(Photo courtesy Pan American Union.) 
Figure 18.—Scrub and brush type, Ceard, northeastern Brazil. 
for economic development. T’requent fires, together 
with destructive cutting, destroy or deteriorate 
woodland and are responsible for much of the 
grassland. 
Scrub and Brush 
Serub and brush (caatinga). mostly deciduous, cover 
almost 100 Brazil 
(fig. 18). The climate is characterized by low rain- 
fall, low relative humidity, rapid evaporation, and 
million acres of northeastern 
an average temperature of about 80° F. with only 
minor variations. In the center of this area annual 
rainfall decreases to less than 15 inches, with an 
extreme drought period from July to December. 
This zone. called the Poligono das Secas or drought 
polygon, is subject to droughts which may last 
entire years. 
The woody vegetation ranges from scattered short 
trees, arborescent cacti, and palms to dense thickets 
of thorny shrubs and trees 7 to 10 feet high (fig. 19). 
Around the fringes of the dry zone. near rivers. and 
on the slopes of mountainous ridges where rainfall 
is more favorable and underground water sufficiently 
available. islands of better forest occur. ‘The slow- 
growing trees produce a very hard wood that is 
excellent for fuel, and some of the better species, 
such as pau brasil, are a source of wood for furniture 
16 FOREST RESOURCE REPORT 16, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE — 
and cabinetwork. Carnauba palm grows in the 
more moist places in all parts of the area. 
Other Types 
Intermingled in the Amazon rain forest and close 
to low-water line, particularly on the upper Amazon 
and many of its southern tributaries, are many 
swampy areas, often dominated by cane grass and 
drained by marshy, sluggish, plant-choked streams. 
Smaller areas of swamp occur along many of the 
streams in other parts of Brazil. 
The most extensive swamp area, and the only one 
shown on the vegetative type map, is the flood 
plain of the Paraguay River in southwestern Mato 
Grosso. Inundation occurs between November and 
April. 
Much of the area is covered with coarse 
grass, and stock raising is the chief occupation during — 
the dry season. Throughout the area are patches 
or extensive stands of tropical rain forest. The small 
amount of timber that is cut is used locally, but some 
quebracho logs are sent to factories for production 
of tannin extract. 
Large areas of prairie—grassland with patches of 
trees or occasional trees or no trees—occur in the 
far south, in parts of the southwest, and along the 
coast in the north. Islands of open prairie up to 
several thousand square miles in area are widely 
