Biology and use of nibbi heteropsis flexuosa (ARACEAE) the source of an aerial root fiber product in Guyana

Abstract

Hoffman, Bruce, "Biology and use of nibbi heteropsis flexuosa (ARACEAE) the source of an aerial root fiber product in Guyana" (1997). This thesis, written by Bruce Hoffman, and entitled "Biology and use of Nibbi Heteropsis flexuosa (Araceae): the source of an aerial root fiber product in Guyana", having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment.We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. With present methods, harvest does not decimate populations because 97% of colonized trees possess few harvestable roots. But, only 28% of cut roots re-generated in experiments. For indigenous harvesters at Manawarin village, nibbi harvesting is a primary source of cash income and is important in daily subsistence.iv

A Preliminary Taxonomic Revision of <I>Heteropsis</I> (Araceae)

“…6A, B). A similar observation was reported by Hoffman (1997) in his study of this species in the Guianas and by Fadiman (2003) in H. ecuadorensis in Ecuador. In another case in the Reserva Ducke, an individual that had fallen to the forest floor together with its host tree was observed producing flagelliform branches from the apex of a plagiotropic shoot as well as from the main shoot, each seeking a new host (Figs.…”

“…Recent studies like that of Hoffman (1997) report the use of the roots of Heteropsis flexuosa by the Wai-Wai people of southeast Guyana for different types of cordage, baskets, bags, brooms, furniture, and other craft products as well as a head decoration in ceremonies to invoke the sun. Plowden et al (2003) reported the use of this cipó (H. flexuosa) for various purposes including binding in house-building in two indigenous reserves on the upper Rio Guamá in Pará state.…”

“…Cipó-titica, as Heteropsis is known in Brazil, is part of the extractivist economy of Amazonia as a source of a highly resistant fiber used in making craft products and is a native plant of significant economic importance in the region. A number of ecological and ethnobotanical studies, mostly of recent decades, have focussed on Heteropsis roots (Galvão 1959;Milliken et al 1992;Potiguara and Nascimento 1994;Hoffman 1997;Fadiman 2003;Knab-Vispo et al 2003;Plowden et al 2003;Durigan and Castilho 2004;Rondón 2005). Species delimitation and identification are an important support for the development of sustainable management practices of the wild populations which continue to be the sole source of the root fiber.…”

The Use of Hemiepiphytes as Craft Fibres by Indigenous Communities in the Colombian Amazon

“…Bunting (Araceae) and Clusia spp. (Clusiaceae) as raw material (Hoffman 1997, van Andel 2000, Wallace & Ferreira 2000.…”

“…The harvest of aerial roots of hemiepiphytes for the manufacture of wicker furniture and basketry is a promising business in the Amazon Basin (Baluarte & del Castillo 2001, Hall 2000, Hoffman 1997, Plowden et al 2003, Whitehead & Godoy 1991. Hemiepiphytes are relatively abundant and their aerial roots can easily be pulled down.…”