Guaiacum uses, including as lumber, for medicinal purposes, and as ornamentals. The trade of all species of "Guaiacum" is controlled under CITES Appendix II. "Guaiacum officinale" is the national flower of Jamaica, while "Guaiacum sanctum" is the national tree of the Bahamas. The genus is famous as the supplier of lignum vitae, which is the heartwood of several species in the genus. It is the fourth-hardest variety of wood as measured by the Janka hardness test, requiring a force of to embed a steel ball in diameter half that distance into the wood. The Spanish encountered guaiacum wood when they conquered
Janka Bryl Janka Bryl Janka (Yanka) Bryl (, August 4, 1917 – July 25, 2006) was a Belarusian writer best known for his short stories. He was one of the older generation of Soviet writers who had begun their literary careers in Stalin's time but received a new lease on life in the late 1950s along with such contemporaries as Ivan Shamiakin and Ivan Melezh. His father was a railway worker. In 1922, his family returned to their hometown of Zagorje, which was then in Poland. He was unable to complete his education, due to financial difficulties. In 1939, he was drafted