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1.1.Pambil – Iritartea deltoidea, Arecaceae
Iriatrea deltoidea has, as many other species of palm trees, is essential for the natives. The first 3-meter at the bottom of the trunk are used for constructing houses.
Today the houses of the Quichua are still built on pillars (about 1,5 – 2 meters high) as protection against attacks, animals and high water. In the highlands they lived on ground.
If you cut the trunk of a pambil you
see following: only the outer ring, about 2-4 cm large, is woody and strong, the entire interior is filled with soft and fibrous material. The wood of this plant is very resistant to humidity, strong but even light. That is
perfect for the production of arms. All native tribes of the Amazon basin manufacture lances, bows and their famous blowpipes of pambil.
You can cut the wood also in slender slats to use them for manufacturing furniture.
In all typical Quichua houses you can find pambil as floor. For this the trunk is cut lengthways several times in order to get a plank of 5-7 meters long and about 50 cm wide.
Recently more and more houses are built with wood planks, which is more expensive but the natives like it more.
Apart from the wood also the leaves are used for constructing roofs of huts, which serve for short- term
protection in the forest.
Furthermore you can also eat the palm heart of this palm. The palm heart is the soft section at the bottom of a new leaf: about 30-50 cm., which are reduced to small pieces.
The only part not
used of this species is the fruit. It just serves as food for several animals, which contribute to spread the seeds. That is why Iriatrea deltoidea is found frequently in the rainforest.
1.2.Palma andante – Socratea exorrhiza, Arecaceae
Quichua: shiquita
Socratea grows on a few stilt roots, reason why they call it “walking palm”. The Quichua uses exactly these stilt roots. The roots, especially the younger, are covered with short, strong spines and are suitable as a natural grater. They just cut a piece of about 15-20 cm. And take it home, where it gets used for crushing yuca, cooking banana or camote, which are ingredients of the chicha, the essential drink of the Quichua.
They serve chicha at any time of the day and at any occasion and it is such a nutritious drink, that it also served as meal. It can be made of several plants, which contain starch: yuca, cooking banana, corn or the fruits
of the chontadura-palm (see page 3). The plants or fruits are crushed, cooked and chewed. This mixture is filled in a wooden bowl and after about 3 days you have a light alcoholic drink.
Fresh chicha serves as food for the
whole family, also for the children, but “strong” chicha is specially made for parties.
Nowadays most of the women, at least the younger, do not chew the mixture anymore, because they are aware of the possible
contamination with bacteria or virus. So they add sweet substances mostly camote to the mixture to ferment the chicha.
The fruits of Socratea are not eaten. Sometimes the oval patterned seeds are used for necklaces and other
jewellery.
Neither trunk nor leaves are useful building material.
1.3.Chontadura – Bactris gasipaes, Arecaceae
The fruits of bactris gasipaes are an important foodstuff for the Quichua, but they grow just once a year, during season of the palm tree.
The red-orange, starch containing fruits are cooked and peeled. Afterwards you can eat or crush and ferment them to get a kind of chicha.
The trunks of this palm sometimes are used as posts for building houses or as a
substitute for bridges over Small River. The trunk has the same structure as pambil; so also the wood of chontadura is suitable for making lances and blowpipes.
But this specie of palm tree does not grow naturally in the
lowland rainforest; the natives cultivate it closed to their houses. It is domesticated specie since centuries.
1.4.Morete – Mauritia flexuosa, Arecaceae
Morete is always found in swampy regions, their fruits are very appreciated. They are cooked for a short moment so that the scaly skin gets softer
and can be peeled. The yellow flesh is eaten; sometimes-even juice is made.
The trunk of this palm is very soft. This fact uses a beagle specie to make wholes in the trunk for its eggs. The larva of this beagle is considered
delicious cooked of fried by the Quichua. They call them chontaduro.
1.5.Tagua – Phytelephas microcarpa, Arecaceae
The palm-seeds of Phytelephas microcarpa, with a size of a walnut, are very hard if they are ripe. They are extremely suitable for
carving small figures. This quality in combination with their colour has led to call them “vegetarian ivory”. The tagua – carving is an important branch of the Ecuadorian industry. In the past Ecuador has been
leading the production of buttons of tagua, but with the new plastic button the branch broke down. Meanwhile there is a new demand for tagua buttons, as more and more consumers in Europe and the USA prefer natural clothing with
natural button.
Today the center of this handicraft is Riobamba, where also every kind of figures, chessmen and jewellery is made of this material. These souvenirs are also offered in shops in Quito and Baños. People of
these regions have the possibility to earn money collecting and selling tagua-seeds. With the increasing tourism more and more natives manufacture small figures and necklaces by themselves and sell them directly to the tourist.
The trunk of this specie of palm is useful to form a kind of bridges over small brooks; and because of its segmented structure they make decorative ashtrays from the trunk.
1.6.Ungurahua – Jessenia bataua, Arecaceae
Jessenia batava, another species of palm, is also appreciated because of its fruits. The fruits have the size and the colour like a
black olive.
The fruits have a big oval stone, surrounded by a soft eatable fatty layer, covered by a thin, but resistant skin.The Quichua cook the fruit about 10 minutes, until you can peel it and can eat the flesh. It is a
lot of work, but one of the few sources of vegetarian fat in the rainforest.
Also important is the production of ungurahua oil. For this you have to cook the fruits for a long while, until you take out all the fat and swims
like a film on the water.
Now you can skim it off. Ungurahua oil is used as hair lotion. The Quichua say that it strengthens the hair, let it grow quickly and long, and give a shiny appearance.
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