''Schinopsis balansae'' is a hardwood

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated Plant stem, stem, or trunk (botany), trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondar ...

known as willow-leaf red quebracho which forms forests in the subtropical

Humid Chaco The Humid Chaco (Spanish: ''Chaco Húmedo'' or ''Chaco Oriental'') is tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in South America. It lies in the basin of the Paraná River, covering portions of central Paraguay and northern Argenti ...

ecoregion of north-eastern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to ...

. It is also found in the wild

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and p ...

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...

in Brazil. Some of its vernacular names are ''quebracho colorado chaqueño'' and ''quebracho santafesino''. Other species, like ''

Schinopsis lorentzii ''Schinopsis lorentzii'' is a hardwood tree known as red quebracho, native of the Paraguayan subtropical area, which forms forests in Gran Chaco region of Argentina, in Paraguay, and Bolivia. Some of its common names are ''coronillo'', ''quebrach ...

'', bear the general name quebracho and have similar properties and uses. ''S. balansae'' shares its habitat with a species of the same

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...

, ''S. heterophylla'', and the two are often confused. This tree can reach 24 metres in height and more than one metre in diameter. Its trunk is straight, with a brownish-gray bark. Its wood is extremely heavy (

relative density Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water at its densest ...

= 1.2). Its main use is the extraction of quebracho extract, which is 63% pure

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', ...

. The tree was declared Argentina's " National Forest Tree" in 1956.

Chemistry

Leuco-fisetinidin, a flavan-3,4-diol (leucoanthocyanidin) and a monomer of the condensed tannins called profisetinidins, can be extracted from the heartwoods of ''S. balansae''.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2494951 balansae Trees of Argentina Trees of Brazil Drought-tolerant trees Least concern plants National symbols of Argentina