Leopoldinia piassaba

(Redirected from Piassava palm)

Leopoldinia piassaba, the Para piassava, piassava fiber palm or piassava palm, is a palm native to black water rivers in Amazonian Brazil and Venezuela, from which is extracted piassava, a high caliber and water resistant fiber. Piassaba fiber is made into brooms, baskets and other products. This plant is also a natural habitat of the Rhodnius brethesi which is a potential vector of Chagas disease and it is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.

Leopoldinia piassaba
Illustration by Joaquim José Codina
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Leopoldinia
Species:
L. piassaba
Binomial name
Leopoldinia piassaba

References

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  • "Leopoldinia piassaba". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  • USDA Plants Profile: Leopoldinia piassaba
  • (in Portuguese) Flora Brasiliensis: Leopoldinia piassaba