Lemon grass

Visitors to Bosque Santa Lucia normally don't pay much attention to a big clump of grass just a few meters from the reception center but they are always pleasantly surprised when I break off a blade of the plant for them to smell. Without fail, everyone recognizes the smell as that of lemon grass. Only the nomenclature changes according to the nationality of the visitor. The locals refer to it as "capim santo", which translates into "saint's grass". The next most common name is "lemon grass". Then comes "citronella grass". Citronella is also the distilled oil of the plant and makes for an excellent insect repellent. There are several species of lemon grass. This one was given to me by Frei Leao and Eunice Sena, friends who enjoy life on the edge of the Tapajos River.

Camilo Vianna

I like to refer to SOPREN (Sociedade de Preservação dos Recursos Naturais e Culturais da Amazônia) as an example of Brazilians in action. SOPREN was founded in 1968 under the leadership of Camilo Vianna, professor of medicine and vice-president of the Federal University of Pará in Belém. Camilo Vianna is the Johnny Appleseed of the Amazon, but his mission is much more than that of planting trees. It is to combat hunger. “There is no need in talking about preservation of the Amazon if the population is hungry. Hunger does not listen to reasoning. It creates violence, to both mankind and the environment,” proclaims Vianna in his great number of lectures and speeches made throughout Brazil and abroad. “We can't stop to cry over what we've done wrong in the past,” he continues. “We have to jump in right now to battle hunger. Hunger is the key issue to the question of saving the environment.” While SOPREN has been active on many fronts, Vianna takes special pleasure in planting trees. Through a network of nurseries and organizational affiliates, SOPREN has distributed an untold number of seedlings, and in the process, has tucked in an environmental-education program that is changing the mentality of school children and adults alike. Camilo Vianna practices what he preaches. He does not miss an opportunity to spread his gospel, the propagation of trees. When people see Camilo Vianna, they think of trees. They may remember him also as an outstanding professor of medicine, but they think trees.

We had the pleasure of receiving Camilo Vianna out at Bosque Santa Lúcia in the 1980s, as I best remember it. He did not have a lot of time because I had kidnapped him from a medical conference at the Tropical Hotel (now Amazon Park Hotel), but we did walk the main trail of the Bosque. I will never forget his comment to my wife later in the day. “O Bosque tem muitas preciosidades”, he said. I took it to mean that the Bosque has a lot of precious trees. On another occasion, Áurea and I invited him out to dinner and he talked about… hunger and trees. As I opened my billfold to pay the waiter, a gentleman from a neighboring table (José Fernando dos Santos, a retired auditor from the Receita Federal, now deceased) quickly jumped up, grabbed the bill from my hand and made a short, but eloquent speech honoring the ecological attributes of Dr. Vianna. In the middle of this unexpected event, our honored guest got up from the table and disappeared. He was back a few minutes later with two big plastic bags of pitomas (Toulicia spp.), a wild fruit from this region. During the course of the speech in his honor he had seen the vendor passing by the restaurant and he left to get the fruit. Later he told me that he had an excellent germination rate from the seeds, which he planted at one of SOPREN’s nurseries outside of Belém.

Graphic: Arthur Daniel Alexander

Comigo ninguém pode

Dieffenbachia picta is a potted plant that you will undoubtedly find in every home and store in Santarém. They're traditionally placed at the entrance to the premise, thereby playing the role of warden to bad spirits, the evil eye and negative energies. At the Bosque, we have a few of these plants in vases and others in the ground. They do well in either situation. The name, comigo ninguem pode, means "with me, nobody can". I'm not sure what that refers to but I do know that the plant is poisonous. If ingested, it'll paralyze the throat muscles and it's capable of killing cats, dogs and children. It seems to be a rather strange plant to have around the household under these circumstances but here it is right next to the front door.
Image: Jeremy Campbell

Tatajuba

I'm always happy to see tatajuba (Bagassa guianensis) fruits falling on the forest trails because it means we'll be seeing more of the big blue morpho butterflies. The rotting fruit is one of their favorite foods. Add an element of sun and you'll see a show. The seeds of the tatajuba fruit are quite small, as you can see to the right of the screen, right next to the third fruit. I'll post images of the tree and the wood later. There are some ship builders in Europe today who are substituting Asian teak with Brazilian tatajuba.

Timbó

Sebastião dos Santos used to work with me on a regular basis at Bosque Santa Lúcia but he is now captain of a riverboat owned by Santarém Tur here in Santarém. Nevertheless, he is quite aware of my interests in palms and plants in general, so I'm never surprised when he shows up with an assortment of seeds and plants. In November of 2005, he brought me the timbó plant shown in the image. It was only a cutting from a vine at that time. It eventually leafed out and grew into the beautiful thing you see. Only last week I placed it in the ground next to a very high tree stump, where hopefully it will grow into its normal vine form. The chances are that readers of this blog have seen timbó in documentaries made in the Amazon. The scenario is one of Indians beating the heck out of backwaters of a river or a creek with smashed vines or the roots of the same. Fifteen or twenty minutes later dying fish appear on the surface of the water. Yep, that vine was timbó and it is quite capable of killing more than fish. Sebastião told me that when he arrived from upriver Tapajós, he left the cutting at his aunt's home, planning on picking it up another day. Then he discovered that his aunt's ducks were dying of some unknown cause. I'm not sure his aunt made the association between the timbó and the dying ducks but Sebastião was quick to get the plant out of her yard.

I'm still looking for the scientific name for timbó. Henry Bates in his classic, The Naturalist on the River Amazon, described the use of timbó in the Indian villages he visited on the Tapajós River in 1852. The scientific name he used was Paullinia pinnata. More interesting than the Latin name of the plant is the fact that Sebastião took the cutting from one of the same areas visited by Bates back then. I'm sure he never heard of Henry Bates but he sure knew of timbó.

Another Psychotria

I'm not sure if the P. viridis, described as chacrona in an earlier post, can be found at Bosque Santa Lucia. I do know that we have other species of Psychotria, as the one depicted in the image. They are quite prominent during the rainy season but disappear during the dry season of the year. The common name in Portuguese is "mata-gado", which translates into "kill-the-cattle". Evidently, the leaves are quite poisonous and ranchers make it a point to eradicate the plant from their pasture lands.

Mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) vine

I have no personal experience in concocting or drinking the tea described on the previous post for chacrona (I have seen the spelling as "chacruna") but I understand that the brew, which some people refer to as ayahuaska, is a combination of the chacrona leaves, plus the Banisteriopsis caapi vine. The common name of the vine is mariri. I guess either one separately produces hallucinogenic effects but the traditional ayahuaska drink calls for both plants. The Banisteriopsis vines in the attached image were given to me by Pierre, my Swiss friend, the source of the chacrona plant described earlier in this blog. There were several cuttings, all of which have all taken root. In the next few days I'll be putting them in the ground close to trees, where they can climb and grow to be big vines.

Chacrona

Chacrona, of the genus Psychotria, is an hallucinogenic plant traditionally used by some of the indigenous populations for making ceremonial tea. In recent times it has also been adopted by non-Indian religious groups, which also use the plant for ceremonial tea. I understand that chacrona is classified as a hard-drug by Brazilian law but an exception to the rule is made for these specified religious groups. In this region we have two of these groups, one in Alter do Chao and another here in Santarem, called UDV. My Swiss friend, Pierre Schwartz, gave me this plant three years ago when it no more than five inches high. Although it requires a lot of water during the dry season, it seems to be doing well in this semi-shaded spot. I'm not totally certain but I think this plant is Psychotria viridis.

Arruda (Rue)

Arruda, Ruta graveolens, is such a common plant around here, I really thought it was from the Amazon. Recently I discovered that it's originally from Europe and that the use of it can be traced backed to biblical days. It packs a lot of history as a medicine, an herb, protection against the evil eye, bad luck and all the maladies ever encountered by mankind. Jeremy Campbell, anthropologist and researcher, tells me that has has noticed rue among the scents of incense available in the United States. My wife, Áurea, reports that a tea is made of the plant here in Santarém for abortion purposes. Whenever I have more time, I'll do some research to try to discover how it got to Brazil. My guess is that it came with the African slaves, but I don't know for sure. At Bosque Santa Lúcia I only have one arruda plant, the one pictured in the image. I remember very well that I bought it from friends who plant and sell medicinal plants in the Conquista neighborhood of Santarém, just off the road on the way to the airport. I always enjoy the very pronounced, unique smell of arruda. I can't compare it to anything. Maybe just a faint resemblance of dried sagebrush of the western United States.

Bauhinia, the vine

An interesting form of Bauhinia guianensis is the vine it forms as it grows into maturity. The local name for the vine is escada-de-jabuti, which translates into "tortoise's ladder", I guess referring to the step-like configurations of the vine. From observation of the younger plants, like the one posted previously, I would guess that it takes many years to reach the size of the one in the attached image. There are some even much larger! I'm told that a tea made from the vine is an excellent medicine for diarrhea. It took me a long time to associate the younger plant with the older vine, since the latter shows no vestiges of the leaves.

Bauhinia

The common name of this plant is pata do boi (bull's foot) or pata da vaca (cow's foot). The genus is Bauhinia and I'm almost sure that the species in the image is guianensis. They are quite plentiful in the region and there are several different varieties to be seen at the Bosque, some with leaves the size of my thumbnail and others the seize of my hand. It is a medicinal plant, used throughout Brazil for treatment of diabetes and high cholesterol. I'm not sure if one species is considered to be better than another for this purpose. I enjoy chewing on the leaves of the one with the very small leaves.

Heliconia

The heliconias always attract a lot of attention among visitors at the Bosque, especially the H. rostrata, shown in the attached image. They are at their best during the rainy season, which is this time of the year. At the peak of the dry season, around November, I haul a lot of water just to keep the plants alive. There are some other varieties of heliconias to be found in the forest but not in large numbers. On the other hand, they pop up like weeds in the cleared areas, for example, around the entrance to the Bosque.

Wild passion fruit, inside

Here's another image of that P. glandulosa with a better view of the leaves and the fruit cut open. The inside looks much like the commercial variety of passion fruit and tastes almost the same. The wild passion fruits are used by some people for medicinal and exotic purposes but they are much smaller than P. edulis and evidently not available in large quantities. Many farmers grow P. edulis as a cash crop here in the Amazon, given that the Brazilians adore passion fruit juice and sweets flavored with the fruit. The most common way of preparing these delicious drinks and foods is to scoop out the contents, pulp and seeds, and then run the material through a blender. Add water and sugar and there you have the juice. Aside from a great drink or dessert, the consumer gets a free sedative for that afternoon nap.

More passion fruit

The subject of Passifloraceae seems to be of interest to some readers of this blog, so I'll take advantage of this situation to place some more images I have on my computer here at home. At the same time I make it clear that I'm not a professional on the topic, only an interested person wanting to learn more from the experts. Most visitors to Bosque Santa Lucia are quite happy to get a picture of a passion fruit flower without knowing any botanical details of genus or species. Only recently have I discovered that there are several varieties wild passion fruit at the Bosque, some of which have no similarity to the ones posted on this blog. Maybe with the help of my expert readers, I'll learn more. The attached image is a wild passion fruit I photographed last year. I'm almost sure that it is the same species as the bright red flower I posted in December, 2006. It has been identified as P. glandulosa.

Another passion fruit

Last week I had a message from a person in England, who had been at the Bosque recently on one of the cruise ship tours. He had spotted a passion fruit flower from a distance and wanted to know if I could tell him more about what species it might be. Immediately I thought of the brilliant red flower posted on this blog in weeks past. After seeing the same image, he emphatically stated that what he saw was different. Hum, just to show you, things can get to be complicated when looking a minute botanical differences between plants. Maybe that's what makes for biodiversity. Since exchanging notes with this person, who is an expert on Passiflora, I have kept my eyes open for other species. On the very same day that I discovered the gurania flower, posted below, I spotted these Passiflora flowers almost on the ground. Some buds are, indeed, on the ground, maybe knocked off by an animal, or whatever. It appears to me, as a novice, that this passion fruit plant is different than the one described before. The image isn't the best in the world because it was a cloudy, rainy day and the plant was located well off the trail in a rather inaccessible spot. My impression was that the flower was much redder than the attached image shows. More photographs are on my agenda on a sunnier day. I don't think the plant is going to disappear anytime soon. The vine from which the flowers came must be at least 2 inches thick! It's been there for awhile and I'm sure that I'll be seeing red again. In the meanwhile, I'm sending the image to the Passiflora specialist for his comments.

Gurania

Finding a gurania in bloom in a world of green is about as exciting as running into a flashy passion fruit flower. I discovered this one only two days ago close to the old roundhouse, which was destroyed a few years ago by a falling rubber tree. The plant is a vine belonging to the cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae. There are different species but the ones I've seen seem to be the same. In reality, I've never seen many of them, maybe an average of two or three a year. This flower was only off the ground 12 inches or so but I've seen them high up in the trees. An anonymous reader of the blog remarked that this may be G. eriantha.

Joe Jackson

The Joe Jackson, who visited my Bosque Santa Lúcia isn't to be confused with the Joe Jackson, the famous musician and singer. This Joe Jackson is just as famous, but for his writing ability. To quote his website, "Five-time Pulitzer nominee Joe Jackson is the author of four works of nonfiction and a novel. His nonfiction includes: Leavenworth Train, a finalist for the 2002 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime; Dead Run: The Shocking Story of Dennis Stockton and Life on Death Row in America, with co-author William F. Burke and an introduction by William Styron; A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300-mile of its Survivors; and A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen, which was released by Viking in October 2005. A first novel, How I Left the Great State of Tennessee and Went on to Better Things, was released in March 2004." Joe's visit to Santarém in October, 2005 was not to market his many publications, but to research historical data for a new book he's writing on Henry Wickham, the Englishman, who "smuggled" the 70,000 rubber tree seeds out of the Amazon. The title of the book, as I understand it, will be The Thief at the End of World. I met Joe through Claúdio and Gil Serique at the Cultura Inglêsa school of English here in Santarém. They invited me to join them for a get together of local authorities, journalists and other people they felt might serve as contacts for the writer. My role was that of making our Bosque Santa Lúcia available for a visit, if he so wished. Indeed, he accepted the invitation and we were off to the Bosque early the next morning. Without saying, I stopped at the top of the hill on the way (at Piquiatuba) to show him where Henry Wickham lived when he first came to live in Santarém. We spent the morning walking the trails of the Bosque, where I introduced him to most of our 200 rubber trees. He must have enjoyed the visit because he wanted to return before leaving Santarém. Unfortunately, his time played out by the time he and Gil got back from Fordlândia, upriver.

Rudolf Schuster

In an earlier post, I wrote about Sam Johnson's visit to the Amazon. Sam was retracing the footsteps of his father (founder of the Johnson Wax Company), who flew down in his own plane in 1935. Another famous person revisiting his father's exploits in Brazil was Rudolf Schuster, whose father had come here in 1927, to produce the first documentary film made in Slovakia. Rudolf made several visits to Brazil over the years as a writer and film maker. He wrote several books on his travels, one of which he gave me when he visited Bosque Santa Lúcia on August 14, 2001. The book, which I still have, is Selva Brasileira - Expedição Schuster II, published in 1991. The attached image is taken from the volume. I knew that an important VIP was visiting the Bosque that day because the federal police had called me to their headquarters to work out an itinerary for Schuster, then president of Slovakia. He was traveling with his wife, son and daughter, two consuls, two security guards from his own country, plus Brazilian federal police officers. I think his original plan had been to visit Belterra that day but someone had tipped him off about the Bosque, knowing that he was more interested in flora and fauna of the Amazon. Indeed that was the case. He and his escorts were loaded with all kinds of cameras and he rarely ever stopped using them. As I remember it, he spend nearly three hours with me on the trails of the forest. I suspect that some of the film footage has been included in his follow up books and documentaries on the Amazon. When he published Selva Brasileira in 1991, he had already published 15 books, plus an untold number of film and radio documentaries.

Alice Stein

Other than my immediate family, no other person has contributed so greatly to Bosque Santa Lúcia as Alice Stein, journalist, photographer and editor from Buffalo, New York. Alice and her husband, Robert Stein (now retired professor of biology at New York State University), joined me for a three-day riverboat tour in the Santarém region in the late 1980s, or early 90s. So long ago, as a matter of fact, I can't remember the year. After picking them up at the airport we went directly to our leased riverboat, B/M Lajana, waiting for us in front of the city. I'll never forget their expression of surprise when they discovered that it was a private tour just for them. The trip must have whetted their appetite for the Amazon because the next year they were back, this time for a tour of 7 days. So it went over the next 3-4 years, every trip becoming more of an expedition. Regular crew members on these outings were Captain Domingos and Sebastião Santos (Sabá), who later became Alice's right hand man at Bosque. Eventually, we moved our base of operation to the Bosque, mainly because we had explored everything on the regional river system. There was also the question of increasing fuel costs and boat rentals, which have made private tours rather expensive. Although Robert was unable to join us very often at the Bosque, Alice continued to return for several years in a row. She always stayed with Raimundo and Filha Teixeira at their modest abode across the road from the Bosque land. Sleeping was in a hammock, the same that she had always used on the riverboat. Her room was so small, she could easily reach out from the hammock for any object in the room. Her electric blanket was the family cat, which never missed the opportunity for companionship. Electricity was unheard of in this village, so she sacked out early, as we say, with the chickens. Likewise, she and Sabá were up early with the hungry chickens and the family parrots. After a meager breakfast they were off to explore the forest, where the primary objective was that of photography. For a woman in her 70s, there was nothing too difficult to photograph, even if it meant crawling like a snake through the brush. Over several visits, Alice amassed a fantastic collection of slides of flora and fauna, including an untold variety of butterflies. Several collections were donated to ICBS (Instituto Cultural Boanerges Sena) here in Santarém. Cristovam Sena has transferred most of them to digitalized images, which are available to researchers and the public in general. Alice also provided a grant to ICBS for the publication of a booklet entitled Bosque Santa Lúcia. Between visits to Santarém, Alice is as busy as a bee conducting environmental education lectures and slide shows on the Amazon to private and public schools in the Buffalo school district. Taking advantage of these contacts, she receives boxes of nearly new tennis shoes, which are donated to the kids at the Pastoral do Menor program here. There have also been some right-out money donations from the school kids in New York to help build a new school at Poço Branco, the village next to Bosque Santa Lúcia. Even though age and difficult traveling conditions have prevented Alice Stein from returning to Santarém over the last three years, she continues to support the cause of a surviving Amazon. Let's hear it for a friend, Alice Stein.

Lots for sale

Over the years I've had nightmares thinking about the possibility of the farm lands around Bosque Santa Lúcia being subdivided into residential lots. Think about it! A small forest reserve of 270 acres surrounded by spreading suburbia. A few days ago I nearly had a heart attack when I spotted this sign marking the outer limits of a subdivision called Planalto. The land is right across the road (really more of a trail) separating the Bosque from a large piece of land that goes all the way back to the federal highway, BR-163, three kilometers away. When we started the Bosque back in 1981, all of this land was occupied by small subsistence farmers eking out a living in an area without any amenities, not even a passable road during the rainy season. The owners of the two homesteads annexing the Bosque were anxious to sell their properties to me for next to nothing. Both ended up moving into the city and I think they would have accepted any offer in order to sell their places. Eventually the lands were bought up by a local politician, who deforested the lands to plant soybeans and rice. All the local people in the area suspected that he would eventually subdivide the area whenever electricity became available. It is more than coincidental that just as the power line is being built, this sign shows up. The neighbor's relatives deny that a subdivision is being planned. Another neighbor says that the Planalto subdivision is another one that begins south of BR-163 Highway. I'm still very suspicious because I see some stakes placed out in the field! Hum.

Exotics classified at the Bosque

Exotics

ID/Common Name/Genus/Specie/Family

EX 1.0 Abacate/Avocado Persea americana Lauraceae

EX 1.1 Acerola/Pará cherry Malpighia punicifolia Malpighiaceae
EX 1.2 Azeitona/Olive Eugenia jambolano Myrtaceae
EX 1.21 Babosa Aloe barbadensis Liliaceae
EX 1.3 Banana Musa sp. Musaceae
EX 1.4 Café/Coffee/ beirão Coffea sp. Rubiaceae
EX 1.5 Café/Coffee/comum Coffea arabica Rubiaceae

EX 1.6 Carambola/Five-star Averrhoa carambola Oxalidaceae
EX 1.61 Capim Santa Cymbopon sp. Poaceae
EX 1.7 Castanhola/Indian almond Terminalia catapa Combretaceae
EX 1.8 Chuveirinho Russelia equisetiformis
EX 1.9 Corn Plant Draceana massangeana Liliaceae
EX 2.0 Croton Codiaeum variegatum Euphorbiaceae
EX 2.1 Cycad Cycas circinalis Cycadaceae
EX 2.2 Ficus Ficus benjimina Moraceae
EX 2.3 Flamboyant Poinciana regia Caesalpiniaceae

Ex 2.4 Fruta pão/Breadfruit Artocarpus communis Moraceae
EX 2.4 Hibiscus Hibiscus sp. Malvaceae
EX 2.5 Imperial Palm Roystonea oleracea Palmae
EX 2.6 Jaca da Bahia/Jackfruit Artocarpus integrifolia Moraceae
EX 2.7 Jambeiro/Roseapple Eugenia malaccensis Myrtaceae
EX 2.8 Laranja (orange) Citrus aurantium Rutaceae
EX 2.9 Manga/Mango Mangifera indica Anacardiaceae

EX 3.0 Mangosteen Garcinia maangostana Clusiaceae

EX 3.2 Mogno/Mahogany Kaya ivorensis
EX 3.1 Tangerine Citrus nobilis Rutaceae

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Native plants classified at Bosque

Native Plants

ID/Common Name/Genus/Specie/Family

NP 1.0 Alamanda/Golden trumpet Allamanda cathartica Bignoniaceae
NP 1.1 Algodão/Cotton tree Gossypium spp. Malvaceae
NP 1.2 Ave-do-paraíso Heliconia psittacorum Musaceae
NP 1.21 Baunilha/Vanilla Vanilla sp. Orchidaceae
NP 1.3 Bougainvillea Bougainvillea sp. Nyctaginaceae
NP 1.4 Cana-de-macaco/Ginger Costus sp. Zingiberaceae
NP 1.41 Cipo-imbê Phillodendrum imbe Schott Araceae
NP 1.5 Club moss Selaginella sp. Selaginellaceae

NP 1.6 Dumb cane Dieffenbachia picta Araceae
NP 1.62 Erva de Passarinho Phoradendron sp Loranthaceae
NP 1.63 Escada de jabuti Bauhinia guyanensis Caesalpiniaceae
NP 1.61 Folha grossa Kalanchoe pinnata Grassuleae
NP 1.7 Ginja Eugenia uniflora Mirtáceae
NP 1.8 Guaraná(Medicinal) Paulina cupana Sapindaceae
NP 1.9 Gurania Gurania sp. Cucurbitaceae
NP 2.0 Heliconia Heliconia pssitacorum Musaceae
NP 2.11 Hibiscus Hibicus rosa-sinensis Malvaceae
NP 2.62 Jambu Spilanthes acmella Asteraceae

NP 2.1 Mandioca/Cassava Manihot esculenta Euphorbiaceae
NP 2.2 Mata gado Psychotria sp. Rubiaceae
NP 2.3 Mata pastagem/Cassia Cassia alata Leguminosae
NP 2.4 Milho de cobra/Tajá de cobra Dracontium asperum Araceae
NP 2.5 Monstera Monstera deliciosa Araceae
NP 2.6 N/A Marcgravia sp. Marcgraviaceae
NP 2.61 Oeceoclades Oeceoclades maculata. Orchidaceae
NP 2.62 Orelhão/Skunk cabbage N/A Araceae
NP 2.7 Passion fruit/Maracujá(Medicinal) Passiflora sp. Passifloraceae
NP 2.8 Pata de vaca(Medicinal) Bauhinia sp. Caesalpiniaceae
NP 2.9 Philodendron Syngonium sp. Araceae
NP 3.0 Pião(Medicinal) Jatropha curcas Euphorbiaceae
NP 3.1 Pimenta-de-macaco Piper tuberculatum Piperaceae

NP 3.2 Primaveira/Cardinal climber Ipomoea quamoclit Convolvulus
NP 3.3 Quebra Pedra(Medicinal) Phyllanthus niruri Euphorbiaceae
NP 3.4 Sensitive plant Mimosa pudica Mimosaceae

NP 3.5 Taboca gigante (Armarelo) Bamboo Guadua sp. Gramineae
NP 3.6 Taboca gigante (Verde)/Bamboo Bambusa sp. Gramineae
NP 3.60 Tajá/Caladium Caladium bicolor Araceae

NP 3.61 Tajá/Caladium Caladium sp. Araceae

NP 3.62 Tajá de cobra Dracontium sp. Araceae
NP 3.7 Urucu comum(Medicinal) Bixa orellana Bixaceae

Pavâo

My friend, Claúdio Serique, quickly identified the Psygmorchis orchid, which appeared on an earlier post, but he scratched his head on the name of the host shrub, pavão. The word in Portuguese means "peacock" and it's easy to understand the association. I publish the image of the plant and its flowers in hope that he, or someone else, can give me the correct name. My hunch is that there are few people in this world capable of identifying that orchid but there will probably be many who can recognize what I call "pavão".

Wood samples at Bosque

Wood samples at Bosque Santa Lucia:

Abiurana (Pouteria sp.)
Acapú (Vouacapoua americana)
Acariquara (Minquartia guianensis Aubl.)
Amarelão (Apuleia molaris)
Andiroba (Carpa guianensis)
Angelim da Mata (Hymenolobium petraeum)
Angelim Pedra (Hymenolobium petraeum)
Angelim vermelho (Dinizia excelsa)
Aroeira (Astronium fraxinifolium)
Cambará (Erisma uncinatum)
Castanheira (Bertholetia excelsa)
Cedro Branco (Cedrela fissilis)
Cedro Vermelho (Cedrela sp.)
Cedrorana (Cedrelinga catenaeformis)
Coataquiçaua (Peltogyne spp. )
Coração de Negro (Chamecrista negrensis)
Cuiarana (Terminalia guianensis)
Cumaru (Dipteryx odorata)
Cupiúba (Goupia glabra Aubl.)
Faieira (Roupala Montana)
Fava Amargosa (Vatairea sp.)
Fava Arara Tucupi (Parkia multijuga)
Fava Folha Fina (Piptadenia suaveolews)
Fava Sumaúma (Ceiba pentanda)
Fava Tamboril (Enterolobium maximum)
Fava Tapete (Schizolobium amazonicum)
Freijó (Cordia goeldinana)
Gombeira (Swartzia sp.)
Guariúba (Clarisia racemosa)
Gumbeira (Swartzia recurva Poepp. & Endi)
Ingá (Ingá Alba)
Ipê Roxo (Tabebuia heptaphylla)
Ipê Vermelho (Tabebuia sp)
Itaúba (Mezilaurus itauba)
Itaúba Suribim (Mezilaurus sp)
Jacarandá do Pará (Dalbergia spruciana)
Jacareuba (Calophyllum Brasiliense)
Jarana (Holopyxidium jarans)
Jatobá (Hymenae courbaril)
Jatobá Açu (Hymenaea sp.)
Louro Amarelo (Licaria sp.)
Louro Faia (Euplassea pinnata)
Louro Itaúba (Mezilaurus sinandra)
Louro Preto (Ocotea sp.)
Maçaranduba (Manilkara huberi)
Mandioqueira Áspera (Qualea pararensis)
Marupá (Simarouba amara)
Matá Matá (Eschweilera sp.)
Mógno/Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)
Molongo (Ambelania acida)
Muiracatiara (Astronium lecontei)
Muirapiranga (Brosimum paraensis)
Pau Amarelo (Euxylophora paraensis)
Pau Brasil (Caesalpinia echinata)
Pau D´Árco (Tabebuia serratifolia)Pau Santo (Zollernia paraensis Huber)
Piquiá (Caryocar villosum)
Pracuuba da Terra Firme (Trichillia lecointei Ducke)
Quaruba (Vochysis maxima)
Quaruba Verdadeira (Vochysis sp.)
Quaruba-Cedro (Vochysia spp.)
Quarubarana / Cambará) (Erisma uncinatum Warm)
Roxinho / Purpleheart (Peltogyne confertiflora)
Sebastião Arruda (Dalbergia Frutescens)
Sucupira (Bowdichia guianensis)Sucupira Preta (Bowdichia virgilioides)
Tachi Pitomba (Sclerolobium chrysophyllum)
Tatajuba (Bagassa guianensis)
Tauarí (Couratari guianensis)
Tauarí Vermelho (Couratari sp.)
Ubaia (Eugenia p.)Uchirana (Vantanea parvifolia)
Ucuúba de Terra Firme (Virola michelii Hechel)
Virola de Terra Firme (Virola duckei)

Palm species at Bosque

Native palms species at Bosque Santa Lucia

ID/Common Name/Genus/Specie/Family

PAL 01 Açaí Euterpe oleracea Palmae

PAL 1 Babaçu Attalea speciosa Palmae

PAL 1.1 Bacaba Oenocarpus distichus Palmae

PAL 1.2 Carnauba Copernicia prunifera Palmae

PAL 2 Coco da Bahia/Coconut Cocos nucifera Palmae

PAL 3 Inajá Attalea maripa Palmae

PAL 3.1 Jacintara Desmoncus sp. Palmae

PAL 4 Marajá da mata Bactris maraja Palmae

PAL 5 Mucajá Acrocomia aculeata Palmae

PAL 6 Mumbaca Astrocaryum gynacanthum Palmae

PAL 7 Piririma Syagrus pseudococos or cocoides Palmae

PAL 8 Pupunha Bactris gasipaes Palmae

PAL 9 Tucumã açu Astrocaryum aculeatum / A. macrocarpum Huber Palmae
PAL 10 Tucumã piranga Astrocaryum vulgare Palmae

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Biodiversity of trees at the Bosque

Index

NT= Native trees
PAL= Native palms
NP= Native plants
EX= Exotic trees, plants and palms

Partial listing of flora to be seen on the trails at Bosque Santa Lúcia

Native Trees

I.D/Common Name/Genus/Specie/Family

NT 1.1 Abiu Pouteria caimito Sapotaceae

NT 2 Abiurana cutiti Pouteria macrophylla Sapotaceae
NT 3 Abiurana frutão Pouteria sp. Sapotaceae

NT 4 Abiurana peluda Ecclinusa sp. Sapotaceae
NT 4.1 Abiurana pitomba Sandwithiodoxa egregia Sapotaceae
NT 4.2 Algaroba Prosopis julifora Mimosaceae
NT 5 Amapá doce Brosimum perinarioides Moraceae
NT 5.1 Apuí/Strangler fig Ficus nymphacaefolia Moraceae
NT 5.2 Andiroba(Medicinal) Carapa guianensis Meliaceae
NT 5.3 Angelim Hymenolobium sp. Leguminoseae
NT 6 Arapari Swartzia sp. Caesalpiniaceae

NT 7 Arapari branco Swartzia sp. Caesalpiniaceae
NT 7.1 Araracanga vermelho Aspidosperm centrale Apocynaceae
NT 8 Achicha Sterculia speciosa Sterculiaceae
NT 9.1 Breu preto Protium sp. Burseraceae
NT 10 Breu sucuruba Trattinickia burseraefolia Burseraceae
NT 11 Cacau comum/Cocoa Theobroma cacao Sterculiaceae
NT11.1 Caju/Cashew Anacardium ocidentale Anacardiaceae
NT 12 Cacaui Theobroma speciosum Sterculiaceae
NT 13 Cacaui quadrado Theobroma atrorubens Sterculiaceae
NT 16 Caférana Faramea sp. Rubiaceae
NT 17 Cambiteiro N/A N/A
NT 18 Capitiu Siparuma sp. Monimiaceae
NT 19 Canela de velho Rinorea cf guianensis Violaceae
NT 20 Caqui Diospyros sp. Ebenaceae
NT 21 Caqui folha miuda Diospyros sp. Ebenaceae
NT 22 Caraipe Licania hypolsuca Chrysobalanaceae
NT 23 Castanha do Pará/Brazil nut Bertholetia excelsa Lecythidaceae
NT 25 Cauaçu Coccoloba latifolia Poligonaceae
NT 25.1 Cedro/Brazilian cedar Cedrela odorata Meliaceae
NT 26 Cinzeiro Terminalia sp. Combretaceae

NT 27 Cocão Poecylanthe effusa Fabaceae
NT 28 Copaíba(Medicinal) Copaifera multifuga Caesalpiniaceae
NT 29 Conario Connarus perrottetii Conaraceae
NT 30 Cuieira/Calabash Crescentia cuiete Bignoniaceae
NT 31 Cumaru folha grande Dipteryx odorate Fabaceae
NT 32 Cupuaçú Theobroma grandiflorum Sterculiaceae
NT 33 Envira bobo Rollinia sp. Annonaceae
NT 34 Envira periquiteira Cochlospermum Cochlospermceae
NT 34.1 Envira preta Duguetia sp. Annonaceae
NT 35 Envira preta lisa Guatteria poeppigiana Annonaceae
NT 36 Envira preta fissurada Onychopetalum amazonicum Annonaceae
NT 37 Envira perta capii Duguetia sp. Annonaceae
NT 38 Fava barbatimão Stryphndendron pulcherrimum Mimosaceae
NT 38.1 Fava folhafina Piptadenia suaveoleas Mimosaceae
NT 39 Fava de besouro Cassia xinguensis Caesalpiniaceae
NT 40 Fava de rosca Enterolobium Mimosaceae
NT 41 Farinha seca Lindackeria sp. Flacourtiaceae
NT 40.1 Fava tamboril Enterolobium maximum Mimosaceae
NT 42.1 Freijó peludo Cordia sp. Boraginaceae
NT 42 Freijó branco Cordia sp. Boraginaceae
NT 43 Genipapo/Jenipapo Genipa americana Rubiaceae
NT 44 Geniparana Gustavia augusta Lecythidaceae
NT 45 Goiaba/Guava Psidium guajava Myrtaceae
NT 46 Goiaberana Eugenia sp. Myrtaceae
NT 47 Goiabinha Myrciaria sp. Myrtaceae
NT 48 Gombeira Swartzia Caesalpiniaceae
NT 49 Gombeira folha grande Swartzia Caesalpiniaceae
NT 50 Guaraná Paullina cupana Sapindaceae
NT 51 Imbaúba/Cecropia Cecropia sp. Moraceae
NT 52 Imbaúbarana Pourouma sp. Moraceae
NT 52.1 Ingá folha grande Inga sp. Mimosaceae
NT 53 Ingácipó Inga edulis Mimosaceae
NT 54 Ingá cumaru Inga alba Mimosaceae
NT 55 Ingárana Inga sp. Mimosaceae
NT 55.1 Ingá fruto seco Inga sp. Mimosaceae
NT 56 Ingá xixica Inga heterophylla Mimosaceae
NT 57 Inhare Helicostyles sp. Moraceae
NT 58 Itaúba pimenta Siparuna sp. Monimiaceae
NT 59 Itaubarana Casearia sylvestre Flacourtiaceae
NT 59.2 Jaboticaba Myrciaria jaboticaba Berg. Myrtaceae
NT 59.1 Jacarandá do Pará Dalbergia spruceana Dalbergíreas
NT 61 Janita Brosimum lactescens Moraceae
NT 62 Jarana Holopyxidium jarans Lecythidaceae
NT 63 Jatoa Guarea sp. Meliaceae
NT 64 Jipio Tabernaeontana sp. Apocynaceae
NT 65.1 Jucá(Medicinal) Caesalpinia ferrea Caesalpiniaceae
NT 66 Jutaí açu = Jatobá Hymenaea courbaril Caesalpiniaceae
NT 67 Jutaí pororoca Dialium guianensis Caesalpiniaceae
NT 68 Lacre grande Vismia sp. Hypericaceae
NT 69 Lacre vermelho Vismia sp. Hypericaceae
NT 71 Limãozinho Zanthoxylum rhoifolia Rutaceae

NT 72 Limorana Chomelia anisomeris Rubiaceae
NT 73 Louro amarelo Licaria sp. Lauraceae
NT 73.1 Louro branco Ocotea sp. Lauraceae
NT 74 Louro da beira Ocotea laxifolia Lauraceae
NT 75 Louro preto Ocotea sp. Lauraceae
NT 76 Macuçu Licania latifolia Chrysobalanaceae
NT 77 Mamão comum/Papaya Caryca papaya Carycaceae
NT 78 Mamorana Bombax sp. Bombacaceae
NT 79 Mamorana grande Bombax globosum Bombacaceae
NT 79.1 Mandioqueira grande Qualea sp. Vochysiaceae
NT 81 Muruci Byrsonima crassifolia Malpighiaceae
NT 82 Mão de gato Perebea sp. Moraceae
NT 83 Marirana Cassia spruceana Caesalpiniaceae
NT 83.1 Matá matá branco Eschweilera sp. Lecythidaceae
NT 84 Matá matá rosa Eschweilera rosea Lecythidaceae
NT 85 Membi Cassia sp. Caesalpiniaceae
NT 86 Moracea folha grande Brosimum sp. Moraeace
NT 87 Mororo Bauhinia macrostachva Caesalpiniaceae
NT 88 Mororo grande Bauhinia sp. Caesalpiniaceae
NT 89 Morototó Didymopanax morototoni Araliaceae
NT 89.1 Muira PuamaMedicinal Ptychopetalum olacoides Olacaceae
NT 90 Muiraçacaca(Medicinal) Croton cajucara Euphorbiaceae
NT 91 Muirapucu Laetia sp. Flacourtiaceae
NT 91.1 Muirataua Apuleia molaris Caesalpiniaceae
NT 92 Muiratinga folha lisa Maquira sp. Moraceae
NT 93 Murta Myrcia sp. Myrtaceae

NT 94 Murupita Sapium sp. Euphorbiaceae
NT 95 Mutamba Guazuma ulmifolia Sterculiacea

NT 96 Mututi Pterocarpus sp. Fabaceae
NT 97 Mututi branco Dussia sp. Erythroxylaceae
NT 97.1 Muuba Belucia sp. Melastomataceae

NT 98 Pajurá Couepia bracteosa Chrysobalanaceae
NT 98.1 Papo de mutum Lucunaria sp. Quiinaceae
NT 99 Parapará Jacaranda copaia Bignoniaceae
NT 100 Paricá Schizolobium sp. Caesalpiniaceae

NT 101 Paricá branco Acacia polyphylla Mimosaceae
NT 102 Pau dÁrco buroja Tabebuia sp. Bignoniaceae
NT 102.1 Pau Brasil/Brazilwood Caesalpinia echinata Leguminosas
NT 103 Pau mulato Calycophyllum spruceanum Rubiaceae

NT 104 Pau de remo Chimarrhia sp. Rubiaceae
NT 104.1 Pau rosa/Rosewood Aniba canelillia rosaeodora Lauraceae
NT 105 Pente de macaco Apeiba macropetala Tiliaceae
NT 106 Piquiá Caryocar villosum Caryocaraceae
NT 107 Pitanga Stenocalyx sp. Myrtaceae

NT 108 Pitoma da mata Toulicia sp. Sapindaceae
NT 109 Pitombarana Toulicia sp. Sapindaceae
NT 109.1 Quina(Medicinal) Quassia amara Simaroubaceae
NT 110 Quinarana Geissospermum sericeum Apocynaceae
NT 110.1 Sapucaia Lecythis pisonis Lecythidaceae
NT 111 Seringa comum/rubber Hevea brasiliensis Euphorbiaceae
NT 112 Sucuuba(Medicinal) Himatanthus sucuba Apocynaceae

NT 113 Sumauma/Ceiba Ceiba pentanda Bombacaceae
NT 113.1 Tachi cauaçu Triplaris sp. Polygonaceae
NT 115 Taquarí Mabea caudata Euphorbiaceae
NT 116 Taperebá/Hogplum Spondias lutea Anacardiaceae
NT 117 Tatajuba Bagassa guianensis Moraceae

NT 118 Tatajuba de espinho Chlorophora tindctoria Moraceae
NT 119 Tatapiririca Tapirira guianensis Anacardiaceae
NT 120 Tauari branco Couratari sp. Lecythidaceae
NT 121 Tinteiro branco Miconia sp. Melastomataceae
NT 121.1 Tinteiro vermelho Miconia sp. Melastomataceae
NT 122 Ucuuba Virola sebifera Myristicaceae

NT 123 Umari gordo Paraqueiba paraensis Icacinaceae
NT 124 Urucu comum Bixia orellana Bicaceae
NT 125 Urucurana Sloanea sp. Elaeocarpaceae

NT 126 Urtigão = Cansanção Jatropha urens Euphorbiaceae

NT 126.1 Visgueiro Parkia gigantocarpa Leguminosa
NT 127 Xixua = Chichue Maytensus sp. Celastraceae

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Bosque walking tour

Bosque Santa Lucia is an excellent choice for seeing biodiversity of Amazonian flora. This tour leaves from your hotel or other points in the city, per arrangement. Duration of the excursion is 3-4 hours. We will pick up the Santarem-Cuiaba Highway on the other side of town and travel up to the plateau at an elevation of 158 meters (518 feet) and then enter a secondary dirt road that will take us to Bosque Santa Lucia. Some slash and burn agriculture and more recent mechanized practices can be observed on this stretch of road.

At Bosque Santa Lucia your guide will choose one of the many trails in the forest for that nature walk (easy walking) you have wanted to take since arriving in the Amazon. More than 400 different species of native trees are found in the forest, some examples of which have been identified for your convenience. Bosque Santa Lucia provides most of the characteristics noted throughout the more distant, inacessible primary forest, that is, widely diversified species of trees and plants making use of nutrient-poor soils. Discover for yourself the secrets of how they manage.

Vanilla orchid bean

And here is the only fruit I've ever seen of the vanilla orchid. It's about the size of a ballpoint pen and it takes months to reach maturity, turning yellow towards the end of this process. I'm told that the curing process of the bean is very complicated, which may explain why most vanilla extract is artificial today. There are also other vegetable substitutes for vanilla extract. I'm waiting anxiously for another flower exhibition. In the meanwhile, I've placed one more plant on the back porch of the museum.

Vanilla orchid flowers

It's my understanding that the vanilla orchid comes from Mexico and that it is the only edible orchid in the world. The cured bean is the source of that wonderful flavor that goes into vanilla ice cream. Evidently the flower is not easily pollinated, which might explain why few people here have seen the fruit. As you can see from the image, there are two flowers and several buds. I don't remember having seen flowers from the other buds and one one of these flowers produced the vanilla bean. Coming up in the next post.

Vanilla orchid

My friend, Hélcio Amaral, gave me a cutting of Vanilla planifolia some years ago, right from his back yard. I planted it next to a taperebá tree (Spondias lutea) at the Bosque. Although it suffered during the dry season, it made its way up the tree at least 10 meters. Then it lost its grip and fell. The next rainy season it was climbing again. So it went for several years, never getting higher than that. I took some cuttings from the plant and placed them on the supporting columns of the porches. Local orchid collectors told me that they had never seen the plant bloom. The one in the attached image did. The flower coming up in the next post.

Orchid (Psygmorchis pusilla)

I thought I had this native orchid classified but when I was ready to post the entry I couldn't find the name, common or scientific. My friends, Claudio and Bernadette Serique from the Santarem Orchid Society came to my aid. The name of the little beauty is Psygmorchis pusilla. The first time I remember seeing it (the flower is the size of my fingernail) was many years ago when I was cleaning up the heaps of downed trees left by a bulldozer, which had been sent in by the municipality government to open up the road, then not much more than a trail. There were literally dozens of them attached to the branches of a young jack-fruit tree. Over the years the new generations of the orchids moved on to other trees further away. Today, when I thought I might get a better picture of the plant, there was not one orchid on the jack fruit tree. Almost 200 meters away I found several of them on a "pavão" shrub. Image by Jeremy Campbell.

Bamboo orchids

Visitors to the Santarém area are often disappointed that they don't see more orchids, especially the wild ones. I guess this might be the case of great expectations, much like people expect to see a greater number of birds and other animals. In part, it is that the Santarém region has a semi-humid climate that reduces the number and variety of orchids, let's say compared to some other areas of the Amazon where there is greater rainfall and relative humidity. One of my favorite orchids at Bosque Santa Lúcia is the bamboo orchid (Arundina bambusifolia), a terrestrial plant that blooms and blooms year around, if it gets plenty of sun and water. I keep some in the ground and others in buckets. During our dry season it is easier to water the ones in buckets. Those in the ground suffer from the lack of water but return to their state of exuberant beauty when the rains begin. The bamboo orchid is native of Asia. Image by my German friend, Chris.

Porcupine quills

My neighbor's dog enjoys having an extra meal at the Bosque as soon as I arrive and he's not fussy about the food. It can be leftovers from our table at home; it can be Lucca's (our dog) leftovers; or anything else available. When there's nothing, I crack some Brazil nuts for the hungry beast to eat. Day before yesterday, I laid out the banquet and to my surprise "Bichinho" just looked at it. Then I saw why; his lips and mouth were full of porcupine quills. It hurt just looking at him. Yesterday, Bichinho was back without the darts and hungrier than ever. The next time I see Bimba (my neighbor), I'll ask how he removed the quills.

Turn on the lights

Looking at community priorities on a 1-10 ranking system, I dare say that having electricity is right at the top. Most of us take it for granted but for the dwellers of Poço Branco Bosque (where Bosque Santa Lúcia is located) it has only been a dream. Individuals and committees from Poço Branco have lobbied regularly for installation of electricity for decades but to no avail. The bottom line was always the small numbers of rural families to benefit from several kilometers of power line, compared to some suburban areas (mostly invaded lands) where hundreds were asking for electricity. Politicians don't count sheep, they count votes. In an attempt to get more families residing in Poço Branco, the president of the community petitioned me, in writing, to subdivide our forest reserve into small residential lots. I think this was around 1987. Maybe doing so would have justified asking for electricity but it wasn't going to help the forest reserve. So, here were are 20 years later and it appears that electricity is on its way, thanks to President Lula and his national rural electrification program. His platonic aim is to hook up every rural home with electricity by the end of his second term as president. Seeing is believing! I couldn't believe my eyes this week when I saw this pile of concrete poles deposited alongside the road next to the Bosque. Projection is that we'll have lights within the next two months.

Brazil nut tree, alive

In an earlier post I showed images of dead Brazil nut trees (Bertholetia excelsa) killed by man in his effort to introduce mechanized agriculture in the Amazon. I'm glad to report that all of our trees are still alive and well at the Bosque, including one tree that is more than 300 years old. You'll notice in the attached image that there are three individual trees fused together at the base. This is quite a common occurrence for Brazil nut trees because they germinate from pods, which have an average of 14 seeds. These seeds are super packaged by the woody-like pod and individual shells, so it can take two or three years for these elements to decompose enough for germination. They can all germinate together inside a rotting pod, thus the probability of more than one tree in a stand.

The Legendary frog

On Friday I was changing some identification tags on the palms located on the back porch of the "museum" at the Bosque to discover this very unusual frog attached to the side of a plastic vase. It was totally immobile with legs and feet tucked in under its body and only a slight slit of the eyes open. The attached image was taken after I had removed it from the vase. The only sign of life was that it moved its legs out from under the body and opened its eyes a bit wider. I have never seen anything quite like this little frog. Immediately, it reminded me of the legendary frog of this region, called muiraquitã. Amulets of this green frog were made of jade and other rare stones by Indians of past times and the legend associated with the muiraquitã is one of the best known throughout the Amazon. I have written more about the legend in my upcoming book, SANTARÉM - RIVERBOAT TOWN, to be published soon by the Missouri Publishing Company.

Rain at last

Rains got under way day before yesterday and they have been relatively heavy ones, making up for the several weeks of extended drought in this immediate region. The last significant rain at Bosque Santa Lúcia was on November 14th and we had already had a few weeks of dry weather prior to that. Weather patterns are very unpredictable here but it seems to me that the dry season gets longer every year. We get approximately 2,000mm of rain a year and most of it falls between February and July. September and October have traditionally been bone-dry months. December and January are always very erratic. Don't count on anything. Some soy and rice farmers take their chances of planting early after a rain, like the one on November 14th last year. On December 24th I saw some of these fields near Belterra. A total loss! The mud hole in the image is on the Bosque property. It is referred to as a "baixada", lowland. I've seen as much as 1.5 meters of water accumulated here, certainly enough to bring all traffic to a stop.

Cupuaçu continued

The fruit of the cupuaçu tree (Theobroma grandiflorum) isn't ripe until it actually falls off the tree. Locals say they know when there are fruit on the ground because they can smell them from quite a distance, even though they may not be broken open. Without a doubt, cupuaçu is the most popular and expensive fruit in the Amazon and the pulp is used for a great variety of foods, for example, juices, fillings for chocolates, ice cream, cake fillings and so on. Most foreigners like cupuaçu products but there are some people who liken them to durians. You either like them, or you don't. If it's the latter, prepare some reasonable excuse for refusing the fruit because the Brazilians always want to offer what they consider best in their environment and believe me, they love cupuaçu.

Cupuaçu tree

The cupuaçu tree, Theobroma grandiflorum, is in the same genus as the chocolate tree, Theobroma cacao. You might recognize the similarity of the two by looking at the leaves. but the fruit is quite different. At Bosque Santa Lúcia, the fruit is seasonable, i.e., only to be found during the rainy season. Fortunately the pulp adapts very well to freezing, so it's available year around in Santarém. Like its cousin, T. cacao, chocolate can be made from the seeds, except it is a white chocolate. In recent times someone has patented it as Cupalate. Speaking of a patent, only a few years someone in Japan patented the word "cupuaçu", which caused quite stir here in Brazil. So much so, that eventually the patent was revoked.

Jack Fruit (Jaca)

You will find jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) where ever you go in Brazil. Although it looks like something that might be native of the Amazon, it's not. It was brought from India in the 18th century, along with its cousin, breadfruit. There are a number of varieties, some the seize of watermelons. Note that the fruits grow off the main trunk of the tree. Jack fruit is absolutely delicious, when it's absolutely ripe. When they fall off the tree onto the ground, you can be sure they are ready to be eaten. That's the way I like to eat jack fruit, right under the tree. To avoid contamination and eating after other varmints, most people cut them from the tree still green and put them in a dark place, where they ripen in a few days. If you try eating the fruit when it is still green, you may find yourself with a new champion. The resin is more effective than those super bond glues!

Guaraná Plant

This is a young guaraná plant located just back of the museum area. It is from a seed I collected from an older plant, which can be seen in the forest near the old roundhouse. Notice the termite mound in the background. The termites have built their nest around the stump of a tree that was cut some four years ago. When the wood is completely eaten up, they will move on to another meal.

Visitors at Bosque Santa Lúcia

Except for some cruise ship stops, we see few visitors here in Santarém. As the old saying goes, "when it rains, it pours", or as the Brazilians say, "it's eight or eighty". A ship like the Regal Princess, which was here this week, will disembark hundreds of tourists on the city of Santarém, most of which are booked for one tour or another. Bosque Santa Lúcia was the best option for those wanting an ecological tour. The morning tours were canceled because the ship arrived very late, so we ended up with four groups of 20 each for the afternoon. Ship tours to the Bosque are approximately 3 hours, which includes half and hour to get there and the same for returning. Each group is accompanied by an English speaking guide and a local woodsman. Most of the remaining two hours are devoted to walking the Bosque trails and also a fast visit to the museum to see a variety of Amazonian woods and other artifacts.

Bosque walking tours - woodsmen

Local woodsmen are an important element to seeing that our visitors have a safe and fruitful stay at Bosque Santa Lúcia. Often time they are overlooked by the clients because the English speaking guides tend to monopolize conversation and tour activities. Some of our regular woodsmen are shown in this image: Left to right, back row: Cleber, who is the health aide for the Municipality Health Department; Mondico Jr., a local farmer; Cleuson, who works as night watchman for the rice plant. Front row: Teixeira, father of Cleber and Cleuson. Retired farmer; Waldemar, local farmer; Dona Lena, housewife. She keeps the museum and bathroom sparkling clean in between pit stops; Carlos, Dona Lena's husband. Local farmer. An excellent team!

Açaí palm fruit

The açaí fruit in different stages of development: At the bottom of the image are the mature fruit, which are dark purple in color. The pulp of the fruit is used to make a traditional drink in this State of Pará, also called açaí. Belém is the capital of the açaí world but there are a number of vendors around Santarém too. The juice has caught on in the big cities of Brazil as a "health food" and more recently our favorite palm fruit has made its way to the United States, especially in the State of California. In the middle of the image are the green fruit and at the top are the seeds after removing the pulp.

Açaí Palm

Açaí palms (Euterpe oleracea) love water, so it's really no surprise that we don't see many in the planalto (highland) area. At Bosque Santa Lúcia, where we go for weeks and even months without rain, it is to our credit and stamina (for hauling water) that we can show visitors some stands of açaí. I planted the ones in the image from seed about 5 years ago and then transferred the plants to the ground. The ground was so hard, I thought I would never get the holes deep enough to plant them. Knowing that they don't adapt very well to this environment, I've given them undue attention over the years.