Samples of wood sold as “angelim” in Brazil were studied. Disks from the trunks of Diplotropis purpurea, Hymenolobium petraeum, Parkia pendula, Vatairea guianensis and Vatairea paraensis were obtained from Mato Grosso state. Samples from pith to bark of each species were obtained, oriented in the three anatomical planes. Each sample was wrapped in aluminum foil and carbonized in a muffle furnace, with a final temperature of 450 °C and a heating rate of 1,66 °C min-1. The description of the anatomical elements of wood and charcoal samples followed the orientations of the International Association of Wood Anatomists, on the basis of 25 readings regarding frequency and tangential diameter of the vessels and height and width of the rays in micrometers. Infrared analyses were performed with a Bruker Tensor 37 spectrophotometer equipped with an integrating sphere and operating in reflectance mode, with resolution of 4 cm-1 and a spectral range of 10000-4000 cm-1. The wood and charcoal samples were placed on top of integrating sphere and one spectrum was obtained from each surface, resulting in six spectra for each physical sample. The results of anatomical analysis showed that the qualitative characteristics of wood remained in charcoal, so the method can be applied for species discrimination. When comparing cell dimensions, we observed different behavior between species in the same carbonization process in function of cell wall thickness and parenchyma distribution. In infrared analysis, pretreatment influenced adequate discrimination of “angelim” species in wood and charcoal. Linear discriminant analysis based on PCA scores and the region between 4000-6200 cm-1 was more efficient. Near infrared analysis can be used for differentiation of wood and charcoal of “angelim” species.