ETHNOBOTANICAL NOTES ON SIMABA 
IN CENTRAL BRAZIL 
BY 
Joan B. TURNER 
Dvunrine the course of ethnographic studies among the 
Northern Cayapo6 (Gé) Indians of central Brazil, some 
new information was discovered concerning the uses of a 
species of Simaba of the Simarubaceae. 
The specific identification of the plant cannot be made 
until more complete botanical material is collected. The 
plant in question is an inhabitant of the open grassland 
country commonly referred to as campo cerrado in cen- 
tral Brazil. It is a xerophytic shrub characteristic of this 
type of vegetation. It has thick, broad leaves and roots 
which extend to ground water many meters below a 
hard surface of lateritic soil. 
The Simaba samples were collected from the campo 
cerrado area close to the Cayapo villages of Gorotire on 
the Rio Fresco, a tributary of the Xingu, and Kuben- 
kranken on the Riozinho, a tributary of the Fresco, both 
in the state of Para. In September, at the end of each 
dry season, this area is often unintentionally burned over 
by Cayapo who set fires to clear the old vegetation from 
their s ashed garden-plots in the surrounding forest. The 
Simaba, with its extensive root system, is adapted to 
survive the annual fires and the poor quality of the later- 
itic soil. 
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