BOTANTICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS VoL. 28, No. 1 
MARCH 1980 
IBAPICHUNA: AN EDIBLE DACRYODES 
(BURSERACEAE) 
FROM fHE NORTHWEST AMAZON 
JAMES L. ZARUCCHI* 
It has recently been found that the fruits of Dacryodes 
belemensis Cuatr. (Burseraceae) are of use to the Kubeo Indians 
of the Colombian Vaupées. The fruits of this tree, known locally as 
“Ibapichuna,” are employed to make a beverage. Utilization of 
this species came to light during recent field work in Colombia 
and Brazil (1979) while I was studying several apocynaceous 
genera which yield edible fruits. The principal observations were 
made during a short stay on the Rio Kubiyu, an affluent of the 
Rio Vaupés about 50 km. upriver from the town of Mitu (capital 
of the Comisaria del Vaupés), at approximately 1°03’ N. Lat., 
70°16’ W. Long.’ This part of the Colombian Amazonia is 
adjacent to the Brazilian State of Amazonas. Prior to the present 
century, this portion of the Vaupés, below the Raudal de 
Yurupari (“Devil’s Cataract” —0° 50’ N. Lat., 70°34’ W. Long.) 
on the Rio Vaupés, was claimed by Brazil. 
During my stay on the Rio Kubiyu, the inhabitants prepared 
several fruits which supplemented the usual diet of tapioca 
(from Manihot esculenta), game, and fish. For the most part, 
these fruits included those of the palms Jessenia Bataua and 
either Oenocarpus or Euterpe. A fruit unfamiliar to me was 
collected which the natives know as “Ibapichuna.” The name 
comes from Tupi-Guarani (Lengoa Géral or Nhengatu) meaning 
black fruit: iba-fruit; pichi-black (Ruiz, 1876). The fruits were 
similar in appearance to those of the palms, but they had a green 
resinous pulp covering a hard endocarp, rather than the pink- 
to-purple oily pulp characteristic of the palms. It was possible to 
*Botanical Museum and Department of Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 
MA 02138. 
' Previous studies in 1975 and 1976 were carried out in the same region, primarily on mem- 
bers of the Apocynaceae and other plants of economic interest. 
8] 
