南美洲的厄瓜多尔,生长着一种奇異的热带木材,这种木材很輕,尽管长达十米以上,粗到一圍,一个人抗在肩上,还可以健步如飞。比起我們常用作瓶塞的栓皮櫟軟木,还要輕一半。然而从用途上来說,却比这种栓皮櫟軟木多得多,这就是厄瓜多尔的巴尔薩木(Balsa),又叫輕木(Corkwood),学名Ochromalagopus。巴尔薩木,是热带美洲的名产,除厄瓜多尔外,哥斯达黎加、危地馬拉、尼加拉瓜、哥倫比亚、 Ecuador, South America, is home to a bizarre tropical wood that is light, despite its length of ten meters or more, a rough surface and a man’s resistance to the shoulders. It is half lighter than the cork oak cork we use for corks. However, its use is much larger than the cork oak cork, which is Balsa in Ecuador, also known as Corkwood, with the scientific name Ochromalagopus. Balthasar, is a tropical American products, in addition to Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia,