Mauritia Flexuosa

The Moriche, or Ita palm, very abundant on the

banks of the Amazon, Rio Negro, and Orinoco Rivers. In the delta

of the latter it occupies swampy tracts of ground, which are at

times completely inundated, and present the appearance of forests

rising out of the water. These swamps are frequented by a tribe of

Indians called Guaranes, who subsist almost entirely upon the

produce of this palm, and during the period of the inundations

suspend their dwellings from the tops of its tall stems. The outer

skin of the young leaves is made into string and cord for the

manufacture of hammocks. The fermented sap yields palm wine, and

another beverage is prepared from the young fruits, while the soft

inner bark of the stem yields a farinaceous substance like sago.