{"id":920,"date":"2014-02-19T11:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/science-talk\/?p=920"},"modified":"2014-02-18T12:51:15","modified_gmt":"2014-02-18T17:51:15","slug":"the-tree-that-gave-brazil-its-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/the-tree-that-gave-brazil-its-name\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tree That Gave Brazil Its Name"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott A. Mori, Ph.D.<\/a>, is the Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany at The New York Botanical Garden<\/a>. One of his specialties is the Brazil nut family.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
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An inflorescence of pau brasil<\/em> showing an apical view of a flower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pau brasil<\/em> (Caesalpinia echinata<\/em>), a member of the legume plant family and the national tree of Brazil, has played an important role in the history of that country. Pau<\/em> is the colloquial name for \u00e1rvore <\/em>(or tree),\u00a0and the red sap it exudes when the trunk is cut has the color of a burning piece of charcoal (brasa<\/em> in Portuguese). So\u00a0pau brasil<\/em> is translated into English as the Brazil tree. According to some historians, this common name was adopted from the plant as the name of the country, the largest and most biodiverse in South America.<\/p>\n

Brazil (spelled\u00a0Brasil<\/em> in Portuguese) was discovered in 1500 by the Portuguese explorer Pedro \u00c1lvares Cabral, who landed near the present-day city of Santa Cruz de Cabralia in the state of Bahia. At that time, pau brasil<\/em> was plentiful in the coastal forests of Brazil. The sap was economically important because it was used for dying cloth, but today the tree\u00a0is best known as the source of highly prized timber used to create bows for string instruments such as violins and cellos.
\n<\/p>\n

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Pedro \u00c1lvares Cabral is often credited for discovering Brazil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout its native range, large\u00a0pau brasil<\/em>\u00a0trees are hard\u00a0to find because of deforestation for cattle ranching and for sugar cane and eucalyptus plantations. The coastal forests have been reduced in some areas to as little as five percent of their original extent. In addition, because of the high price that\u00a0violin bows bring on the market, this magnificent tree has been selectively cut throughout its range. Fortunately, it is cultivated as an ornamental and planted as part of reforestation projects so its beautiful flowers can still be appreciated.<\/p>\n

The accompanying photographs of flowering plants in cultivation were taken at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A flower with several petals removed to show the positions of the banner petal, the stamens, and the pistil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Cabral portrait courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While it’s famous for the instrument bows made from its timber, “pau brasil” has a much, much larger legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[84,259,258,71,61],"yoast_head":"\nThe Tree That Gave Brazil Its Name - Science Talk Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/the-tree-that-gave-brazil-its-name\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Tree That Gave Brazil Its Name - Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While it's famous for the instrument bows made from its timber, "pau brasil" has a much, much larger legacy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/the-tree-that-gave-brazil-its-name\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-19T16:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-18T17:51:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/images\/blogs\/CaesalpiniaEchinataInfl_Mori.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Mori\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/\",\"name\":\"Science Talk Archive\",\"description\":\"Exploring the science of plants, from the field to the lab\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/the-tree-that-gave-brazil-its-name\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/images\/blogs\/CaesalpiniaEchinataInfl_Mori.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/images\/blogs\/CaesalpiniaEchinataInfl_Mori.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/the-tree-that-gave-brazil-its-name\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/02\/the-tree-that-gave-brazil-its-name\/\",\"name\":\"The Tree That Gave Brazil Its Name - 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