Para piassava | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
(unranked): | Angiosperms |
(unranked): | Monocots |
(unranked): | Commelinids |
Order: | Arecales |
Family: | Arecaceae |
Genus: | Leopoldinia |
Species: | L. piassaba |
Binomial name | |
Leopoldinia piassaba Wallace |
Leopoldinia piassaba (Para piassava, Piassava fiber palm, 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.