The quebracho, whose original name is Schinopsis balansae, is a native tree of South America, very appreciated for its wood, used in cabinetmaking, and for its high tannin content.

It is a large tree; it needs high temperatures and plenty of sunlight for its development. It has deep pivoting roots, and a straight trunk. Its wood, brown to reddish, it is very hard, heavy and strong; it is extremely resistant to moisture, so it is used in quality furniture, and it has been the main wood to make the "sleepers" that support the rails of railways along Argentina. It is very rich in astringent tannin, used mainly for tannery. It is possible to extract 1200 to 1250 kg/m3 of tannin from it, a yield of 38% of its total weight. Quebracho burns with a minimal flame, a musky aromatic fragrance and creates serious amounts of charcoal.

Quebracho forms forests in the subtropical are of Gran Chaco, an ecoregion in north-eastern Argentina, and Paraguay. The industrial exploitation began at the end of the century 1801 in Santa Fe, northeastern Argentina, where there were important concentrations of quebracho forests, a tree that due to the hardness of the wood is used for railway sleepers and poles and from which tannin is extracted, a substance used in the tanning of leather.

This wood is commonly used in: joinery, furniture, construction of houses and infrastructure such as bridges, railway sleepers, fences on farms, as charcoal or wood for the preparation of various dishes, and also, within different cultures, quebracho wood has medicinal uses, and even rituals.