letterwood

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The heart-wood of the South American tree Brosimum Aubletii.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Bot.) The beautiful and highly elastic wood of a tree of the genus Brosimum (Brosimum Aubletii), found in Guiana; -- so called from black spots in it which bear some resemblance to hieroglyphics; also called snakewood, and leopardwood. It is much used for bows and for walking sticks.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun botany The wood of the tree Brosimum aubletii, marked with black spots resembling hieroglyphics.