Palms and Forest Management in Amazonia

Abstract

A world without palms is a nonsense for most Amazonian inhabitants. Many data on ethnobotany and economic botany of palms have been published since Wallace’s book (1853), Palm Trees of the Amazon and Their Uses: Lévi-Strauss 1952; Jordan 1970; Wheeler 1970; Dugand 1972; Cavalcante 1974; Schultes 1974, 1977; Johnson 1975, 1982; Kitzke and Johnson 1975; Anderson 1978, 1988; Balick 1979a, b, 1981, 1984, 1985a, b, 1986; Putz 1979; Mejia 1983, 1988; Balslev 1987; Kahn and Mejia 1987; Boom 1988; Balée 1988; Coradin and Lieras 1988; Lieras and Coradin 1988; Strudwick and Sobel 1988; Borgtoft Pederson and Balslev 1990; Kahn 1991; Barfod et al. 1990. Palms provide many useful products. In fact, all parts of the plants are used: leaves (thatching, basketry, building materials, wax, fibers), trunk (building material, starch), apical meristem (palm heart), fruit (edible fruit, oil, charcoal, vegetable ivory), and even roots (medicines). A few species have economic potential as edible fruit, palm heart for canning, oil, fiber, and starch, or constitute a gene bank for genetic improvement of cultivated or promising native species. They are mainly large, arborescent palms which can offer ample quantities of their products due to their size and high productivity.