528 FULLING 



quebracho tannin still made up 72 per cent of all tannin imports. In 1936 it 

 constituted 85 per cent of imported material and 40 per cent of all tanning 

 material used. 



Exportation of quebracho wood, formerly imported into the United States 

 for extraction here, has been prohibited in recent years,^ and only the extract, 

 prepared in South America, is now generally available, in liquid and solid 

 forms. According to the data in table 1, these two forms made up 43 per cent 

 of all tannin units utilized in the United States in 1950. 



Other foreign materials. Among the other foreign vegetable-tanning mate- 

 rials which have been imported in crude form or as extracts since it became 

 economically feasible, fifty years ago, to do so, are: 



Divi-Divi. 40 to 45 per cent tannin. Pods of a small tree, Caesalpinia coriaria, 

 indigenous to the West Indies, Mexico, Venezuela, and northern Brazil. 



GALLS. Insect-induced malformations on various plants in the Old World. 

 Best known are the oak galls on Quercus infectoria of Asia Minor and east- 

 ern Mediterranean countries. 



GAMBiER, OR WHITE CUTCH. 35 to 40 per ccnt tannin. Extract from the 

 leaves and young branches of Uncaria gambir, a shrubby plant, wild and 

 cultivated in the Malayan region. 



MANGROVE BARK. 10 to 40 per Cent tannin. Mostly red mangrove {Rhizo- 

 phora mangle) but also Avicennia nitida, A. tomentosa, and other species and 

 genera. The great abundance of these trees and shrubs as jungles in tidal 

 areas throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions probably constitutes the 

 world's greatest single potential source of tannin, but extensive proiitable 

 exploitation has not yet been achieved. Formerly imported principally from 

 Portuguese East Africa, Madagascar, and the East Indies; since the 1930's 

 largely from Colombia and Venezuela. 



MYROBALANs (spelled in several ways). 30 to 40 per cent tannin in the 

 husks. Dried fruits of Terminalia chebula, a 40- to 60-foot tree native to, 

 and cultivated in, India for timber as well as the tannin-yielding nuts. Second- 

 ary sources in India are T. bellerica, T. pallida, T. travancorensis, and T. 

 citrina. 



SICILIAN SUMAC. 20 to 35 per cent tannin. Leaves of Rhus coriaria, native 

 to the Mediterranean basin and extensively cultivated in Sicily and southern 

 Italy for tanning. Brought to the United States soon after the Civil War, 

 probably as the first foreign tanning agent to be imported. 



TARA. 35 to 55 per cent tannin. Dried pods of Caesalpinia spinosa. Bolivia, 

 Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Imported from Peru. 



VALONiA. Acorns of Turkish oak {Quercus aegilops) of Asia Minor and 

 the Grecian Archipelago. The cups contain up to 45 per cent tannin. 



2 $16,000 worth of the wood was imported from Paraguay in July, 1955, according 

 to a census report. 



