Schinopsis (PROSEA)
Introduction |
Schinopsis Engl.
- Family: Anacardiaceae
Major species and synonyms
- Schinopsis balansae Engl.;
- Schinopsis haenkeana Engl.;
- Schinopsis quebracho-colorado (Schldl.) F. Barkley & T. Meyer, synonym: S. lorentzii (Griseb.) Engl.
Vernacular names
- Quebracho (En).
Distribution
- S. balansae : south-western Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina.
- S. haenkeana : south-eastern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina.
- S. quebracho-colorado : southern Bolivia, northern Argentina. Experimentally cultivated in Singapore.
Uses
Quebracho extract, usually traded as powder, is one of the world's major vegetable tanning materials. It is used on a large scale in the production of leather all over the world, including South-East Asian countries. The wood is used in South America for railway sleepers and construction work.
Observations
Trees up to 25 m tall with trunk diameter up to 1.5 m. The leaves of S. balansae are simple, but the other species have pinnately compound leaves. S. quebracho-colorado and S. haenkeana are closely related and differ merely in the shape of the leaves.
The heartwood contains 16-25% tannin. The wood is very heavy and very hard. The trees are extremely slow growing, and trees younger than 40-50 years are usually considered not worthwhile for tannin extraction. For this reason, prospects for cultivation are not good. The wild stands of quebracho have been seriously depleted because of heavy felling.
Selected sources
12, 24, 37.