Attalea funifera

Fibers of Attalea funifera sometimes are harvested with a hook attached to the end of a pole (Voeks, 1988).

The use of tire to favor palm development, as used for Attalea funifera in Brazil (Voeks, 1988).

The Brazilian fiber belt: Harvest and management of Piassava palm (Attalea funifera Mart.).

standleyanum, Mauritia flexuosa Seed Phytelephas aequatorialis, P macrocarpa Stem Desmoncus polyacanthos Sheath Aphandra natalia, Attalea funifera, Leopoldinia piassaba Cosmetic Leaf Copernicia prunifera Use category Most common level of trade Food Domestic consumption, local Domestic consumption, local National, international Construction Domestic consumption Domestic consumption Handicraft Regional, national National, international Local, regional Local, regional Cosmetic International

It is derived from three different and taxonomically unrelated palm species: Leopoldiniapiassaba Wallace, Attalea funifera Mart.

Attalea funifera (piassava or piacava) is endemic to a belt along the Atlantic coast of Bahia in Brazil (Figure 1) where it mostly inhabits sandy and spodosolic soils on elevated terraces close to the sea.

Leopoldinia piassaba and Attalea funifera are widely sold in Brazil.

Whereas the piassaba palms from Bahia (Attalea funifera) and Rio Negro (Leopoldinia piassaba) were described in the scientific literature over a century and a half ago (Martius, 1824; Wallace, 1855) the western Amazon piassaba palm (Aphandra natalia) remained un-described until 20 years ago (Balslev & Henderson, 1987).

Second, cultivation of Aphandra natalia was seen to gradually increase in southern Ecuador during the 1990s (Borgtoft Pedersen & Balslev, 1990; Siren, 2007) and nurseries growing Aphandra natalia and Attalea funifera are already established in Itacare in the state of Bahia, Brazil (Carlos Alex Guimaraes, personal communication, 2008).