Albarco, or jequitiba as it is known in Brazil, is the common name applied to species in the genus Cariniana. The 10 species are distributed from eastern Peru and northern Bolivia through central Brazil to Venezuela and Colombia. The heartwood is reddish or purplish brown and sometimes has dark streaks. It is usually not sharply demarcated from the pale brown sapwood. The texture is medium and the grain straight to interlocked. Albarco can be worked satisfactorily with only slight blunting of tool cutting edges because of the presence of silica. Veneer can be cut without difficulty.
The wood is rather strong and moderately heavy, weighing about 560 kg/m3 (35 lb/ft3) at 12% moisture content. In general, the wood has about the same strength as that of U.S. oaks (Quercus spp.). The heartwood is durable, particularly the deeply colored material. It has good resistance to drywood termite attack.
Albarco is primarily used for general construction and carpentry wood, but it can also be used for furniture components, shipbuilding, flooring, veneer for plywood, and turnery.