BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, NOvEMBER 30, 1976 VoL. 24, No. 10 
MANICARIA SACCIFERA AND ITS CULTURAL 
SIGNIFICANCE AMONG THE WARAO INDIANS 
OF VENEZUELA 
BY 
JOHANNES WILBERT 
Within the tropical and subtropical belt that circles the 
earth, palms can truly be counted among the best friends of 
man. In several regions, the various parts of the palm are so 
thoroughly exploited for purposes of food, drink, basic ma- 
terials, tools, and utensils that it assumes a pivotal position 
in the cultural life of the people. In South America outstand- 
ing examples are Astrocaryum, Euterpe, Guilielma, Jessenia, 
Mauritia, Maximiliana, Oenocarpus, Orbignya, and Syagrus. 
In addition, the Indians are known to utilize the products of 
at least a dozen other genera of palms.’ 
This paper focuses on Manicaria saccifera, the temiche 
palm, and its cultural importance among the Warao Indians 
of Venezuela (PLATE LXVI). Ethnobotanical information 
on this genus, except for descriptions in floras, is slight, and 
the fact that Manicaria saccifera is used as a source of sago 
has, heretofore, gone unrecorded in the scientific literature.” 
As an ancient food-quest activity of man, the recovery of 
palm starch “appears to be a pantropical phenomenon that is 
most highly developed on the mainland of Southeast Asia and 
in the West Pacific. In that region starch extraction involves, 
principally, palms of the genus M etroxylon, Sago Palms 
(Burkill 1935: 1460-1462; and Barrau 1959: 151-159). Palms 
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