Cultural use of wood in a historical building in Southern Brazil

Wood is a biological resource that has been widely used by mankind and represents a large part of the Brazilian cultural heritage. Our goal was to identify the wood used in an old historic building in southern Brazil. The wood samples were taken from the constructive elements of the building. Anatomical features of the sampled woods were used for taxonomic identification by comparisons with anatomical descriptions of wood samples from xylarium, the literature, and databases. Nine species were identified from a total of 30 samples, the genus being Ocotea (Lauraceae) and Araucaria (Araucariaceae), representing more than 90% of the samples. The use of these woods attests to the carpenters' knowledge of trees in southern Brazil and their identification in architectural monuments helps us understand how this resource was used in the past. The record of historical knowledge about the use of wood allows us to understand the relationship between human societies and the forest, as well as to safeguard ancient heritage, know-how, and memories embedded in wooden cultural assets.