Dormancy

Libidibia ferrea

Brazilian ironwood

Libidibia ferrea is an imposing tree, reaching 30 meters in height. Its grayish-white trunk is beautiful and used for ornamentation. The name Pau ferro (‘iron wood’ in Portuguese) comes from the high density of the wood and the difficulty in cutting it. Furthermore, the sound emanated by the axes during cutting is similar to the sound of the hammer on the anvil. Its seed is impermeable, which causes dormancy, or delayed germination. This dormancy can help in the natural distribution of the species over large areas, but it can also “hinder the production of seedlings”. Since the Brazilian iron wood is useful for infrastructure and carpentry projects, effective reproduction is essential to ensure the longevity of this species. Still, it has also demonstrated another skill – when fed to ruminant animals, such as cattle in “semi-arid regions”, it can help reduce the release of methane into the atmosphere.

Apuleia leiocarpa

Garapa

The Garapa is native to South America. It is threatened with extinction, but is still commercialized as timber. In Brazil, the concepts of ‘wood’ and ‘timber’ exist in the same word: madeira. There is no distinction between the material and how the material is used by humans — we do not specify its usefulness in the definition. Wood is, however, used frequently throughout the world. The seed of this tree is prone to dormancy, that is, for internal or external reasons, it takes time to germinate.