, a synonym of the genus Prunus- Places :* Giresun, provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey...

. Depending on the locale, Jatobá is also known as Brazilian Copal, South American Locust, or the West Indian Locust. It is also known as Stinking Toe, Old Man's Toe or Stinktoe because of the unpleasant odor

Odor

An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also commonly called scents, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors...

 of the edible pulp inside its seed pods.

Jatoba produces an orange, resin

Resin

Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...

ous, sticky gum that converts to amber

Amber

Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...

 through a chemical process that requires millions of years. Amber of million-year-old Hymenaea trees have provided scientists with many clues to its prehistoric

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

 presence on Earth as well as to the often extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

 insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s and plants encased in it, as shown in the Jurassic Park films

Jurassic Park (franchise)

The Jurassic Park franchise is a series of books, films, comics, and videos centering on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs...

.

Jatoba is a very hard wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 measuring 5.6 on the Brinell scale

Brinell scale

The Brinell scale characterizes the indentation hardness of materials through the scale of penetration of an indenter, loaded on a material test-piece. It is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science....

 or 2350 lbf (10,453.3 N) on the Janka

Janka Wood Hardness Rating

The Janka hardness test measures the resistance of a type of wood to withstand denting and wear. It measures the force required to embed an steel ball into wood to half the ball's diameter. This method leaves an indentation...

 scale, approximate measurements of hardness. For comparison, Douglas Fir measures 660 lbf (2,935.8 N), White Oak

White Oak

White Oak may refer to:* Quercus alba, a species commonly known as the White Oak* any of various trees from the botanical section Quercus within the list of Quercus species* a 1921 silent western written/produced by and starring William S...

 1360 lbf (6,049.6 N), and Brazilian Walnut 3800 lbf (16,903.2 N) on the Janka scale.

Jatoba wood features a tan/salmon color with black accent stripes that over time turns to a deep rich red color.