Leopoldinia piassaba

Leopoldinia piassaba
Illustration by Joaquim José Codina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Genus:	Leopoldinia
Species:	L. piassaba
Binomial name
Leopoldinia piassaba Wallace

Leopoldinia piassaba, the Para piassava, piassava fiber palm or piassava palm, is a palm native to black water rivers in Amazonian Brazil and Venezuela, from which is extracted piassava, a high caliber and water resistant fiber. Piassaba fiber is made into brooms, baskets and other products. This plant is also a natural habitat of the Rhodnius brethesi which is a potential vector of Chagas disease and it is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.

References

• Schultes, Richard E. (1974). Palms and religion in the northwest Amazon. Principes 18 (1): 3-21. Astrocaryum vulgare, Bactris gasipaes, Euterpe oleracea, E. precatoria, Leopoldinia piassaba, Maximiliana martiana, Oenocarpus bacaba, Socratea exorrhiza
• (in Portuguese) Rocha, Dayse da Silva; Santos, Carolina Magalhães dos; Cunha, Vanda; Jurberg, José; Galvão, Cleber. Life cycle of Rhodnius brethesi Matta, 1919 (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae), a potential vector of Chagas disease in the Amazon region. (Abstract in English) 2004 October; 99 (6): 591–595.

External links

• "Leopoldinia piassaba". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
• USDA Plants Profile: Leopoldinia piassaba
• (in Portuguese) Flora Brasiliensis: Leopoldinia piassaba