Quebracho blanco is a South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, which is found in the northern regions of Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It must not be confused with other species also known as quebracho

Quebracho tree

Quebracho is a common name in Spanish to describe very hard wood tree species. The etymology of the name derived from quiebrahacha, or quebrar hacha, meaning "axe-breaker".-Species:...

, but belonging to the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Schinopsis

Schinopsis

Schinopsis is a genus of South American trees in the family Anacardiaceae. The species within this genus inhabit different regions of the Gran Chaco ecoregion including parts of northern Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay....

.

Growth

Quebracho blanco wood is uniformly yellow-ochre, without differences between hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

 and sapwood

Sapwood

Sapwood may refer to:* Sapwood, the part of living wood where sap flows, as distinct from the heartwood, where it doesn't* SS-6 Sapwood, the NATO reporting name for the R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missile...

. It is quite heavy (relative density

Relative density

Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity usually means relative density with respect to water...

 = 0.885 g/cm³) and hard, and responds well to bending and shock. Upon drying it tends to collapse, producing deformations and cracks, so the drying process is slow; the wood must be treated with fungicide

Fungicide

Fungicides are chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality and profit. Fungicides are used both in agriculture and to fight fungal infections in animals...

s. It is easy to work and has many uses in carpentry

Carpentry

A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....

 (carts, wheels, floors, shoes, tool handles, furniture); it is also good for chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 pieces, ski

Ski

A ski is a long, flat device worn on the foot, usually attached through a boot, designed to help the wearer slide smoothly over snow. Originally intended as an aid to travel in snowy regions, they are now mainly used for recreational and sporting purposes...

s, etc. Preserved with creosote

Creosote

Creosote is the portion of chemical products obtained by the distillation of a tar that remains heavier than water, notably useful for its anti-septic and preservative properties...

 it can be used outdoors. In some places it is widely used as coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

, since it does not produce sparks or large amounts of ash, and it burns strong and slowly.

Other chemicals

Quebrachitol

Quebrachitol

Quebrachitol is a naturally occurring optically active cyclitol, a cyclic polyol. It can be found in Allophylus edulis and in the serum left after the coagulation of the Hevea brasiliensis latex. It is also found in Cannabis sativa and in seabuckthorn.It was first isolated by Tanret in 1887 from...

 is a cyclitol

Cyclitol

Cyclitols are cycloalkanes containing one hydroxyl group on three or more ring atoms. They are cyclic polyols. Cyclitols are one of the compatible solutes which are formed in a plant as a response to salt or water stress...

, a cyclic polyol found in the bark of A. quebracho.