Red quebracho

The “axe-breaker” – quebracho wood is so hard it blunts blades, and for decades its tannin was used to tan leather around the world.

The quebracho colorado chaqueño is a tree of the cashew family, growing to 20–25 m, with a straight trunk and dark, fissured bark. Its reddish wood is among the hardest and heaviest in the world – the name “quebracho” comes from the Spanish “quiebra hacha”, meaning “axe-breaker”. The heartwood is extremely rich in tannins, which from the late 19th century were extracted industrially for tanning leather. It grows in the forests of the humid Chaco, on seasonally waterlogged soils. The wood was also used for railway sleepers and posts.

Significance in the country

In 1956 the red quebracho was declared Argentina’s national forest tree; the ruthless exploitation of the Chaco forests by the British company La Forestal is one of the best-known chapters in the country’s economic history.

Where it grows

In the forests of the eastern (humid) Chaco – in Chaco and Formosa provinces, northern Santa Fe and north-western Corrientes.

More: Wikipedia (en)