Abstract
A quintessential camp follower in upland areas, concentrations of this palm are a sure indicator that people are, or have been, in the area. Although the palm survives in second growth it is eventually shaded out and disappears if mature forest returns. The palm is a welcome “weed” because it supplies many useful products including fruits that provide snacks, especially for children. The hard endocarps are cracked open and the nuts are also eaten as well as fed to livestock. The large elongated bowl-shaped bracts that cover the emerging fruits are used as water basins for animals in backyards while the fronds are made into baskets, mats, and interior walls. The frond midribs are used to make shrimp traps and sieves. The fronds are also used to thatch houses and huts, as well as to provide partial shade in vegetable beds. Some indigenous groups fashion ornaments from the hard wood obtained from the trunk. Given its widespread cultural value, the palm not surprisingly surfaces in some of the regional folklore and mythology.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alarcón JGS, Peixoto AL (2008) Use of terra firme forest by Caicubi caboclos, Middle Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil: a quantitative study. Econ Bot 62(1):60–73
Albert B, Milliken W (2009) Uhiri a: a terra-floresta Yanomami. Instituto Sociambental (ISA)/Institut de Recherche pour le Devéloppement, São Paulo
Anderson AB (1977) Os nomes e usos de palmeiras entre uma tribo de índios Yanomama. Acta Amazon 7(1):5–13
Anderson AB (1978) The use of palms among a tribe of Yanomama Indians. Principes 22:30–41
Baar R, Cordeiro M, Denich M, Fölster H (2004) Floristic inventory of secondary vegetation in agricultural systems of east-Amazonia. Biodivers Conserv 13:501–528
Balée W (1988) Indigenous adaptation to Amazonian palm forests. Principes 32(2):47–54
Balée W (2010b) Contingent diversity on anthropic landscapes. Diversity 2:163–181
Balée W (2013) Cultural forests of the Amazon: a historical ecology of people and their landscapes. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa
Balick MJ (1988) The use of palms by the Apinayé and Guajajara Indians of Northeastern Brazil. In: Balick MJ (ed) The palm, tree of life: biology, utilization and conservation, Advances in economic botany 6. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, pp 65–90
Bates HW (1863a) The naturalist on the River Amazons, vol 1. John Murray, London
Boom BM (1988) The Chácobo Indians and their palms. In: Balick MJ (ed) The palm, tree of life: biology, utilization and conservation, Advances in economic botany 6. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, pp 91–97
Boom BM (1989) Use of plant resources by the Chácobo. In: Posey DA, Balée W (eds) Resource management in Amazonia: indigenous and folk strategies, Advances in economic botany 7. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, pp 78–96
Brondizio ES (2008) The Amazonian caboclo and the açaí palm: forest farmers in the global market, vol 16, Advances in economic botany. New York Botanical Garden, New York
Cárdenas D, Politis GG (2000) Territorio, movilidad, etnobotánica y manejo del bosque de los Nukak orientales. Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Cientificas, Bogotá
Cavalcante PB (2010) Frutas comestíveis na Amazônia. Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém
Cavelier I, Rodriguez C, Herrera LF et al (1995) No solo de caza vive el hombre: ocupación del bosque Amazónico, Holoceno temprano. In: Cavelier I, Mora S (eds) Ambito y ocupaciones tempranas de la América tropical. Fundación Erigaie/Instituto Colombiano de Antropologia, Bogotá
Chaumeil J-P (1987) Ñihamwo: los Yagua del nor-oriente peruano. Centro Amazónico de Antropología y Aplicación Práctica, Lima
Clement CR, McCann JM, Smith NJH (2003) Agrobiodiversity in Amazonia and its relationship with dark earths. In: Lehmann J, Kern DC, Glaser B, Woods WI (eds) Amazonian dark earths: origin, properties, management. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 159–178
Cocco L (1975) Parima: dove la terra non accoglie i morti. Libreria Ateneo Salesiano, Rome
Coimbra CEA (1985) Estudos de ecologia humana entre os Suruí do Parque Indígena Aripuanã, Rondônia: elementos de etnozoologia. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Série Antropologia 2:9–36
Crocker WH (1990) The Canela (Eastern Timbira), I: an ethnographic introduction. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC
Davis EW, Yost JJ (1983) The ethnobotany of the Waorani of eastern Ecuador. Bot Museum Leaflets Har 29(3):159–217
Echeverri JA, Román-Jitdutjaaño OE (2011) Witoto ash salts from the Amazon. J Ethnopharmacol 138:492–502
Eden MJ, McGregor DFM, Vieira NAQ (1994) Pasture development on cleared forest land near Maracá Island. In: Hemming J (ed) The rainforest edge: plant and soil ecology of Maracá. Manchester University Press, Manchester, pp 134–157
Farabee WC (1918) The central Arawaks, vol 10. The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Fragoso JMV (1997) Tapir-generated seed shadows: scale-dependent patchiness in the Amazon rain forest. J Ecol 85:519–529
Fragoso JMV (1998) Home range and movement patterns of white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) herds in the northern Brazilian Amazon. Biotropica 30(3):458–469
Fragoso JVM, Silvius KM, Correa J (2003) Long-distance seed dispersal by tapirs increases seed survival and aggregates tropical trees. Ecology 84(4):1998–2006
Fraser JA, Junqueira AB, Clement CR (2011a) Homegardens on Amazonian dark earths, non-anthropogenic upland, and floodplain soils along the Brazilian middle Madeira River exhibit diverging agrobiodiversity. Econ Bot 65(1):1–12
Gilmore MP, Endress BA, Horn CM (2013) The socio-cultural importance of Mauritia flexuosa palm swamps (aguajales) and implications for multi-use management in two Maijuna communities of the Peruvian Amazon. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 9:29–52
Gonçalves MA (2001) O mundo inacabado: ação e criação em uma cosmologia Amazônica. Editora UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro
González-Pérez SE, Robert P, Coelho-Ferreira M (2013) Seed use and socioeconomic significance in Kayapó handicrafts: a case study from Pará state, Brazil. Econ Bot 67(1):1–16
Grünberg G (2004) Os Kaiabi do Brasil central: história e etnografia. Instituto Sociambental, São Paulo
Hada AR (2010) O buriti (Mauritia flexuosa L. f.) na terra indígena Araçá, Roraima: usos tradicionais, manejo e potencial produtivo. Doctoral dissertation, INPA, Manaus
Hartt CF (1875) Amazonian tortoise myths. William Scully, Rio de Janeiro
Hecht SB (2003) Indigenous soil management and the creation of Amazonian dark earths: implications of Kayapó practices. In: Lehmann J, Kern DC, Glaser B, Woods WI (eds) Amazonian dark earths: origin, properties, management. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 355–372
Henderson A (1995) The palms of the Amazon. Oxford University Press, New York
Henderson A (2002) Evolution and ecology of palms. The New York Botanical Garden Press, New York
Herndon WL, Gibbon L (1853) Exploration of the valley of the Amazon, made under the direction of the Navy Department, vol 1. Robert Armstrong, Washington, DC
Hoehne FC (1923) Phytophysionomia do estado de Matto-Grosso e ligeiras notas a respeito da composição da sua flora. Companhia Melhoramentos, São Paulo
Hoffman B (2013) Exploring biocultural contexts: comparative woody plant knowledge of an indigenous and Afro-American Maroon Community in Suriname, South America. In: Voeks R, Rashford J (eds) African ethnobotany in the Americas. Springer, New York, pp 335–393
Jerozolimski A, Ribeiro MBN, Martins M (2009) Are tortoises important seed dispersers in Amazonian forests? Oecologia 161:517–528
Koch-Grünberg T (1995) Dos años entre los indios: viajes por el noroeste Brasileño 1903/1905, vol 1. Editorial Universidad Nacional, Bogotá
Le Cointe P (1922a) L’Amazonie Brésilienne: le pays–ses habitants, ses resources, notes et statistiques jusqu’en 1920, vol 1. Augustin Challamel, Paris
Levis C, Souza PF, Schietti J et al (2012) Historical human footprint on modern tree species composition in the Purus-Madeira interfluve, Central Amazonia. PLoS One 7(11):1–10
Lukesch A (1976b) Mito e vida dos índios Caiapós. Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo
Lustosa AA (1976) No estuário Amazônico: “à margem da visita pastoral”. Conselho Estadual de Cultura do Pará, Belém
Milliken W, Albert B (1999) The construction of a new Yanomami round-house. J Ethnobiol 17(2):215–233
Milliken W, Ratter JA (1998) The vegetation of the Ilha de Maracá. In: Milliken W, Ratter JA (eds) Maracá: the biodiversity & environment of an Amazonian rainforest. Wiley, Chichester, pp 71–112
Nimuendajú C (1963b) The Cawahib, Parintintin, and their neighbors. In: Steward JH (ed) Handbook of South American Indians, vol 3. Cooper Square Publishers, New York, pp 283–297
Oliveira AE (1970) Os índios Jurúna do Alto Xingu. Dédalo 6(11–12):7–291
Ribeiro D (1976) Uirá sai à procura de Deus: ensaios de etnologia e indigenismo. Paz e Terra, Rio de Janeiro
Ribeiro BG (1979) Diário do Xingu. Paz e Terra, Rio de Janeiro
Rodríguez AM (2011) Musical voices in the Piaroa world. In: Hill J, Chaumeil J-P (eds) Burst of breath: indigenous ritual wind instruments in lowland South America. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, pp 147–169
Rondón JA (2003) Vocablos Piaroa de algunas artesenías de origen forestal del Estado Amazonas, Venezuela. Rev For Lat 34:71–86
Roosevelt AC (1999) Twelve thousand years of human-environment interaction in the Amazon floodplain. In: Padoch C, Ayres JM, Pinedo-Vasques M, Henderson A (eds) Várzea: diversity, development, and conservation of Amazonia’s whitewater floodplains, Advances in economic botany 13. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, pp 371–392
Sá L (2004) Rain forest literatures: Amazonian texts and Latin American culture. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Salm R (2005) The importance of forest disturbance for the recruitment of the large arborescent palm Attalea maripa in a seasonally-dry Amazonian forest. Biota Neotropica 5(1):35–41
Salm R, Jalles-Filho E, Shuck-Paim C (2005) A model for the importance of large arborescent palms in the dynamics of seasonally-dry Amazonian forests. Biota Neotropica 5(2):1–6
Santos AM, Mitja D (2011) Pastagens arborizadas no projeto de assentamento Benfica, Município de Itupiranga, Pará, Brasil. Revista Árvore 35(4):919–930
Shanley P, Rosa NA (2004) Eroding knowledge: an ethnobotanical inventory in eastern Amazonia’s logging frontier. Econ Bot 58(2):135–160
Silvius KM, Fragoso JMV (2003) Red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) home range use in an Amazonian forest: implications for the aggregated distribution of forest trees. Biotropica 35(1):74–83
Stone AI (2007) Responses of squirrel monkeys to seasonal changes in food availability in an eastern Amazonian forest. Am J Primatol 69:142–157
Van den Bel M (2009) The Palikur potters: an ethnoarchaeological case study on the Palikur pottery tradition in French-Guiana and Amapá, Brazil. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Ciencias Humanas 4(1):39–56
Velthem LH (1998) A pele de Tuluperê. Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém
Viveiros de Castro E (1992b) Araweté: O povo do Ipuxuna. Centro Ecumênico de Documentação e Informação (CEDI), São Paulo
Wallace AR (1853) Palm trees of the Amazon and their uses. John Van Voorst, London
Zent S, Zent EL (2012) Jodï horticultural belief, knowledge and practice: incipient or integral cultivation? Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Ciencias Humanas 7(2):293–338
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smith, N. (2015). Attalea maripa . In: Palms and People in the Amazon. Geobotany Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05509-1_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05509-1_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05508-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05509-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)