Tools for making & taking Piptadenia snuff - Specimen details
| Catalogue Number: 59120 | |||||
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Plant Name | 57.03 LEGUMINOSAE-MIMOSOIDEAE | Entry Book Number | 65.1855 | |
| Artefact Name | Tools for making & taking Piptadenia snuff | Vernacular Name | |||
| Iso Country | Venezuela | TDWG Region | Venezuela | ||
| Parts Held | Tools for making & taking Piptadenia snuff | Geography Description | Venezuela, Cataracts of Maypures, Orinoco | ||
| Uses | Tools for making & taking Piptadenia snuffUse: MATERIALS User: Man | TDWG use | MATERIALS | ||
| Storage | Large shelving | Related Items | |||
| Donor | Spruce, Richard | Donor No | 177 | ||
| Donor Date | 15/06/1855 | Donor Notes | |||
| Collector | Spruce, Richard | Collector No | |||
| Collection Notes | Collection Date | ||||
| Exhibition | Expedition | ||||
| Number Components | Publication | ||||
| Notes: | Label source: Niopo snuff prepared from Acacia niopo Humb. which is perhaps not different from Piptadenia peregrina Benth. R Spruce No 177 65.1855 Note. The nomenclature (and systematics) of Piptadenia and allies is confused and partly unresolved. Namesa, dopted from Brenan in K.B. 10: 170-183 (1955) and 17: 227-228 (1963) R Polhill 5.1975x0Dx0Ax0Dx0ASource Museum Entry Book 1855-1861, pp31-33: Procured from Gauhibo Indians at Cataract of Maypures. The niopo of Venezuela is the same as Parica of Brazil and is us, ed on Upper Orinoco, Guaviare, Vichada, Meta, Lipapo etc. There is no doubt of its being prepared from Acacia niopo, Humb which is perhaps not different from Piptadenia peregina, Benth. My specimens of the parica tree from the Barra are referred to thel, atter species by Bentham. I did not see the tree from which the Guahibos obtained their niopo, and which they told me was planted in the canncos near the head waters of the River Tuparo; but the Parico I have seen on the Amazon and all the way up the Rio, Negro, planted near the villages, belongs to but one species, which on the Venezuelan frontier takes the name of Niopo. In preparing the snuff, the roasted seeds of the niopo are placed in a shallow wooden platter, which is held on the knees by meansof, broad handle grasped in left hand; then crushed by a small pestle of the hard wood of Pao d'arco (Tecoma sp.) which is held between fingers and thumb of right hand. The snuff is kept in a mull made out of tiger's bone, closed at one end with pitch andatth, e other stopped with a cork of maruna. It hangs from the neck and has attached to it the tubiferous part of some Cyferaceae which are slightly odoriferous. These or some allied species are used throughout the Amazon, Rio Negro, and Uaupés etc among Indi, ans of the forest. With a piece of Pisipisiaca about the person, one is safe from bad wish and evil eye. The instrument for taking the snuff is made of birds bones and differs somewhat from that used by Cautauxi Indians. Two tubes end upwards in little, black balls (the endocarps of some species of Astrocaryum) which are applied to nostrils while the tube in which they end is dipped into the mull and thus the niopo is snuffed up the nose. I enclose a piece of caapi, from which the Indian who was grindi, ng the niopo every now and then tore a strip with his teeth and chewed with evident satisfaction. It had been slightly toasted over the fire 'With a chew of caapi and a pinch of niopo' said he to me in imperfect Spanish 'one feels so good- no hunger-no t, hirst- no tired' A piece of caapi is generally suspended along with snuff box, but the snuffer is stuck in the thick bushy hair of the head.x0Dx0Ax0Dx0APlants + People exhibition Museum No 1, Kew. May 1998 to May 2016. | ||||