VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese millionaires, who once hunted for sua wood, thuy tung (Artemisia), tram huong (aloe wood), are now spending billions of dong on color-changeable wood.

Some types of goods have always been “as expensive as gold,” because they are all the precious hardwood. However, some other types of wood have been traded at millions or billions of dong, but no one can explain why they are so expensive.

No scientific research can prove the value of the woods, but the rumors about the rarity and the features of the woods are enough to trigger a new movement among the millionaires of collecting the woods.

Sua wood has the spiritual magic

Vietnamese people believe that sua trees have spiritual value. In the past, when the kings passed away, sua wood was always used for making coffins. Especially, sua trees were ground into create powder which was then sprayed inside the coffins, because people believed that this would help the dead’s soul salvation.

Prof Nguyen Lan Dung, a biology scientist, has affirmed that if considering the forestry value, sua tree is now more valuable than other trees. Sua simply is a kind of tree which can provide high quality wood.

Sua trees mostly grow sparely in natural forests, mostly on rugged limestone cliffs. Sua wood has big firm heart, which is not cracked, warped, and it always has beautiful patterns.

Sua wood was once sold at 11 billion dong per cubic meter, a sky high price level. This then prompted people to hunt for sua wood, braving their lives.

The people themselves admitted that they did not know why sua trees were so expensive. They just knew that the wood was collected by Chinese businessmen in large quantities. Vietnamese merchants once scramble for every gram of sua wood. Especially, they tried to collect sawdust as well.

Artemisia – the magic medicine

Three years ago, a rumor was spread out that Artemisia can treat cancer and hundreds of other dangerous diseases. Besides, this kind of wood never has sowbug, while it has beautiful color with patterns; therefore, it has been a favorite by Vietnamese people when they build houses.

Scientists believe that only two populations of thuy tung still can exist in the world, including the one in Ea H’Leo district and Krong Nang district in Dak Lak, estimating that some 280 trees still exist.

Though thuy tung is listed in the Vietnam’s Red Book, people still have been chopping down the trees for sale because they have been attracted by the high profits.

Scientists have warned that with the current “thuy tung fever,” the precious tree would get exhausted one day.

Tram huong – the mysterious tree

Tram huong grows from paper mulberry, but not all paper mulberry trees can create tram huong. In natural forests, only one out of every 1000-1500 paper mulberry trees has tram huong.

This has been well known as a precious tree which can be used to treat different types of diseases. Especially, it can also help ease the pains.

The trees mostly grow in six countries, namely Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia. However, Vietnamese tram huong has been recognized by Japanese and Chinese scientists as the best.

This explains why Chinese merchants have been hunting for Vietnamese tram huong, thus having pushing the prices up. In 2008, local newspapers reported that a family in Quang Nam province had a tram huong tree worth one billion dong.

Color-changeable wood, the new fashion

This is the type of wood hunted by the rich nowadays. Since the wood can change its color depending the light and temperature, it has been used to create interior things, like statues or flower vases.

A local resident in Dak Lak province said the color-changeable wood fever broke out some months ago. A section of a tree trunk, about 0.5 cubic meters, after the manipulation, could be priced at several millions of dong

Thai Nhi