Menções ao Pau-Brasil do velho e do novo mundos em fontes portuguesas dos séculos XV, XVI e XVII

The name “brazil”, in Portuguese language sources, as applied to the species of Caesalpinia (Fabaceae) from the Old and the New Worlds or to the dyeing substance proper produced by them, is polysemic. It may refer to four different things (whose termini a quo are the folowing): (a) Caesalpinia bonduc – 1462, Afonso V de Portugal; (b) Cesalpinia sappan – 1499, Alvaro Velho and D. Manuel I de Portugal; (c) Caesalpinia echinata – 1502, Cantino’s Planisphere; (d) the dyeing substance proper – 1618, Ambrósio Fernandes Brandão. The termini a quo and further references to the synonyms or variants of those items are also included. The period covered is from the 15th to 17th centuries.