Root - Specimen details
| Catalogue Number: 62882 | |||||
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Plant Name | 45.03 ICACINACEAE Humirianthera rupestris | Entry Book Number | 49.1851 | |
| Artefact Name | Root | Vernacular Name | |||
| Iso Country | Brazil | TDWG Region | Brazil | ||
| Parts Held | Root | Geography Description | Brazil, Amazonas, Barra de Rio Negro | ||
| Uses | RootUse: User: Not defined | TDWG use | |||
| Storage | Bottles, boxes etc | Related Items | |||
| Donor | Spruce, Richard | Donor No | 80 | ||
| Donor Date | 00/00/1851 | Donor Notes | |||
| Collector | Spruce, Richard | Collector No | |||
| Collection Notes | Collection Date | ||||
| Exhibition | Expedition | ||||
| Number Components | Publication | ||||
| Notes: | Label source: Specimen presumably received from R Spruce 1851 (see entry 233.1851) Herbarium specimens corresponding with this 'Bauna' root identified by N.Y. Sandwith as Humirianthera rupestris Ducke Feb. 1956. B.J Y.x0Dx0Ax0Dx0ASource: Spruce, R. (1855) Cultur, e of Mandiocca and preparation of farinha on the Rio Negro. Plantae Amazonicae. Domestic Uses. (pp31-61) and miscellaneous notes,p 184.: Two sorts of farinha are in use 'farinha secca' and 'farinha de agua' the former is said to be almost exclusively use, d on the coast of Brazil, but on the Rio Negro the latter is more common and it is preferable to the other because it contains nearly all the tapioca (starch) in combination with the other nutritious constituents of the mandiocca root. It is prepared int, his way. The roots are put under water in a running stream either in an old montana trunk or in baskets for the space of three days. A peculiar and most agreeable odour is evident during this process, which indicates the vicinity of coca? to those whotr, avel near; but neither this odour nor the soluble matter extracted from the roots by the running water appears to possess deleterious properties at least when obviously diluted with air or water, for nowhere do small fish congregate more than in the neigh, bourhood of the immersed mandiocca roots. The latter when taken out of water has become so soft that they are easily broken up by hand, the skin readily separates and is thrown away and a small quantity of the fresh root grated is added to the dough to g, ive it consistency. The dough called Ibehi by the Barre Indians is then strained by putting it into a long bag of plaited strips of Waruma, with a loop at each end , the lower loop being passed over the end of a fixed tough pole and the upper over thepoi, nt of another pole serving as a lever by means of which it is stretched out to double its original length and all the liquid parts of the dough run into the interices? and it is received into a vessel placed beneath. This bag is called 'Tipiti' in Brazil, , 'Sebucan' in Venezuela (where it is often made of the hair of a cow's tail). The dough is next put into a large wooden trough (often an old cane broken up by hand and passed through a coarse sieve, which separates from it the fibres of the root andit i, s now ready for baking. The oven ( 'Yapona'- Brazil and 'Bandari' in Venezuela is a large flat circular clay dish 10 ft or more across, with a raised rim and is supported on all sides by a mud wall. On one dish of which is an orifice, is left for introd, ucing fire wood; or it is merely three supports of the same mud masonary so that it resembles a three legged stool. The oven being heated and covered (not thickly) with dough; a woman watches it continually turns it over and stirs it about, using a flatw, ooden shovel called a 'taruba', so that it may adhere only in small grains which when completely baked constitutes farinha or cassava. The farinha of the Rio Negro thus made is of a fine golden colour and eaten as crisps or biscuits. If the dough be spr, ead thinly over the oven and laid even with the 'taruba', but not disturbed until it is baked, a large cake is formed called beijié which is pleasant eating when eaten warm but soon becoming stale. In Venezuela they call these cakes cajan and use them al, most exclusively.x0Dx0Ax0Dx0AOf drinks made from mandiocca the simplest is Itribé which is merely farinha mixed with water when it speedily swells out to twice its original size and in drinking it, in a small cuya, a bit of stick or the finger is used to stir ita, bout.x0Dx0Ax0Dx0APajinaru or mandiocca beer is prepared as follows. Large thick pieces of grated mandiocca are mashed with water then laid in a heap with a layer of plantain or larger leaves between each for about two days, when they begin to ferment and it only, remains to break them up by hand and mix sufficient quantity of water. This drink is very intoxicating when drunk in large quantitiesx0Dx0A | ||||