156 PRINCIPES IVol. 23 significance; but, everyone interviewed practiced by only a few people. The in- specified a different propitious number dustry itself has waxed and waned dur- of . ing the last few decades. At present, fi- Upon reaching the home site, the bun- ber prices are reasonably good and dles are opened and the fronds spread many people are cutting, but rihen alter- and lashed down three or four fronds native employment is available fiber cut- thick on slender roof beams. Unlike ters readily abandon their trade. This palm roof construction in other parts of may be due to the hard work and low the world, pinnae are not woven to- pay, but no one seems particularly to gether or manipulated in any particular like cutting {ibers no matter what the way. Fronds are simply piled thick pay. Fiber cutting is especially avoided enough to prevent rain from entering during months of high water (July- while still allowing smoke from cooking August) when a greater-than-usual as- to out from inside the house. fires filter semblage of terrestrial animals, some- Small groves of Z. piassaba trees times dangerous ones, seeks refuge in found near houses and villages often the fibers. Dangers are real enough and have resulted from seedsdiscarded after preparation ol a relresco or refreshing probably underlie myths about curupira, drink from the . Flesh of the fruits the evil spirit inhabiting Z. piassaba is thin and removed by soaking and groves (Schultes, 1974). Regardlessof agitating in water. The resulting much- the hardships and dangers involved in relished liquid bears (with some imag- tiber cutting, the trade lives on wher- "great ination) resemblanceto cream ever this unusual palm grows. both in colour and taste" (Spruce, 1860). LrrnnerunnCrrnn Thus, Z. piassaba is employed for its Scnur,:rrs,R. E. 1974. Palms and religiol its When a fibers, fronds, and fruits. in the northwest Amazon. Principes 18: 3- house needs a new roof the residents 2r. go into the forest and cut the necessary Srnucr, R. 1860. On Leopolilinia piassaba, fronds. Nearly everyone enjoys the Wallace. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 4: 58-63. drink prepared from L. piassaba fuuits A. R. 1853. Palm Trees of the preparation. Wer,r,-tcn, and participates in its Fi- Amazon and Their Uses. John Van Vorst, ber cutting on the other hand is a trade London, 129 pp.

Principes,23 (4), 1979,pp. l5&-157 PAIM BRIEFS W'est Sepik District of Papua New Gui- nea (K. J. White PlL, January L975, Sommieriq qffinis (Polmoe) specimen at LAE). This is significant in Popuo New Guineq as more than just a range extension. It means that this rare and unusual palm Sommieriais a clinostigmatoidgenus is accessible from Papua New of three speciesconfined to the western Guinea, where botanists can work more part o{ . Until recently, the {reely than they presently can in West genus w€ls not known to occur east of Mamberamo, the type locality fior Som- Irian. The specimen was marked as mieria aflinis, in West Irian. In 1975, voucher for a collection, but it is however, a specimen agreeing with this not known whether seedlings have been was collected at Pagei, in the established anywhere in cultivation. 19791 PALM BRIEFS 157

There is no record of them having been as long as the flowering portion o{ the introduced at the Botanic Garden in in{lorescence, which would correlate Lae. with an acaulescent habit. Beccari de- aflinis resemblesa small scribed the leaves as elongate-flabellate ,such as H. humilis, except (fan-shaped). They are actually pin- that the fruits are conspicuouslywarty nately ribbed but undivided except at (Fig. l), more like those oI Pelagod,oxtt'. the apex, as in , lor example. Other {eaturesthat separaLeit tron Het- The tips o{ the pinnae are toothed or bi- erospatheare a basal stigmatic residue fid, a feature that distinguishes Som- on the (as opposedto a lateral to mieria allinis from the other two species and subapical residue) homogeneous in the eenus. endosperm. The palm appears to be acaulescent,but this was not certain even Fnolnnrcr B. EssIc to Beccariwhen he describedthe species DepartmentoI Biology t.Bot.Jahrb. Syst. 52: 37. 1914). The University of South Florida peduncleis very long, about seventimes Tampa" FL 33620

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l. The warty ruits of Sommieria aJfi,nis, trom the specimen collected near Pagei, in the West Sepik District of Papua New Guinea.