Erva de passarinho

The common name of this parasitic plant translates in the "little bird's herb" because the seeds are transported by birds. They eat the fruit of the plant and pass the seeds around in their feces. The genus is Phoradendron and there are countless species. I love birds but they sure infect a lot of my star trees, like the Pau Brasil and Pau Rosa. The troublesome plant starts off looking like a very small bud coming out of the branch of the tree or other places where the birds have crapped. In due time it grows into a vine that dines on the sap of the tree. It is fast grower and will kill the host in due time. The only way to deal with it is to manually remove it piece by piece, or prune the infected branch of the tree. The culprit birds at the Bosque are flycatchers, those beautiful yellow breasted birds, and some of the tanagers. They keep a brood going at all times in the Pau Brasil, which means they are continually passing the seed laden droppings to all parts of the tree. In the attached image, erva de passarinho is taking over some branches of a castanhola tree (Terminalia catapa).

Tatajuba III

In the attached image off to the left you can see an immature fruit of the tatajuba tree and rotting ones to the right. Tatajuba trees (Bagassa guianensis) get to be very large trees growing to heights of 40-50 meters and they are capable of producing loads of fruit. I suppose they are edible but I've never known anyone to collect them for food. For seeds, yes. I love tatajuba fruit because they attract the large blue morpho butterflies belonging to the genus Morpho. Several species are found at the Bosque, including the iridescent blue ones. On a bright sunny day I keep a close look at the trail ahead of me when nearing a tatajuba tree. Nothing is more exciting than seeing several morphos feasting on fermented tatajuba fruits.

Tatajuba II

I brought this piece of tatajuba wood (Bagassa guianensis) out of the Reception Center so that I could photograph it under better lighting conditions. It had been sanded but not enough to remove the saw marks from the sample. Nevertheless, the image demonstrates the yellowish/red color of the wood after drying out. When it's first cut, it much more yellow than red. It is an excellent wood for decks and floors because it's relatively heavy and resistant to insect infestation. As mentioned in the previous post, it's also becoming a substitute for Asian teak in the decking of ships.

Tatajuba

I'm losing some really fine trees because of the construction of the power line that follows the road into the Bosque. Tatajuba (Bagassa guianensis) is one of the trees being cut in the 15 meter clearing required by Celpa, the power company. In the attached image you can see a couple of these trees which were chainsawed down this week. Although the lumber isn't worth as much as mahogany and some of the other noble woods, it's being used with more frequency in-country and on the foreign market. In Holland and some other countries, it's a substitute for Asian teak, especially in naval construction. Notice the coagulated latex on the cuts. In a standing situation it flows from the tree much like rubber when it's tapped. I'm trying to work out something with my neighbor so that we can both utilize these logs. The equipment and transportation for getting these logs to the reception center area is too much for my pocketbook. In the meanwhile, I hope that some logging outfit doesn't see them. They could be ripped off fast.

Lantern bug

It's a real treat to find this beautiful creature when on a tour. Funny, in my post yesterday morning I talked about the copaíba tree and in the afternoon I conducted a forest walk with a small group of visiting Germans. I took my camera with me because I was hoping that we might see our friend, the so-called jequitiranamboia. It's an indigenous word, which translates into something like the "bug with an empty head", referring to the false dragon-like head. In the image you can see what I'm describing. Click in on the thumbnail pix to get a better view. The real head is back of that protrusion. See the eyes? There were three of these creatures on the tree trunk, which is a copaiba tree. I have never seen lantern bugs on any other trees, other than on this copaíba. I can say, almost for sure, that the sweet smelling copaíba oil (resin) is the attraction. The family of insects is Fulgoridae and the species is Fulgora laternaria.

Copaíba II

Erotic moments in the forest! Don't laugh, this is a copaíba tree. In the previous entry I didn't mention that the tree produces a very fragrant oil used in the perfume industry. This oil is also one of the most used homeopathic medicines used in the Amazon. It's taken from the tree in almost the same fashion as maple syrup, that is by drilling a hole right into the tree. The hole is then plugged until some quantity of oil has accumulated for collection. That's the purpose of this stick, by the way. This particular tree isn't at Bosque Santa Lúcia but on one of the trails of the Tapajós National Forest, about 70 kilometers from here. I have a very beautiful copaíba tree (maybe more than one) at the Bosque but I don't tap the tree. There is, however, some oozing of oil from a natural opening on the tree. It´s enough for visitors to get the gist of the fragrance and it also attracts some beautiful lantern bugs from time to time.

Copaíba seeds

Seeds are now falling from the copaíba trees (Copaifera multifuga). If I wanted to collect the seeds, I'd have to do it fast because the forest animals find them quite tasty and they disappear very quickly. I have planted some seeds in the past. They germinate well but the seedlings are slow in growing and requite a lot of attention. Evidently the tree is becoming rather rare because government officials show up from time to time to collect seeds for their reforestation projects. Next blog entry, the copaíba tree.

Chifre de veado (Deer's horn)

This Platycerium was given to me two or three years ago by Dona Yaco Rodrigues and her daughter, Nelly, who are proud owners of the largest private collection of orchids in this region. It was attached to a small piece of xaxim-like material and I was told to put it onto a larger plaque of the same. After hanging it up in one place and another for some months, I finally put it in a small vase made out of coconut fibers. Xaxim is much better but the palm from which it comes is on the endangered list, so most gardeners use coconut fiber and other materials for their epiphytic plants. Some more time passed and I was feeling guilty about it not growing properly. What if the donors showed up to find their gift in this state of affairs? My next move to save face was that of placing the vase with the "chifre de veado" into the hollow of a wooden log that had become too rotten to use as a vase stand. This was just a few months ago and I'm surprised how well the plant has done in this environment. It continues to produce "horn" after "horn" and there are many off-shoots coming up from the sides of the vase. The light intensity seems to be perfect here too because it's on the edge of a shady forest area but with plenty of indirect light getting to the plant.

Grasshopper

Sorry, I don't have time to pose for more photographs. I'm too busy eating these delicious leaves of the bacurizinho tree (Rheedia sp.).

Urucu II

This is the inside of an urucu pod I picked today at my neighbor's farm across the road from the Bosque. As you can see, it's full of seeds, each covered with a bright red paste (pulp). This particular fruit isn't totally mature, thus the pulp isn't as thick as it would normally be when harvested. The color is also a bit faded, compared to mature seeds. I forgot to mention that the scientific name, Bixa orellana, is in tribute to Francisco Orellana, the first European to come down the Amazon River in 1541-1542. Bixa means "bright red" in Latin. Some people refer to urucu as the "lipstick plant" because the pulp can be applied to the human body, much like lipstick. The indigenous groups of the Amazon have used urucu for thousands of years for body paint and as a dye for cloth and other artifacts. If you do a quick search on the internet, you'll see that the plant is also medicinal. It's amazing how it's used for so many different aliments.

Urucu (Annatto)

You can count on finding the urucu plant (Bixa orellana) around every rural household in the Amazon. Like the use of green onion tops, urucu powder is an essential ingredient in local cuisine; and if you don't have a yard or a piece of farmland, you go to the supermarket or marketplace to buy it. In the powder form, it's called "coloral", which means nothing more than food coloring. The next time you sit down for a meal in this part of the world, you'll notice that the rice and spaghetti are tinged red with coloral. Here at home my wife refuses to buy coloral because our maid/cook goes overboard in the use of it. Salt, too. The attached image is of a urucu plant (shrub/tree) loaded with fruit. The pods are a bright orange/red. When mature, they will be harvested and put out in the sun for a few days to dry. The seeds are then removed and pounded in a mortar and pestle to remove the pulp. This red powder is coloral. Next image, the seeds.

Red milkweed II

With the help of my readers, I think I can confirm that the plant shown in the previous entry of red milkweed is of the genus Asclepias. Now to get the species. On this entry I've included an image of the fruit and foliage. Evidently there are LOTS of species so it's going to be fun looking. I always say that one of the little pleasures in life is learning the name of an unknown plant. Unknown to me, of course. Somebody out there knows it.

Morning glories II

Another view of morning glories along the federal highway, BR-163, alias Santarem-Cuiaba Highway. They are certainly in heaven in this environment because they can grow out in all directions, at times right up onto the asphalt of the road; and of course they climb up all the other vegetation, at times forming a wall of vines and flowers.

Morning Glories

My trip from the city to Bosque Santa Lúcia is approximately 25 minutes via BR-163, the Santarém-Cuiaba Highway. I normally spend the mornings at the Bosque, so I get the full show of morning glories along the road. Today I couldn't resist the temptation of taking pictures, even though I didn't enjoy being gawked at by passing drivers. The morning glory flowers were probably thinking the same of me. The genus is Ipomoea. Since there are more than 200 species in the American Tropics, I will again ask professional help in identifying this beauty.

Pau Rosa (Rosewood) IV

These are immature pau rosa seeds. Many people remember acorns when they see them. Some persons also swear they can smell the fragrance of the oil but I can't. I understand that the tree must be at least 30 -35 years old be of essence quality. My oldest tree is only 5-6 years old. In the past, the wood of the tree was used in the distillation process for producing the oil. There are some groups today saying that it wasn't necessary to cut the trees at all, suffice it to use the leaves.

Cassia alata

Although Cassia alata is more common in the Amazon floodplain, we see some of these plants on the Planalto, where Bosque Santa Lucia is located. The common name here is "mata pastagem", which translates into "kill the pasture". It grows like a weed in cattle and buffalo pasture lands, thus the name. The only English name I know is "the candlestick plant." I've never know of anyone to use the plant as a medicine but I see many advertisements for Cassia alata on the internet under the name of "ringworm bush".

Rosewood III

This is the fruit of the rosewood tree close to maturity. When it's completely ripe, it looks much like a black olive. Many people also observe that the fruit looks like an acorn from an oak tree. I've planted a few of these seeds but so far not one has germinated. Just recently I discovered why; insects bore holes into the fruit before they fall from the tree.

Pau Rosa II

The attached image is the inflorescence of the rosewood tree. I was lucky enough to come by three seedlings from friends at SUDAM and the oldest tree was flowering by three years of age. As reported in the previous post, the majority of the rosewood trees in the Amazon were cut in the 18th century. The essence (oil) of tree comes from the distillation of the wood. Just to show you how much the oil was worth, the industry returned to the jungles to harvest the trunks and roots of the trees. Sometimes visitors are anxious to get a smell of the rosewood fragrance by crushing leaves or breaking off small branches of the tree. Sorry, the tree needs to be at least 35 years old to produce that smell. In recent times there are reports that the leaves of the rosewood tree are sufficient to produce oil, thereby relieving the need to cut the tree. I'm not sure this is true but that's the report.

Pau Rosa (Rosewood)

Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora) is certainly one of the most famous of all the trees in the Amazon. In the 18th century this species was almost cut into extinction, not for the wood, but for the natural oils used in the perfume business. I shouldn't seclude it to the perfume industry because back in those days it was added to soaps, shampoos and everything else that needed a fragrance. The most noted scent using rosewood oil was that of Chanel No. 5, a perfume concocted by a Russian perfume maker around 1920. It became legendary in the 1950s when Marilyn Monroe touted it at a press conference as the only thing she wore when going to bed. You'll get the rest of the story when you do a tour at the Bosque.

The sample of rosewood in the image was given to me by my friend João at the Muiraquitão Arts and Crafts store in Santarém. I understood that it was left over from a stock of the wood he had kept in the store for many years.

Cedar (Cedrela odorata) III

Brazilian cedar is a deciduous tree, which means that it loses all of its leaves; in this case, during the dry season. Most of our native trees are deciduous but what makes cedar unique is that it remain leafless for the duration of the summer. The one in the image is probably one of those beautiful green trees shown on the previous blog entry. Looking at it in its leafless state, you might think it had died. I assure you that there were days when I thought just that, but when the rains come, the trees bounce back to life. You may have rightfully come to the conclusion that the Brazilian cedar isn't a conifer. The family is Meliaceae, as is the Brazilian mahogany.

Cedar (Cedrela odorata) II

In this image you can see several cedar trees which were donated to the Bosque by Marilha Godinho and her deceased husband, Carlos Eduardo. The trees are 3-4 years old and are doing extremely well in this location . Unfortunately the new power line is being constructed only meters away. It still remains to be seen whether or not they'll get cut. So far they're survivors. I made a promise that I would keep them pruned back so as not to get tangled up in the power line when they grow up. But I got the feeling that the Celpa foreman would prefer to abide by the 15 meters clearing policy.

Cedar (Cedrela odorata)

Brazilian cedar (Cedrela odorata) has many of the same qualities as mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). The lumber is a relatively light, it's resistant to insects and it keeps its fragrance for several years after being crafted. Carpenters love cedar because they can drive nails into it without having to drill holes first. Another similarity to mahogany is that it can take on a deep, long lasting stain. Like mahogany, Cedar is an endangered species. I've planted several cedar trees at Bosque Santa Lúcia but I lost some to the power line construction mentioned earlier. I came by the seeds from a tree in front of the rubber processing plant at the old Ford Motor Company rubber tree plantation in Belterra. Others I collected from two trees, which used to stand at Didi Macedo's place in Mararu. The ones you see supporting the wood sample are at the entrance to the Bosque. They are about 5 years old. During the dry season the trees lose all their leaves.

Vitaceae - cissus

Flashes of red in a background of solid green always attract a lot of attention. I wish I could tell you more about this plant but I'm without words. A few years ago, I remember a visitor calling it red milkweed but I haven't been able to confirm it. I've sorted through many internet images but so far I haven't found anything to match the flowers. Most of the images were from North America, so maybe I should refine the search to this part of the world. In the meanwhile, if readers of my blog can help, please do! Correction: 10.09.08, the proper name is Vitaceae - cissus. Thanks to Robin Foster at the Field Museum, Chicago.

Ipê

There are many different species of ipê trees in Santarém but the one I refer to in this blog post is Tabebuia serratifolia, which is a high forest tree. Another common name for the tree is pau dárco. It’s classified as an ironwood, I assume because of high density and weight. Yes, it’ll sink to the bottom of the river if you throw it in. That reminds me of that dumb game David Letterman plays on his television program, “Will it float?” I should send Letterman some samples of Amazonian woods for his sexy cohorts to throw into the tank of water. Very few of them float!

I dare say that ipê is one of the best known lumbers around these days because it’s first choice for boardwalk construction. When I show off the tree and wood sample at Bosque Santa Lúcia I always add some salt and pepper by telling my guests that the boardwalks around Bill Gate’s home in Olympia, Washington are made of ipê. The wood used for the pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge is ipê. Most of boardwalks at Coney Island and the casino areas of the northeastern United States are made of ipê. And the list goes on. The wood sample in the attached image was given to me by a neighbor at the Bosque. It had been given to him by a truck driver, who had some mechnical problem on the road. I didn’t do much with it, other than sand it down a bit and put some clear sealer on the surface. Nevertheless, it a beautiful piece of wood. The tree in the background is obviously an ipê and it’s only a stone’s throw from the reception center. Ipê is an indigenous word that means “thick bark”. The other common name, pau dárco, means the bow wood, as in bow and arrow.

Bridge over high water

Yesterday I discovered that a dead branch from a tree had fallen onto the bridge that connects the reception center area to the forest on the other side. I guess the main contact of the fall was to the side of the bridge but part of the branch was suspended on the rope that serves as a handrail. I foolishly tried to throw it to the side with one hand, while holding my camera with the other. Real dumb! The long piece of wood, just to the left of the walkway, bounced back to hit my left arm, nearly breaking it. I've been lucky so far that a tree hasn't fallen on the bridge itself. About two years ago a very large spondia tree fell parallel to the 42 meter-long structure, only 4 meters away. It's a question of time. One has to deal with these dangers when dealing with trees. As you can see, the water is nearly up to the top of the boardwalk. At this level, the water is nearly 2 meters deep. In years past I have seen water cover the bridge completely. The most spectacular flood was three years ago when the water came up over the top in just 9 hours. There was no water under the bridge at all prior to the rain starting! I remember that particular rain very well because we got the same in the city and I woke up to find a huge crater in the front yard because the septic tank had caved in from the excessive infiltration of water into the sandy soil. The details of rainfall aren't news here, other than generalities. Nobody talks about how many centimeters or inches of rain fell today, or any other time. I have no idea how much rain we've gotten this season. In general, it's reported that our region gets around 2,000 millimeters per year. Most of it falls between February and June. I wish I had the power to spread this rainfall out over the year because after July it can be very sparse. September through November, hardly any at all. Year before last, we went 4 months without any rain at Bosque Santa Lúcia. This past year was almost as bad. I can't prove it because I don't have the facts, but it seems to me that every year gets drier ... and hotter. Let it be known that I don't complain about rain!

Caterpillars II

This is the most common of all the caterpillars we see at the Bosque. Sometimes there are hundreds and maybe thousands of them crawling up trees, up the walls of the reception center and generally found throughout the forest. I read that the word "caterpillar" means "hairy cat" in French. This larva certainly fits the description! And be careful of those hairs because they're very poisonous. Avoid touching the caterpillar at all costs and make it a point not to come in contact with places where they have tread. A loose hair on an object can be just as dangerous as those on the varmint. Last year, I unintentionally touched something that gave me a nasty skin reaction on my left wrist. I had little time before returning to the city, so I continued to work thinking that I could ride it out. Within a hour the pain was so great I ended up in the outpatient department at one of the local hospitals where the doctors gave me two injections to get through the episode. By this time the pain seemed to have made its way right down to the bone!

Caterpillars

This year I'm taking a nonchalant attitude toward grasshoppers and caterpillars eating my plants. In the past I've done everything possible to keep them away from my young palms. The best ecological deterrent I found was that of a solution of water with rope tobacco, the kind the the country folks use to roll their very strong cigarettes. I may mix up another batch of this poison yet but so far damage from the insects has been minimal. The attached image is of a caterpillar I photographed last week. It was doing a very through job of eating one of my small potted palms when I discovered it. When I came back with my camera two minutes later, it had disappeared. I looked and looked for the future butterfly but it wasn't to be found. Later I came back to find it chomping away at a frond. Mind you, this wasn't a small caterpillar. It must have been at least 4 inches long. What really fascinated me was the head of the larva. It reminded me of a a video I had seen on a television program some days before, a report on harvesting trees which were at the bottom of a lake. The lumber company used a remote control unit with a chainsaw attached to the end of a boom-like devise. The controller of the unit could move the chainsaw in any direction, at any angle to quickly cut the trees. Likewise, this caterpillar could move his head around in any position without having to move the bulk of its long heavy body. I could see the palm leaves disappearing before my eyes.

Termites build castles in the air

Every “varmint” has its own way of building a home and some manner of protecting it from intruders and the elements. I see these beautiful and well built little castles on the Bosque Santa Lúcia trails every day but I never saw anything going in or out. I was suspicious that they were made by ants but a few years ago a biology professor at the Federal University of Pará told me that they are entrances to underground termite nests. My local community contacts can’t identify what lives below but they certainly have an explanation for the castle structure. It’s to keep water from draining into the hole. OK, I figured that one out, but they go a step further to say that the height of castle can be used to determine future rainfall. Higher structures indicate heavy rain; low-profile castles means less rain. My own guess is that the termites can build these castles very quickly.

Dracontium (tajá de cobra)

The common name for the dracontium plant here in this part of the Amazon is tajá de cobra, which translates into "snake's caladium". Both dracontiums and caladiums belong to the Araceae family, the so called air plants. They are prominent in the rainy season but die back during the dry months. The association between the plant and a snake is that the stem looks very much like the skin of the much dreaded jararaca snake (fer-de-lance), Bothrops jararaca. This snake accounts for approximately 85% of the poisonous snakebites reported in the Amazon. I've never heard of anyone using this plant for treatment of snakebites but that could be because the Bosque is located on the edge of a relatively large city- only 25 minutes by vehicle to the municipality hospital, where anti-venom medicines are available. In very remote inaccessible areas, my guess is that it is one of the local remedies used for the occasion. Literature confirms this supposition.

Ginger II

The so called "spiraling gingers" are found in the genus Costus, as opposed to the "true gingers", which are in the Zingiberaceae family. As far as I know, we only have the spiraling types at Bosque Santa Lúcia. Sorry to say that I can't specify the different species here. The one in the attached image with the green cone and white flower is not very common, compared to the red cone type shown in an earlier post. This species is found in darker environments and does not grow to the heights of the red ones. I found the plant very close to the reception center, only two meters off a walking trail; and I don't think I would have ever seen it, except I was in search of a passion fruit vine in that same area.

The Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentanda)

While at the UDV center today I also ran into another old friend, the sumaúma tree. This is a young one that Mestre Joaquim and his brotherhood planted a few years ago. It's still bright green and covered with many very sharp thorns. My ceiba trees at the Bosque are still babies but - big babies. I'll post a picture of them soon. Ceiba trees are some of the largest in the Amazon but they are an endangered species, due to the fact that they are used to make instant sheets of plywood. Pictured in the image is Mestre Joaquim. Mestre in the UDV hierarchy would be equivalent to priest or pastor.

Chacrona II and ayahuasca

In an earlier blog post I reported on a hallucinogenic plant at Bosque Santa Lúcia called chacrona( Psychotria viridis). Today I had the pleasure visiting the União do Vegetal center on the outskirts of Santarém, where I saw chacrona and mariri plants in all stages of development. The attached image is chacrona with its fruit. I asked our UDV host, Mestre Joaquim, if his religious group reproduced the plant via seeds. I was surprised to learn that seeds are not used because they could produce variations in quality of material for making their ceremonial tea. Plant reproduction via cuttings always guarantees the same quality.

Mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) vine II

Mestre Joaquim from the União do Vegetal church, located on the outskirts of Santarém, has visited Bosque Santa Lúcia in the past and he has reciprocated the gesture many times over. For one reason or another we never found the time to accept his invitation. Today was the day. We joined him, his family and brotherhood at a fund raising luncheon at the UDV center. It was a great lunch but even greater was the opportunity to see their many trees and plants, including the mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) vines and chacrona (Psychotria sp) plants. I have both of these at the Bosque but they were planted more recently. Seeing the mariri vines, as in the attached image, is a look into the future. It's exciting to think that those puny little vines I planted at the Bosque will be this large.

Power line III

... and the fall of the giant as it crashes to the ground. You can see traces of smoke from the chainsaw coming up from the site. Somewhere down there in that blur of green, there are three CELPA workers who did the cutting of the tree. Off to the right is a very large tapereba fruit tree (Spondias lutea), which barely escaped from getting cut. The large branches hanging over the truck, to the left, are of a gigantic Brazil nut tree (Bertholetia excelsa), which is protected by law. It will will only be pruned. Although many Brazil nut trees get pushed over with the advent of mechanized agriculture, the electric company would never cut one without permission from IBAMA. More often than not the path of the power line is changed from one side to another to avoid having to cut one.

Power line II

This is the old school and chapel area that I mentioned in an earlier post. The power line is being built on this side of the road, I assume, because there are fewer large trees to be cut. Nevertheless, many very nice trees were condemned because of the 15 meter swath required by CELPA for installing the high tension cables. Just off to the right of the CELPA truck, you can see the remains of several trees which were cut a few days ago. These were young trees I planted 4-5 years ago. In the background you can see a gigantic mango tree being cut. I assume that this tree was planted by the school teacher several decades ago. It probably provided lots of school lunches for the kids of that school in those years. The tree has already been chainsawed and it's just beginning to fall. Next picture, the giant on the ground.

Power line

The power line construction on the road to the Bosque continues and I discovered that the network is much more extensive than I'd realized. Lira Maia, newly elected congressman from this State and neighbor at the Bosque, tells me that 500 kilometers of line for this region have been included in the budget. Our part of the project is expected to be inaugurated this year in July or August. A CELPA spokesman told me that President Lula is expected for the inauguration.

Jacarandá do Pará III

You may be surprised to learn that jacarandá do Pará (Pará is our state here in the Amazon) isn't a true jacaranda. In fact it's not a jacaranda at all, the genus is Dalbergia. I often wonder how the tree came to be called as such but I haven't found any information in that regard. My guess is that it's because of the purple blooms, which look very much like the ones on some species of the true jacaranda trees. The genus Dalbergia is in honor of Nils Dalberg, Swedish naturalist and physician, 1736-1820.

Although jacarandá do Pará is more common to the sandy tropical savanna soils around the Tapajós River, I planted a few of them at Bosque Santa Lúcia some six years ago. The largest of trees were located in front of the lot where the old Poço Branco school and chapel used to be. These structures were rebuilt in the village down the road, so I planted a lot of trees in that area. Thinking that I could possibly find some seeds on these trees, I made a visit to the area day before yesterday. Not to my surprise, I discovered that the crews from the power line project had chainsawed them all down, along with many other noble trees I had planted.

Jacarandá do Pará II

In my last posting I showed a sample of jacarandá do Pará wood with some leaves in the background. These were of the tree itself. In this entry I want to show the trunk of the tree to demonstrate that it's not the normal format of most trees being cut for lumber. Mind you, this is a very young tree but as it gets older, it'll keep the figure of a relatively short trunk with branches going off in all directions. If you visit the Santarém sawmill which exports this lumber, you'll see that the logs are of short lengths, most in the neighborhood of 3 meters. Likewise, if you inspect the pallets of jacarandá do Pará ready for shipment at the deep water pier, you see that they are miniature in seize compared to the other lumber shipments, most of which are in 5-6 meters lengths. Another thing you'll notice different about the pallets is that they contain logs, not planks. Just one note in that regard. The Brazilian law doesn't allow uncut logs to be exported, therefore the logs have been sawed vertically into three or four pieces without removing the bark. This exotic wood is worth a fortune, so every ounce counts for those doing the final cuts.

Jacarandá do Pará

This wood sample is jacarandá do Pará (Dalbergia spruceana). I'm told that this is one of the most expensive woods leaving the Amazon, around US $3000 a cubic meter by the time it reaches its destiny - in Frankfort, Germany. There is a German based sawmill in Santarém that deals almost exclusively in this trade. I suspect that jacarandá do Pará is being over cut throughout the Amazon but I haven't seen any statistics to prove it. Its cousin, jacarandá da Bahia (Dalbergia nigra) is certainly listed by CITES as an endangered species. Both Dalbergias carry the English names of Brazilian rosewood. Some people refer to jacarandá do Pará as "Amazon rosewood". The sawmill in Santarém exports exclusively to Frankfort, Germany, where it's used in the musical instrument industry. The wood is a favorite for the expensive guitars, veneers for pianos and organs, necks for string instruments and so on. If you do an internet search for Dalbergia spruceana, you'll find many references for guitar backs. Some of those little pieces of wood go for $3000! The attached image is a wood sample given to me by a friend who worked at the German sawmill some years ago. It's an end-piece, which had been cut off from the finer export wood but at least it gives you an idea of the colors.

Pau Brasil III (Pernambuco tree)

I dare say that you've never heard of pau-brasil (Caesalpinia echinata) unless, by chance, you play the violin, the viola, the cello or the bass. As reported in a recent post, the tree (from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest) became the major source of red dye-wood for the world for more than 300 years. What I didn't say was that toward the end of this economic rage, in the early 1800s, a master bowmaker in France, Francois Xavier Tourte, discovered that the wood was the best material he'd ever used for fabricating bows. A story I read in a Smithsonian Institution magazine from a few years ago reported that Tourte was an avid fisherman and it was on one of his weekend outings near Paris that he discovered a piece of pau-brasil, from which he made the bow. There's nothing strange about the fact that he came by a piece of wood from South America on the outskirts of Paris. The Smithsonian Institution article states that there was a stockpile of pau-brasil logs in Paris at that time of more than 200 acres! Regardless, pau-brasil became the standard for bows and continues to be to this day. The European bow-makers must have really stocked up on the wood because the tree has been on the verge of extinction for many decades. In recent years the bow-makers have formed an association among themselves to contract with groups in the State of Bahia to plant pau-brasil trees with the objective of renewing their supply. I understand that the tree must be at least 35 years old in order to provide the high quality heartwood needed to make bows.

The attached image is a pau-brasil wood sample from my collection at Bosque Santa Lucia. The tree isn't from the Amazon but I came by a few planks of the wood at a German sawmill some years ago. They were defective pieces leftover from precut lumber for exportation and they would've been burned, if I hadn't picked them up. Out of a half-dozen planks, I only have two samples left. The lumber was kept in a backyard shed for many years, collecting dust and pollution from the street. Once I noticed that the wood was "bleeding" from the rain. It was about this time that I remembered the historical significance of pau-brasil. I wish I'd been more careful about protecting the planks from the elements. The sample has lost much of its color but .... it's a piece of pau-brasil.

Hiciscus III

I already showed some images of hibiscus flowers found at the Bosque, including a gigantic one on the pinkish side. I mentioned having planted the bright red variety but that it was growing slowly because of shade from a neighboring tree. I couldn't believe it today when I saw saw it in bloom. One single bloom the size of a saucer plate! What's amazing is that the plant is no more than 14 inches high. Imagine when it grows up!

Kalanchoe

Just to the left of the entrance to Bosque Santa Lucia there are many kalanchoe plants (the genus is also Kalanchoe). So many, it would appear they were planted there. Given that they are concentrated mostly in this area, which would have been the yard of an old house long ago torn down, it's possible that the original had indeed been planted there. There are many different varieties of kalanchoe in the world but evidently only this one here in South America, which is Kalanchoe pinnatum. The local names in Portuguese are pirarucu (the name of the large scaled fish of the Amazon) and folha grossa (thick leaf). The medicinal properties of the plant are rather remarkable. For more details go to http://www.rain-tree.com/coirama.htm

Colors of Ingá II

In the first Colors of Ingá post I pointed out ingá as one of the trees possessing a bag of tricks to deceive uninvited guests wanting to have a free lunch. One adroit maneuver is that of producing new leaves in a different color, opposed to the standard green of plants and trees. In this image you see leaves which are much more mature than those illustrated in the previous post. They are larger and already beginning to turn green. The second maneuver described was that of recruiting the enemy for protection by offering a better lunch, that of nectar. In this image you can see an ant dining and wining at the extra-floral nectary. It's that point where the three leaves come together. In the case of this young tree, there was an ant having lunch at each nectary.

Alamanda

The alamanda plant (Alamanda cathartica) produces some of the most beautiful flowers around. They are the large yellow trumpet-shaped flowers coming off vines, which can climb up to the heavens, if you give them the chance. At the Bosque I keep my one and only alamanda plant secured to a ipe fence-post and I prune it quite often. Here in the city, I remember seeing one vine that climbed up into a relatively high jambeiro tree (Eugenia malaccensis). The combination of the yellow flowers from the alamanda vine and the bright purple colors of the jambeiro made for quite a beautiful marriage. Alamanda is native to the state of Espirito Santo, here in Brazil. As a bit of self-induced security, it is poisonous.

Pau Brasil II

As reported in the previous blog post, the older of the two pau-brasil trees (Caesalpinia echinata) at Bosque Santa Lucia was planted in 2000. It's bloomed at least three times (as shown in the attached image) but it's never produced fruit, which is a bean-shaped pod covered with thorns. It's really exciting to see the tree in bloom because of the rich yellow color with blotches of red. Swarms of insects visit the flowers and in two or three days the show is over. The blooms disappear as quickly as they came. I find it very mysterious but every bloom is broken off at the stem, as though cut by insects. Could it be that this comes about because it's an immature tree? I find it hard to believe that they are cut by insects but ... By the way, pau-brasil was designated the national tree of Brazil, by law-6.607 on December o7, 1978.

Pau Brasil (Caesalpinia echinata)

April 22 is a good date to post a blog about a very special tree here in Brazil. Pau-brasil, alias Pernambuco tree, is the tree from which the country gets its name. It's native of the Mata Atlântica, not the Amazon. Readers may know that this forest used to be about the same size as the Amazon but over the last 500 years it's been reduced to less than 5% of its original area. To a certain extent the cutting of the pau-brasil trees contributed to the destruction of the Mata Atlântica. It's estimated that around 75 million of these trees were cut for exportation to Europe, where the wood was used in making red dye for the fabric industry. By the time synthetic dyes were introduced in the late 1800s, the tree was all but extinct. I have two pau-brasil trees planted at the Bosque. The older one seen in the image was given to me by Mr. Barrosa at SUDAM in July of 2000. It was part of a shipment of seedlings the federal government sent to all schools in Brazil to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese explorer, Pedro Cabral. The date of Cabral´s arrival in Bahia was April 22, 1500. The second pau-brasil at Bosque Santa Lucia was donated by Sr. Dagaberto in October of 2001.

Ixora

This is a very popular plant around Santarém and the region. Strange as it may seem, I've never heard of a local name for it. The genus is Ixora, it's an exotic and there are a number of different species. The most common here is the red blooming, as depicted in the attached image. I assume this one to be Ixora coccinea. There are a number of English common names, for example, Flame of the Woods, Jungle Flame and so on. I have both the red and yellow varieties at the Bosque but not many of them. Some gardeners do a mix of the two plants, the result being a show of red and yellow together. In this case, it appears that the flowers are coming from the same plant. Now that I know that butterflies and hummingbirds like the flowers, I plan on planting more.

Hiciscus II

This is the hibiscus I mentioned in the earlier post as producing gigantic flashy flowers. Unlike the other varieties, it produces them a few at a time; so far only one at a time. But it's a new plant, so with time it'll show off more of itself. I've planted another giant variety of hibiscus but shade from a neighboring tree has kept it from growing properly. It's the bright red species.

Hibiscus

Hibiscus (Hiciscus is also the name of the genus) is a blooming fool. It never stops blooming, as long as you give it water and nutrients. It also likes sun and an occasional pruning. The plant next to the reception center at the Bosque (attached image) has produced an indefinite number of these large trumpet-shaped flowers over the last five years and who knows how many butterflies and hummingbirds have supped their nectar over this span of time. There are around 200 species of hibiscus around the tropics. At the Bosque, we have only three, this pink variety, one with a bright red bloom and one plant that produces gigantic flowers. According to the literature I've read, hibiscus has been cultivated so long, nobody knows its origin.

Orchid (Cataetum galeritum)

This orchid came from the Tapajós National Forest about five years ago. At that time I was active in the Santarém Orchid Society and there were occasions when our club members were given permission by IBAMA to collect orchid specimens from the leftover debris of trees, those which had been earmarked for the "select cut" program. This is a multinational project, in part financed by the U.S. Forestry Service, to demonstrate how to harvest trees without destroying the forest. Our rescue teams were normally made up of 8-10 club members. We would spend 3-4 hours combing the cut areas for the orchids and then meet as a group to classify and divide them up for our collections. I had joined the club for the purpose of learning something about orchids but I have to admit that my attendance at club meetings was sporadic and I never learned much about the complexity of classifying these plants. Since I didn't have a an orchid house at the Bosque, I chose to place them in the trees, which I thought was their natural setting. More recently I decided to move the survivors (around a dozen individuals) to vases on the front porch of the reception center. It's much easier to look after them in this environment. The biggest problem with having them in the trees was that of dust from the dirt road during the dry season. I'm not sure how anything survives this situation. Bernadette Serique from the Orchid Society gave me the name of this orchid for the second time. It's Catasetum galeritum. Thanks again Bernadette!