Brazilwood is a common name for several trees of the family Leguminosae (Pulse family) whose wood yields a red dye called brazilein. The name is said to come from "brasa", Portuguese for "ember," owing to its red hue. The scientific name, Caesalpinia comes from the subfamily, Caesalpinioideae, which is derived from Andrea Cesalpino, an Italian botanist of the 16th century. Cesalpina echinata sp - Brazilwood tree File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Leguminosae is one of two scientific names allowed for a plant family of close to twenty thousands species. ... Varieties of soybean seeds, a popular legume A flowering legume The term legume has two closely related meanings in botany, a situation encountered with many botanical common names of useful plants whereby an applied name can refer to either the plant itself, or to the edible fruit (or useful part). ... Jump to: navigation, search Yarn drying after being dyed in the early American tradition, at Conner Prairie living history museum. ... Genera Acrocarpus Arapatiella Arcoa Balsamocarpon Batesia Burkea Bussea Caesalpinia Campsiandra Cenostigma Cercidium Chidlowia Colvillea Conzattia Cordeauxia Delonix Dimorphandra Diptychandra Erythrophleum Gleditsia Gymnocladus Haematoxylum Hoffmannseggia Jacqueshuberia Lemuropisum Lophocarpinia Melanoxylum Moldenhawera Mora Moullava Orphanodendron Pachyelasma Parkinsonia Peltophorum Poeppigia Pomaria Pterogyne Pterolobium Recordoxylon Schizolobium Sclerolobium Stachyothyrsus Stahlia Stenodrepanum Stuhlmannia Sympetalandra Tachigali Tetrapterocarpon Vouacapoua... chicken ...

Portuguese explorers used this name for such a wood from a South American tree (Caesalpinia echinata), which led to the name Brazil for its land of origin. This Caesalpinia echinata is also known as "Pau-Brasil" or "Pau-de-Pernambuco". (Pernambuco is the name of a small state in Northeast Brazil, "pau" meaning "wood"). The orange-red wood, which takes a high shine, is also used for making violin bows, and is the premier wood for that purpose. South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Jump to: navigation, search Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Brazilian Northeast. ... Jump to: navigation, search A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is the xylem tissue of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Jump to: navigation, search The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ...

Historical importance

In the 15th and 16th centuries, brazilwood was highly valued in Europe and quite difficult to get. Coming from Asia, it was used mainly to extract its red dye in powder form, which was used in the manufacture of luxury textiles, such as velvet, in high demand during the Renaissance, When Portuguese navigators discovered present-day Brazil, in April 22nd 1500, they immediately saw that brazilwood was extremely abundant in the Brazilian coast and hinterland, along the rivers. In a few years, a hectic and very profitable operation for felling and transporting by shipping all the brazilwood logs they could get was established, as a crown-granted Portuguese monopoly. The rich commerce which soon followed stimulated other nations to try to harvest and smuggle brazilwood contraband out of Brazil, or even corsairs attacking loaded Portuguese ships in order to steal their cargo. For example, the unsuccessful attempt of a French expedition led by Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, vice-admiral of Brittany and corsair under the King, in 1555, to establish a colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro (France Antarctique) was motivated in part by the bounty generated by economic exploitation of brazilwood. World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... Jump to: navigation, search World map showing Asia (geographically) Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia and worlds largest continent. ... This article is about the type of fabric. ... Velvet is a type of tufted fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it its distinct feel. ... Jump to: navigation, search By region Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance English Renaissance The Renaissance, also known as Il Rinascimento (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... Loggers on break, c. ... In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Contraband consists of items of which possession may be illegal, depending on the variety and the country or the age or sex of the possessor. ... Corsair can refer to: a pirate who used to operate in the Mediterranean Sea, see Corsair (pirate) a French airline, see: Corsair (airline) several aircraft of the US Navy: the O2U Corsair the F4U Corsair the A-7 Corsair II a kind of fireworks a poem, The Corsair, by Lord... Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, born 1510 in Villegaignon, Seine et Marne, France was a naval officer (vice-admiral of Brittany) who attempted to help the Huguenots in France escape persecution. ... Jump to: navigation, search Traditional coat of arms This article is about the historical duchy and French province, as well as the cultural area of Brittany. ... Ipanema beach Cristo Redentor Rio de Janeiros waterfront and the Morro de Castello from the Ilha das Cobras in 1919 by Harriet Chalmers Adams A NASA satellite image of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro (meaning River of January in Portuguese) is the name of both a state and... France Antarctique was the name of the failed French colony south of the Equator, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which existed between 1555 and 1567. ...

Excessive exploitation (it has been estimated that in the last two centuries, more than 50 million trees were destroyed) finally led to a steep decrease in the number of brazilwood trees in the 18th century, causing the collapse of this economic activity. Presently, brazilwood is practically extinct in most parts of the country. The trade of brazilwood is therefore likely to be banned in the immediate future, creating a major problem in the bow-making industry which mainly relies on this wood. In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of taxons. ...