CVCLANTHACEAE 



Cyclanthus sp. 



Collect.: Davis & Yost 965. 



Waorani Informant: Geque (m). Downriver dialect: n.v. wino 



In past generations, the men folded the leaves of this small 

 unidentified plant of the primary forest floor to fashion a long 

 penis sheath, while the women hung a flap of the leaf over a 

 G-string; but by the time of contact, this practice had died out. 



Aracfae 



Heteropsis sp. 



Collect.: Davis & Yost 951. 



Waorani Informant: Geque (m). Downriver dialect: n.v. otome 



The bark of this liana is used to bind the two halves of a 

 blowgun, to make baskets and to lash together beams for house 

 construction. It is the strongest liana of the forest and holds its 

 shape for a long time. The Waorani name otome means ^basket 

 vine\ The Waorani eat the yellow fruit and recognize that animals 

 and birds such as woolly monkeys {Lagothrix lagotricha). tou- 

 cans {Ramphastos cuvieri) and oropendolas (Zarhunchus wag- 

 leri) also frequently feed on it. 



Philodendron sp. 



Collect.: Davis & Yost 1023. 



Waorani Informant: C^nto (m). Downriver dialect: n.v. ome 



The root and the stem of this liana are crushed in hot water, and 

 the decoction is drunk two or three times daily by victims of 

 cayatamo {Bothrops castelnaudi) bite, one of eight venomous 

 snakes found in Waorani territory. 



Other authors have suggested that several species of Philoden- 

 dron in the northwest Amazon have pharmacologically active 

 principles. The leaves and petioles of Philodendron craspedo- 

 dronium R.E. Schultes provide a piscicide among the Desana 

 Indians of the Rio Papuri, Colombia: the leaves are cut, tied into 



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