Aspidosperma quebracho / Quebracho / Apocynaceae (Dogbane Family)
Information
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Other Names
Quebracho, Quebracho Blanco. The name Quebracho is derived from the Spanish "Quebra Hacha" meaning "axe-breaker" and is an indication of the hardness of the wood.
Description
Quebracho is an evergreen tree which sometimes rises to 90 meters, with an erect stem and wide-spreading crown. The tree from which Quebracho wood bark is derived is native to Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Southern Brazil.
It is reputedly one of the hardest woods, and is commercially used both for construction and in the production of leather because of its high tannin content. The wood of all the species of this genus is valuable.
Scent
The taste is very bitter, but there is scarcely any odour.
Contents
Contains six alkaloids: Aspidospermine, Aspidospermatine, Aspidosamine, Quebrachine, Hypoquebrachine and Quebrachamine. All agree that quebrachine is the most active. Two new sugars, quebrachite and laevogyrate inosite, tannin and starch have also been extracted.
Additional Remarks
Two other plants are known as Quebracho: Schinopsis Lorenzii, the wood of which is sold in commerce as 'quebracho wood,' and Iodina rhombifolia, 'quebracho flojo', the wood and bark of which are sometimes substituted for the 'quebracho colorado'.
Historical
Quebracho is used by indigenous Shamans known as Paleros, (those that use wood) specializing in the use of trees as teachers. They speak with great reverence about several species called Remocaspi. These formidable trees with their huge buttressed roots are said to be among the most powerful spirits of the jungle, capable of bestowing sublime insight to the carefully prepared user. The Shaman warns, however, that the same tree can mete out death to anyone who has not properly prepared by following a strict diet and regime of abstinence.
Quebracho wood is extremely hard and is used in construction, or an extract of the wood is used for its high tannin content particularly in the leather tanning industry.
Plant Description
This tree is a large evergreen, having pendant branchlets, bearing small elliptic-lanceolate, acutely-pointed leaves, which are opposite, or tri-verticillate, and subsessile. They have entire, stiff margins. The flowers are axillary, cymose, small, and yellow. The fruit is a ligneous capsule, containing seeds having broad wings.
This tree is a native of Chili and the Argentine Republic.
Legal Remarks
Quebracho appears to be legal in the U.S. where it may be sold legaly as a component of Libido strengthening herbal tonics. This product is illegal or somehow problematic to send to Finland, due to Finnish laws on importing of wood.
This product is illegal or somehow problematic to send to the following countries.
Click on the country link for further information.
References
Aspidosperma, from King's American Dispensatory, by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D., 1898
Quebracho, A modern Herbal, by Mrs M. Grieve
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