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Lignum vitae is the heartwood of species of the genus Guaiacum, the trees of which are usually called guayacan. The name is Latin for "wood of life", and derives from its medicinal uses. Other names are palo santo, holy wood, greenheart, and of course ironwood (one of many). The wood is obtained chiefly from Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum, both slow growing trees that do not become large.

This wood has a density between 1.28 and 1.37g per cu.cm., so it will sink in water. It is a hard, dense and durable wood, one of the densest woods in the trade. The wood was important for uses requiring strength, weight and hardness. Due to its weight, cricket bails, particularly 'heavy bails' used in windy conditions, are sometimes made of this wood. The wood also has seen widespread historical usage in mortars and pestles and for wood carvers' mallets. The heartwood is green in color leading to the common name Greenheart. In the shipbuilding, cabinetry, and woodturning crafts the term greenheart refers to the green heartwood of the Chlorocardium genus trees.

Master clockmaker John Harrison used lignum vitae as the basis for his nearly all-wood clocks, since the wood provides natural lubricating oils which do not dry out. For this reason it was widely used in shaft bearings. According to the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association website, the shaft bearings on the WWII submarine USS Pampanito (SS-383) were made of this wood. (Source:http://www.maritime.org/pamphist.htm) Also, the bearings in the original 1920's turbines of the Conowingo Hydroelectric Plant on the lower Susquehanna River are made from lignum vitae.

Lignum Vitae is also sometimes used to make lawn bowls.

Due to its density (and strength), combined with the relative softness of wood compared to metal, thereby tending to bruise or stun rather than simply cut the skin, lignum vitae was the traditional wood used for British police truncheons up until very recent times.

The resin has been used to treat a variety of medicinal conditions from coughs to arthritis. Wood chips can also be used to brew a tea.

Various other hardwoods of Australasia (e.g., the acacia and eucalyptus) are also called lignum vitae and should not be confused.

Verawood (Bulnesia sarmientoi/arborea) is an unrelated species also known as Argentine lignum vitae due to similar appearance and working qualities to lignum vitae. It has a strong, fresh aroma and is used as incense.

The Lignum Vitae is the national flower of Jamaica and the national tree of The Bahamas.

On the Janka Scale of Hardness, which measures the relative density of various types of wood, lignum vitae ranks highest. Lignum Vitae has a Janka hardness of 4500 (compared with Hickory at 1820, red oak at 1290, and Yellow Pine at 690).

Lignum Vitae is listed in appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) as a potentially endangered species.

Pioneering calypsonian/vaudevillian Sam Manning recorded a song entitled "Lignum Vitae" in the 1920s. His reference was doubly salacious, referring to both the bark tea's contraceptive qualities and the phallic symbolism of the hard wood.

According to T.H. White's Version of the Artus Saga "The Once and Future King", Lignum vitae, from which the staff of Merlin is made, has magical powers.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's acclaimed novel Love In The Time Of Cholera includes a bathtub made of this wood in one of the main characters' homes.

The belaying pins aboard the USS Constitution are made from Lignum vitae. Due to its density and natural oils, they rarely require replacement, despite the severity of typical marine weathering conditions.