Table 15.—Output of nonwood forest products, Brazil, 1955-59 
average and 1960-61, and relative value ' in 1961—Continued 
Quantity 
Relative 
Product and source value, 
1955-59 1960 1961 1961 
average | 
| | 
| | 
Metric | Metric Metric | 
Waxes: tons | tons tons | Percent 
Carnauba........| 8,265 | 10,982 | 11, 445 14.7 
MeVCUnIaR tte eee 469 | 212 157 | on 
otal’.* ah 8, 734 | 11,194 11, 602 14.8 
Fibers: | 
@aron eo, 223 3. 830 3, 267 3,895 0.6 
Guaxima and 
malva... _| 18,073 | 11,582 | 13, 130 31 
Piassaval.... 0... | 135282) )) 15; 621 17. 260 Sue 
Tucum. .| 73 395 64 () 
| 
Total. foe ce |LovyeDOn| BOs OLnOn po aeo4.o 6.9 
Oil seeds: 
Babassuees cc on 85,015 |100, 708 117, 808 20.0 
Bicurts.0 eau _.| 3,450 | 7,818 | 4,919 a) 
Murumuru...... 1,302 | 851 1, 628 (*) 
Oiticica..........| 23,611 | 37,934 | 60,019 3.4 
Tucum..........| 4,107] 5,152 | 6,001 5 
Rotalye 2tees. }117. 485 152,463 |190,375 24. 2 
Essential oils: 
Sassafras....... 334 644 | 372 0. 2 
Pau rosa...... ..| 388] 289 | 221 | 6 
| 
Eucalyptus... ... 48 42 | 54 ait! 
$$ || —__|__— 
Potala 23a 770 975 | 647 | 0.9 
Kipokon <font. aware > col |. ehpaoon| aemiodsren 0.1 
1 Based on a grand total of 16,778 million cruzeiros for 
the nonwood forest products listed. 
2 Less than 0.05 percent. 
3 Not available. 
has a tannin content of 35-45 percent. Little use is 
made of the extensive mangrove stands for tannin 
production. 
Rubbers 
A large number of trees yielding rubber latex are 
native to Brazil’s forest. The most and best rubber 
(Hevea) is produced from the seringeira or Para 
rubber tree. This tree, reaching 140 feet in height 
vo 
in the Amazon rain forest. has been widely culti- 
vated in many tropical countries and is now the 
Production 
from wild trees reached a maximum of 85,000 metric 
source of almost all natural rubber. 
tons in 1910 when Manaus was the rubber capital 
of the world, but declined thereafter under the 
competition of cheaper plantation rubber from Far 
Eastern countries. Hevea rubber output has aver- 
aged 30.860 metric tons during 1956-61 (table 15). 
Some Brazilian hevea rubber is now also produced 
from plantations. notably at Fordlandia and Belterra, 
but most still comes from wild trees. Latex gather- 
ers work an average of 100 days per year, tapping a 
crop of 200 to 300 trees (fig. 27). Brazil’s rubber 
policy is largely controlled by the Amazon Credit 
Bank and by the Executive Commission for the 
Defense of Rubber. Emphasis is placed on expand- 
ing small-farm planting of improved Para rubber 
trees. 
Minor quantities of latex. yielding elastic rubbers, 
are also collected in the Amazon forests from other 
species of Hevea, and caucho rubber comes from 
Castillea ulei. In the Northeast, manigoba (Manihot 
glaziowii) furnishes the Ceara rubber, and, on the 
highlands of Goids, mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa) 
is a source for elastic rubber. 
Gums and Resins 
Balata, serving the same uses as guttapercha for 
electrical insulation, particularly in the construction 
of submarine cables, is obtained from several species 
The best grade of balata is 
obtained from Manilkara bidentata. Among inferior 
of the Amazon forest. 
types are magaranduba (Manilkara huberi) and 
coquirana (Ecclinusa balata). Balata tapping, unlike 
tapping for hevea latex, kills the trees. Sorva gum 
from Couma utilis, a substitute for chewing gum and 
also a good calking material for boats, is also ob- 
tained by cutting down the trees. 
Copaiba balsam is tapped from several species 
(Copaifera spp.) of small trees of Amazonas, Para, 
and Mato Grosso. It is used for perfumes and 
medicinal purposes. 
Mate 
Maté, or erva maté, is a tealike beverage produced 
from the leaves of Paraguay tea (Ilex paraguariensis), 
a small tree of the southern States and the southern 
part of Mato Grosso. The tree grows best in humid 
depressions at elevation of 1,500 to 2,500 feet and 
30 FOREST RESOURCE REPORT 16, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
