SEP -7 1914 



Division of Forestry 

 QUEBRACHO WOOD AND 



WOODS CALLED QUEBRACHO. 



Quebracho (Quebrachia lorentzii Griseb.), a South American wood 

 yielding a valuable extract much used in the United States for tan- 

 ning high-grade leathers, is not the only wood known by that name. 

 Two other and inferior species, Aspidosperma quebracho-bianco Schlecht 

 and Aspidosperma quebracho-colorado Schlecht, are called white que- 

 bracho, or "quebracho bianco, " and red quebracho, or "quebracho 

 Colorado," respectively. These two, however, belong to an entirely 

 different family (Apocynaceae)j including the common dogbane or 

 Indian hemp, from the true quebracho, which is a member of the sumac 

 family ( Anacardiaceae) . The name quebracho is derived from two Por- 

 tuguese words, "quebrar," meaning break, and "hacha," ax, in allu- 

 sion to the extreme hardness of the wood. At one time nearly every 

 South American wood that quickly dulled an ax was called quebracho, 

 but to-day the three woods mentioned are the only ones of commer- 

 cial importance to which the name is applied. 1 This indiscriminate 

 use of the name quebracho naturally has resulted in much confusion 

 regarding the identity, distribution, and uses of these woods, and the 

 purpose of this circular is to give the uses and distinguishing charac- 

 teristics of each. Throughout, the true quebracho will be referred to 

 simply as quebracho, while the two other species will be called white 

 quebracho and red quebracho, respectively. 



DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPLY OF QUEBRACHO. 



Quebracho is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and 

 Uruguay. (See map.) It is distributed from the Andes eastward 

 for approximately 500 miles, and from near the mouth of the Parana 

 River northward for about 600 miles, thus growing over a territory of 

 300,000 square miles. A few writers claim that the Province of San- 

 tiago, Chile, once yielded quebracho, but nothing definite exists to 

 show that it ever extended that far westward. Its commercial range 

 is confined chiefly to northern Argentina, in the Provinces of Tucu- 

 man, Santiago del Estro, and Santa Fe, and the Territories of Formosa 



1 In Porto Rico a sapindaceous shrub ( Thouinia stricta Radlk.), noted for its very hard wood, is called 

 quebracho. In Cuba there is a "quebracho" tree ( Copaifera hymenxifolia Moric.), belonging to the bean 

 family (Leguminosae). In Chile and Honduras the name quebracho is given to a species of A cacia, another 

 member of the bean family. " Quebracho flojo" or "sombra de toro" (lodina rhombifolia H. and A.) Is a 

 handsome evergreen tree of Argentina belonging to the sandalwood family. 



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